Using Conjoint Analyses to Improve Cable Yarder Design Characteristics: An Austrian Yarder Case Study to Advance Cost-Effective Extraction

Martin Kuhmaier; Hunter Harrill; Mohammad R Ghaffariyan; Manfred Hofer; Karl Stampfer; Mark W Brown; Rien Visser

doi:10.3390/f10020165

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Using Conjoint Analyses to Improve Cable Yarder Design Characteristics: An Austrian Yarder Case Study to Advance Cost-Effective Extraction

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Using Conjoint Analyses to Improve Cable Yarder Design Characteristics: An Austrian Yarder Case Study to Advance Cost-Effective Extraction

Martin Kuhmaier, Hunter Harrill, Mohammad R Ghaffariyan, Manfred Hofer, Karl Stampfer, Mark W Brown and Rien Visser

Forests, Vol.10(2), 165

2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/f10020165

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Abstract

timber harvesting

cable yarding

steep terrain

conjoint

decision support

marketing research

mechanical engineering

Steep country harvesting has been identified as the main bottleneck to achieving greater profitability in the forestry sector of New Zealand and Australia. An improvement of efficiency, work safety and environmental sustainability should be realized by developing an advanced steep terrain timber harvesting system based on innovative Austrian technology. To identify the best suitable configuration of a cable yarder for steep terrain harvesting, user preferences based on an online survey (conjoint analysis) have been evaluated to answer the following questions: (1) What attributes of a new yarder design are most important to consumers? (2) Which criteria do stakeholders consider when selecting a cable yarder? (3) What are the weights representing the relative importance of criteria? Using eight specific design scenarios a fourth question, being which cable yarder concept is the best, was also answered. This case study shows that conjoint analyses is an effective tool to assess, rate and subsequently integrate design characteristics. Based on the results of the analysis, a cable yarder prototype will be manufactured in Austria and transferred to New Zealand for testing and demonstration.

Details

Title: Using Conjoint Analyses to Improve Cable Yarder Design Characteristics: An Austrian Yarder Case Study to Advance Cost-Effective Extraction
Authors: Martin Kuhmaier (Author) - University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Austria
Hunter Harrill (Author) - University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Mohammad R Ghaffariyan (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Manfred Hofer (Author) - Koller Forsttechnik GmbH, Austria
Karl Stampfer (Author) - University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Austria
Mark W Brown (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Rien Visser (Author) - University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Publication details: Forests, Vol.10(2), 165; 16
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2019
DOI: 10.3390/f10020165
ISSN: 1999-4907
Copyright note: Copyright © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Organisation Unit: Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Forest Industries Research Centre; Forest Research Institute
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450783602621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Forestry

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