National forestry services company Harvestco has been awarded the contract to harvest, store and stockpile the first 200,000 tonnes of pine in the Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers estate.

Harvestco started work on the Island in December 2020, clearing rows of trees alongside powerlines, as part of KIPT’s fire prevention work in conjunction with SA Power Networks.

Soon the harvest proper will start, with Pinus radiata logs cut to length and sorted according to potential future markets – logs, chips, pellets.

A jobs expo was held on Sunday January 24 from 1.30pm at the Kingscote Town Hall. Representatives from Harvestco, KIPT, Workskil and ATEC attended and harvest equipment was available for inspection. The first round of jobs is currently listed on Seek.

The best of the fire-damaged timber will be sent to water storage at KIPT’s Macgill property, and placed in the Sheep Creek Dam on that property. A harvesting trail has started to determine the optimal recovery from the pine estate. After the trial is planned to start clearfell harvesting, building to an annual production rate of 200,000 toned per annum from April. The harvest of about 4.5 million tonnes of fire-affected timber is expected to take about five years.

Assessing and categorising the timber has been a detailed and rigorous process that will continue, with many considerations, including logistical, marketing and silvicultural concerns.

KIPT Managing Director Keith Lamb said it was an important step for the company to have appointed HarvestCo for the initial harvest. “This is an experienced company with an excellent record and we’re glad to be working with them.”

Harvestco will initially employ about 12 people for the Kangaroo Island work and that will increase over coming years. The jobs will include operating machinery such as harvesters, forwarders, loaders and trucks. Other ancillary positions will also become available, such as diesel mechanics.

Harvestco Managing Director Rick Murphy said he was looking forward to the harvest-proper on Kangaroo Island. “There are some unique challenges in working on an Island and with a fire-damaged resource but we have many years experience across Australia and we’re looking froward to bringing our expertise to the circumstances on Kangaroo Island.”

Mr Murphy is keen to employ local operators on Kangaroo Island and Harvestco has a well-established training program in concert with the Logging Investigation and Training Association (LITA), based in Mt Gambier.

Roadtec products will be available in Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Idaho. Carlson products will be available in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Peterson products will be available in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Wyoming and central and northern Idaho. Modern Machinery is currently a valued dealer for Astec’s KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens.

Jeff Schwarz, President of Modern Machinery stated, “We’ve been fortunate enough to represent Astec Industries’ world class products for over 30 years and we look forward to our next 30 years of successful partnership.”

Tim Averkamp, Group President of Astec Industries, echoed the sentiment; “We look forward to building off our past and working together to deliver even greater value to our customers.”

Chris Colwell, VP of Channel Management for Astec Industries, concluded, “We are focused on providing our customers with exceptional products and outstanding support. This agreement allows our customers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana to benefit from the finest products and support, in a convenient location.”

Modern Machinery Co., Inc., offers high quality heavy equipment and provides exceptional product support to the construction, mining, and forestry industries. Modern Machinery was founded in 1944 with a single location in Spokane, Washington. Today the company operates 11 full-service branches in Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.

Fecon LLC has announced the purchase of the Vermeer forestry mulcher product line and through this arrangement has established a global distribution agreement with the company. This distribution agreement with Vermeer, which will be rolled out on a controlled basis throughout 2021, will provide their dealers access to the robust line of mulching equipment that leverages the best of Vermeer and Fecon mulching technology.

This distribution strategy leverages the scope and size of traditional Vermeer dealerships by focusing on market segments with differentiated product needs. Blending the learnings and engineering expertise of both teams provides dealerships and customers with products that are easy to buy and own.

“Adding Fecon engineering and technology will make it easier for customers to buy the equipment best suited to their needs,” said Fecon LLC CEO Bob Dieckman. “With their extensive coverage and high standard of customer support, as well as the professional and strategic Vermeer sales organization, we are certain that both organizations will benefit from the partnership.”

Fecon will start the process with a select, yet global group of Vermeer dealers in 2021, as well as strategically specify products and methodically expand from there. The company will assume production and support of the Vermeer model FT100 and FT300 forestry mulching tractors, and has begun moving these functions to their Lebanon, Ohio factory.

“Fecon’s forestry innovation and product lineup is a great complement to our equipment portfolio,” said Vermeer President of Industrial Solutions Doug Hundt. “With a lineup of products that support the land clearing, utility right-of-way and fire mitigation markets, their mulching attachments and tractors will give our dealers a broader portfolio to support those customers we are already working with in those markets.”

