New Zealand’s commercial drone manufacturers are successfully finding niche markets as the potential for the unmanned flying machines takes off.

While unable to compete on price with large Chinese drone makers, several Kiwi companies are finding specialised uses for drones, which are already saving business time and money.

Currently, 70 per cent of commercial drones are used for aerial photography, 8 per cent for power line inspection and 2 per cent for agricultural work, according to information provided by UAVNZ.

The industry body’s chairman, Andy Grant, said there was “huge” potential for drone use in core New Zealand industries like agriculture, construction and forestry.

For example, Grant’s company ASG Technologies has developed a drone capable of carrying out forestry work that would ordinarily take six workers up to an entire day in some six minutes.

Instead of requiring workers to haul 1km of steel rope above felled trees in order for them to be collected, ASG’s drone – one of the largest industrial drones in the country — is able to carry 14kg of rope the entire distance in a single flight. The savings in time and money were, clearly, enormous, Grant said. The drone was currently being used by forestry company Hancock Forest Management.

New Zealand companies were also looking at the emerging technology of “tethered” drones; aircraft connected to an operating box by a thin wire allowing them to fly for hours, even days. without needing the battery to be charged.

The next major breakthrough in drone technology would be when drones were allowed to work beyond the line of sight of operators, something that is being trialled in a dedicated drone airspace in Canterbury.

“The speed of development in the drone-sector is breath-taking,” Grant said. “The drones themselves are almost daily increasing in payload capacity, endurance and range. Their on-board sensors are increasing in sophistication and they are becoming progressively more autonomous.”

Within 20 to 30 years drones the size of 787 aircraft would come into existence, he said. To date, the CAA has issued certificates to 92 New Zealand companies to operate drones. Airways New Zealand, the country’s air traffic controllers, has also been involved in creating the foundations of a drone traffic management system.

Source: nzherald.co.nz

Timberland owners in Australia are increasingly exploring opportunities for the exportation of logs as an alternative to selling logs in the domestic market. From 2012 to 2016, the export volume was up 300%, and 2017 is likely to set a new record high, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly. Rising log prices in the export market have been the key drivers of the increase in exports. Conversely, prices in the domestic market have stagnated the past few years.

Australia has rapidly become a major exporter of softwood logs and was the world’s sixth largest log exporter in 2016. During the 1H/17, the upward trend continued with shipments being 17% higher than in the 1H/16. In 2012, Australia’s annual exports totaled only 1.2 million m3. Just four years later, in 2016, exports had tripled to a record high of 3.6 million m3, of which 96% was destined for China. If the upward trend seen this far in the first six months of 2017 continues, export volumes will end up totaling over four million m3 in 2017, which represents approximately 25% of the total softwood timber harvest in Australia.

Obviously, exportation of logs has become an attractive alternative to domestic sales for timberland owners in Australia. Wood Resource Quarterly reports that in 2012, there were minimal price premiums for exported logs over domestic logs, but by 2016 and 2017, premiums had surged to between AU$35-50/m3. Despite these recent price increases, Australia is still considered to be a low-cost log supplier in the Chinese market as compared to other suppliers such as New Zealand, Russia and North America, mainly because of higher domestic sawlog prices in those markets.

Higher log export volumes have occurred at the same time as domestic log demand has gone up over 20% in four years, from 3.6 million m3 of lumber in 2012 to an estimated 4.4 million m3 in 2016. Although sawmill production fell slightly in 2016 from the previous year, the output from the Australian sawmill sector reached record high levels the past two years thanks to healthy domestic demand for softwood lumber.

Source: Wood Resources International, www.woodprices.com

Of all the business sectors in B.C. affected by this summer’s forest fires, one of the hardest hit is – for obvious reasons – the forestry sector. In what government officials say was the worst forest fire season on record, fires have scorched 1.19 million hectares in B.C. reports biv.com.

It’s still not known what the total economic impact will be, though it’s a given that the forestry sector will take a serious hit. In terms of actual damage and costs, however, it’s likely a fraction of what Fort McMurray experienced last year. Whereas the insurance claims for B.C.’s wildfires are estimated at $127 million, Fort McMurray’s totalled $3.7 billion, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

Of the total area burned in B.C. this year, an estimated 53 million cubic metres of merchantable timber was lost – equivalent to one year of annual allowable cut – and a number of sawmills in the Cariboo region had to shut down, although no sawmills were lost to fire.

