Abstract
Precision Forestry and Value Chain Management: Challenges and Opportunities for the Australian Forest Industry
IUFRO Division 4.01 Conference: Meeting Multiple Demands for Forest Information: New Technologies in Forest Data Gathering, 2009 (Mt Gambier, Australia, 17-Aug-2009–20-Aug-2009)
2009
Abstract
The forest sector worldwide is facing competitive and complex market scenarios and Australia is no exception. Markets demand wood products for very specific end uses and the forest industry supplies those products while trying to maximize profitability. Precision forestry can play an important role in developing new technologies to locate, harvest, transport and process trees with different external and internal characteristics, and to provide better log products that meet customer demands and increase profitability as higher value wood is allocated to higher value markets. In addition, these new technologies and analytical tools help support site-specific, economic, environmental, and sustainable decision-making. Their development and use, however, represent challenges and opportunities that are necessary to understand and be aware of to meet the goals of sustainable forestry in these complex market scenarios. Likewise, it is necessary to understand that focusing on costs in isolated business units is not enough to be competitive. We must be able to add to and maximize the value and quality of wood products, embracing value chain optimisation networks through new business models that link different units of the value chain in a more holistic and integrated way. Examples of new sensing, monitoring and optimisation technologies being developed and applied in Australia to reduce costs and improve value along the supply chain are presented. These include the use of onboard dataloggers and communication systems to improve productivity from harvesting equipment, guidelines for better harvester calibration procedures, a truck scheduling system to minimize transportation costs and determine the optimal fleet size, the development of a modelling tool to estimate harvesting productivity and costs, the use of terrestrial Lidar and optimal bucking to estimate log product yields, and near infrared spectroscopy to estimate wood properties.
Details
- Title
- Precision Forestry and Value Chain Management: Challenges and Opportunities for the Australian Forest Industry
- Authors
- Mauricio Acuna (Author) - University of TasmaniaMartin Strandgard (Author) - University of Tasmania
- Conference details
- IUFRO Division 4.01 Conference: Meeting Multiple Demands for Forest Information: New Technologies in Forest Data Gathering, 2009 (Mt Gambier, Australia, 17-Aug-2009–20-Aug-2009)
- Publisher
- IUFRO
- Date published
- 2009
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Forest Industries Research Centre; Forest Research Institute
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99448717602621
- Output Type
- Abstract
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