But will the economic fallout from natural disaster in B.C. be offset by the natural disasters that have ravaged the southern U.S.? Hurricanes in the U.S. destroyed or damaged an estimated 227,000 homes, prompting the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) to call for a “permanent solution” to the U.S.-Canada softwood lumber dispute, which has resulted in duties placed on Canadian lumber exports – duties that the association fears will only push lumber prices even higher when rebuilding begins.

“In the aftermath of the devastating storm, demand for softwood lumber is expected to increase dramatically as homebuilders and remodellers repair and replace housing in Houston and across Texas,” NAHB chairman Granger MacDonald said at the end of August.

“This crisis makes it more important than ever that the United States quickly achieve a lasting trade agreement regarding U.S. imports of Canadian softwood lumber.” It is assumed that B.C. lumber producers will benefit from soaring demand and prices for Canadian lumber.

The most immediate concern at the moment for B.C.’s loggers and sawmill owners is getting back to work. “Some of the contractors have been shut down since June, with no revenue coming in,” said Wayne Lintott, general manager of the Interior Logging Association. “They’ve maybe got a couple of machines out on fires, but as far as the log harvesting goes, they’ve been shut down since June.”

Even some working forests on the West Coast that were untouched by fire were closed to logging. “Only about 35% to 40% of the entire contracting force on the B.C. coast was operating this summer because it was so dry,” said David Elstone, executive director of the Truck Loggers Association.

So, while some loggers were still working throughout the fire season fighting fires, they weren’t falling trees for sawmills. When combined with a curtailment of logging that typically occurs in the Interior between February and March, it all adds up to a looming fibre shortage.

The New Zealand forestry industry is facing a frightening amount of work in the next few years, as it struggles to attract staff, a forestry management company says. PF Olsen business development manager Scott Downs said the shortage was the biggest challenge faced by the industry and unlikely to improve in the near future reports Radionz NZ.

The amount of forest available for harvest is rapidly increasing as the surge of plantings in the 1990s are now maturing. The volume harvested could potentially rise by 15 million tonnes to just under 40 million a year by 2023. That was going to be a major problem, Mr Downs said.

“It is almost scary how much wood is coming on in New Zealand. All this wood [planted in the 1990s] is maturing now and the fact is we won’t be able to harvest all that wood or cart all that wood.”

The industry often suffered from a sometimes-unearned reputation that workers struggled for good pay and good conditions, he said. “But we’re certainly seeing some very good pay rates for people in the industry and we’re not very good at getting that message out to the community.”

Meanwhile, a shortage of logging truck drivers was also playing a part in the industry’s challenge. Simon Reid, who owns S J Reid and nine trucks, is based at Maungatapere on the outskirts of Whangarei. Attracting drivers was a huge problem because of the anti-social hours, he said.

He believed truck driving needed to be put on the government’s critical shortage list, but was doubtful that would happen. “The government isn’t interested in helping us. They don’t see it as being a critical problem in the bigger picture of the economy. Everything you see in a shop is actually freight and it relies on a truck to get it to the point where it then becomes a retail item,” he said.

The significance of Siempelkamp’s expertise in the wood-based materials industry was again affirmed by a new order from Asia.The Chinese company Nanning Shuixin Ketien (SciSky) ordered a particleboard line to become established in a new area of wood-based materials.

The order for the particleboard plant includes the forming and press line with a 9th generation 8’ x 30.5m ContiRoll® press. The machinery is driven by the innovative drive concept ContiRoll Ecodrive, the new standard drive for the ContiRoll®. Its key performance indicators and energy efficiency are convincing: The system provides plant operators with energy savings of at least 7 % under full load operation and up to 14 % under partial load operation. The scope of supply for this order also includes a cooling and stacking line as well as a storage system. The system will be especially suited for the processing of formaldehyde-free resins – for SciSky a special ad-vantage because of the company’s commitment to non-toxic living environments.

SciSky, which is headquartered in Lanzhou in the north-west Chinese province of Gānsù, is a global supplier of home decorations and furniture. The Chinese company is also established as producer of water-based coatings and paints as well as other water-based agents for interior construction. From now on SciSky will conquer new markets in the wood-based materials indus-try with the first plant at the Wuming location in the province of Guangxi. This plant will manufac-ture wood-based panels as well as furniture. Because Siempelkamp enjoys a high reputation as a quality supplier for modern wood-based panel production plants in China, SciSky chose the Krefeld-based company as the partner to implement its ambitious objectives.

The expertise of the Siempelkamp subsidiaries Pallmann Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG in Zweibrücken, Germany, and CMC Texpan in Colzate, Italy, were also in demand for this order: The size reduction specialist Pallmann contributes five knife ring flakers, two surface layer mills, and one sanding robot. CMC Texpan and its expertise in front-end technology is also represented. The company will supply screening machines for dry chips, two sifters for surface and core layers, and the resin blending system. In this way Siempelkamp is presented as a strong partner in large-scale plant construction which provides all products and services from one source within its own Group.

The installation of the plant is scheduled for May 2018, the startup for October 2018.

With high operational reliability and flexible application possibilities, conveyor belts are indispensable for the transport of bulk goods in industry today. Transportation lines and material streams are important aspects of every production plant. They need to be cost-effective, efficient and above all reliable in continuous operation. A true all-rounder in transport systems for bulk materials is the VecoBelt pipe conveyor from Vecoplan.

The VecoBelt is ideal for conveying bulk materials over long distances either horizontally or on a slight incline. The components transport all kinds of bulk materials such as wood chips, refuse-derived fuels, meat and bone meal or wood shavings. The forward-moving VecoBelt conveyor runs inside a tube and not on rollers like with normal conveyor belts. The belt runs on cushion of air. Low friction losses and quiet operation are therefore guaranteed. The fully enclosed system is particularly suited to the safe transportation of dust-laden materials.

In recent years, Vecoplan has made some optimisations to the components and further developed the technology of the VecoBelt series (500/800 and 1000 belt width). The return belt now also runs in an enclosed housing, supported by a return air duct. This gives customers 100% certainty that no material can fall or trickle down, for example in the area of the return rollers.

Another new addition is that Vecoplan equips the VecoBelt with two scrapers at every drive station. The pre-head scraper and hard metal scraper can be adjusted from the outside, and tensioning the scraper with the ratchet is quick and easy to do. The pre-head scraper is flexible, yet stable enough to remove impurities on the belt. The hard metal scraper prevents substances such as resin from sticking to the belt.

A further technical improvement has been added to the weight tensioning stations. Additional scrapers on the drive stations have been added here too to prevent impurities from adhering to the belt. For customers, these measures mean fewer maintenance costs, fewer downtimes and less material carry-over on their conveyor line.

Vecoplan also offers customers an optional bunker attachment filter. At material transition points, where material is passed to the next conveyor and loaded into this, a radial blower has been installed to extract air containing dust.

To date, these conveyor components have built transportation lines worldwide covering a total length of more than 10 kilometres. The longest stretch is 430 m long and is driven by two 30 kW geared motors.

The VecoBelt conveys bulk materials over a distance of up to 450 meters and with a capacity of up to 1260m3/h at 2.5 m/s. The conveyor belt is quick and easy to assemble and it can span inclines up to 20 degrees. The individual support struts can be spaced up to 75 metres apart. The power consumption of the VecoBelt is only about half that of similar conveyor belts.

The U.S.company Roseburg Forest Products operates a Dieffenbacher particleboard plant in Simsboro, Louisiana,that has been running for the past 15 years. Roseburg has now contracted with Dieffenbacher to supply the microwave preheating system, continuous press and stacking system for its new LVL plant in Chester, South Carolina.

With a daily output of 800 m³, the more-than-65-m long CPS will be the world’s largest continuous LVL press as measured by production capacity. The upstream 600 kW microwave will be the most powerful preheating system of this type in LVL production.

“We obviously knew of Dieffenbacher’s previous LVL projects. These excellent references are among the reasons that we ultimately chose Dieffenbacher as our supplier,” said Roseburg President and CEO Grady Mulbery. He added, “The short distance between Chester and Dieffenbacher’s service center in Alpharetta, Georgia, is another plus for us.” Grady added further.

Roseburg has earmarked a total investment of USD 200 million for its new LVL production line. Construction starts in the first quarter of 2018. Production of the first board is planned for 2019.

Roseburg Resources Co. has acquired approximately 158,000 acres of investment-grade timberland in the southeastern United States from Forest Investment Associates (FIA), a timberland investment management organization.

The timberland is located around Roanoke Rapids, largely within the coastal region of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, and has a strong history of professional management.

“The property is an accretive addition to Roseburg’s Western-based timberland portfolio, with close proximity to broad, stable markets,” Roseburg Senior Vice President of Resources Scott Folk said. “With an attractive age class distribution and above-average site productivity, the property represents significant long-term value for the company, as Roseburg seeks to diversify and grow its timber holdings.”

Roseburg currently owns and sustainably manages over 630,000 acres of timberland in Oregon and California, largely composed of Douglas fir.

Members of the Alberta Forest Products Association (AFPA) planted 80 million coniferous tree seedlings in forests throughout the province in 2017.

“Our Association is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year,” said AFPA President and CEO Paul Whittaker. “Planting trees is an important part of our past and our future. In many areas, forest companies are now harvesting trees that were planted by pioneers in the industry several generations ago. By planting today, we are ensuring sustainable forests for future generations of Albertans.”

The Alberta Forest Products Association is a private, non-profit industry organization, representing lumber, panelboard, pulp and paper, and secondary manufacturing wood products companies operating in Alberta, Canada.

Photo: AFPA President and CEO Paul Whittaker

John Deere North America has announced the latest addition to its forwarder lineup, the 1910G Forwarder. The largest model in the John Deere forwarder line, the 1910G offers operators the power and efficiency needed to tackle tough jobs, even on difficult terrain.

The 1910G machines are equipped with a Final Tier 4 200kW/268 horsepower engine. The maximum engine output has increased by 7.5 percent and torque by 21 percent compared to previous models, offering customers the power and performance they expect in a John Deere machine. Additionally, the drive hydraulics have been increased, with the transmission boasting 4.5 percent more tractive force. of these mid-sized for torque by 21 percent.

“The G-Series Forwarder line provides our customers with the machines they need to tackle each workday, regardless of the conditions they may face. With our 1910G machines, operators are able to handle even larger loads,” said Niko Solopuro, product marketing manager, WCTL Forwarders and Automation. “Additionally, we maintained the features of the G-Series lines that our customers appreciate—including the improved operator station and configurable joystick controls—to develop a machine that customers enjoy while also boosting operator productivity.”

A key feature on this model is the adaptive driveline control, a first in the forestry industry. This software-based control system improves the productivity and drivability of this G-Series forwarder, and enables the operator to choose the desired RPM setting (Eco, Normal, Power) for the operating conditions. The system automatically adjusts the engine’s RPMs to correspond with the engine load. In high-load situations, the driveline control ensures that the diesel engine runs smoothly and uses the maximum available tractive force efficiently.

Another key feature is the larger load capacity. The cross-sectional area of the wide load space is bigger and the new-generation headboard provides excellent visibility to the load space. Additionally, the CF8 boom on the 1910G moves smoothly and seamlessly, increasing accuracy and efficiency.

Boom control is further enhanced using Intelligent Boom Control (IBC). Exclusive to John Deere, IBC is an innovative technology that improves operator productivity by automatically controlling the lift, slew and extension of the boom based on the location of the grapple. IBC increases accuracy and, ultimately, the number of loads per each work shift. Additionally, configurable joystick controls allow the dealer to quickly reconfigure the machine to meet the preference of the operator. The operator can select one of three configuration options, providing the operator with an intuitive system.

The 1910G, as well as the rest of the G-Series Forwarder line, is equipped with the TimberMatic™ F-16 control system. The improved control system features a configurable user interface, cruise control and inclination display, increasing operator efficiency. Additionally, the new software offers service personnel remote access to the machine. New MECA control modules, simple CAN busses and a streamlined electrical system improve the efficiency of machine functions.

The 1910G is available with two cab options, fixed or rotating and leveling, both of which are designed to improve operator comfort. The rotating and leveling cabin helps the driver to maintain the correct working positions to reduce strain on the back and shoulder areas, even when working on uneven terrain. With a cabin rotation of 290 degrees, the 1910G model offers a view of the boom and grapple, enabling safer, easier log loading. The large windows of the cab allow for virtually unrestricted all-around visibility. Other fatigue-beating features, including ergonomic armrests, a fully adjustable air-cushioned seat and an automated climate-control system, help to boost operator productivity.

All John Deere forwarders come standard with JDLink™ in base for five years. JDLink, the proven John Deere telematics solution, remotely connects owners and managers with their equipment and local John Deere dealer. Through JDLink, they have access to alerts and machine information, including performance and maintenance data, allowing them to better manage where and how equipment is being used, even from miles away.

To learn more about the 1910G Forwarder, as well as the rest of the John Deere forwarder line, visit your local John Deere Forestry dealer or www.deere.com/forwarders.