Produce three-unique products in one-pass.

Vermeer is updating its trommel screen line with the new Vermeer TR6450 trommel screen, which is capable of sorting up to three product sizes at once.

The TR6450 features adjustable front-fines, rear-fines and overs conveyor for efficient multi-product production. With a 20-foot (6.1-m) long, 6.5-foot (2-m) diameter quick-change tension screen drum, the TR6450 can sort up to 180 cubic yards (137.6 m3) per hour with .5-inch (1.3-cm) screens installed and material with moisture less than 40%.

It is powered by a 120-horsepower (90-kW) Cat 3.6L Tier 4F (Stage V) diesel engine, and its drum speed can be adjusted from 0 to 25 revolutions per minute based on material type and moisture content.

According to Jay Van Roekel, product manager for Vermeer Environmental Solutions products, the TR6450 has a similar design as the recently introduced Vermeer TR6400 trommel screen and the popular x. “While designing every trommel screen in the Vermeer product lineup, we’ve focused our attention on developing units that provide optimal productivity in their size class while being efficient to operate, set up, transport and service. The new TR6450 excels in all of those areas and gives crews the ability to sort a third product. Also, the front fines conveyor can be removed completely and its auxiliary hydraulics can be used to power other equipment like an air separator. We’ve built a lot of flexibility into this machine.”

With a hopper infeed height of just 9 feet 6 inches (2.9 m) from ground level at operating incline and capacity of 6.5 cubic yards (5 m3), the TR6450 is built for quick loading cycle times. The unit’s Vermeer ACS controls system gives operators the ability to adjust conveyor heights and drum speeds from a machine mounted DP10 display or handle transceiver remote.

For quick and efficient screen or drum changes and maintenance access, the side door on the TR6450 offers complete access to the drum body from the ground. A foldout motor compartment that provides access to the engine’s backside and various access points to critical areas delivers optimal access for servicing the TR6450.

For more information about the Vermeer TR6450, visit vermeer.com or contact your local Vermeer dealer.

Despite global difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was a record year for FAE and the company achieved and exceeded the objectives set at the end of 2019. Such results were achieved thanks to growth in all the key markets where the company operates, from France and the US, but also Australia, Canada, Russia, Italy and Germany, and for all FAE product lines, from heads for tractors, excavators and skid steer loaders to tracked vehicles, evidence of the trust in FAE products across the various markets.

In 2020 there were introductions or significant updates to ten models in the Land Clearing and Construction lines.

FAE’s technology innovation in 2020 included the Bite Limiter for excavator mulchers and the introduction of the revolutionary Sonic system also on UML/EX/VT and UML/S/EX/VT forestry mulchers for excavators. The Bite Limiter technology reduces power demand and promotes a consistent working speed, guaranteeing excellent performance when mulching any type of wood. The Sonic system ensures perfect alignment of the operating machine and the FAE mulcher through automatic calibration and constantly manages the mulcher’s hydraulic parameters, for a significant overall increase in productivity.

FAE’s record figures in 2020 also involved human resources. The number of employees rose above 250, with 40 new hires over the last 12 months.

Finally, 2020 will also be a year to remember for FAE due to the inauguration of the new Headquarters in Fondo, Italy, introduction to the FAE brand portfolio of tracked vehicles – previously sold under the PrimeTech brand – and launch of the new logo and global brand image.

“The results achieved this year bring great satisfaction and motivation to successfully face the challenges ahead,” stated FAE’s President, Diego Scanzoni. “We continue our commitment to expanding the product range and optimizing our internal structure in order to constantly improve the customer service,” he added.

ABOUT FAE
FAE is the world leader in the design and production of heads for tractors, excavators, skid steers, special vehicles and tracked vehicles for forestry, agricultural, road and demining operations.With a range of over 90 products and 400 models, FAE is able to satisfy the most diverse of customer needs. FAE’s range of heads includes forestry mulchers, cutters, stump cutters, stone crushers, stabilizers and multifunction heads. The tracked vehicles we offer include tracked vehicles with cab as well as radio-controlled tracked vehicles. FAE focuses on technological innovation and construction quality in order to ensure maximum performance and reliability for its machines. The company’s headquarters are located in northern Italy, in Fondo (Trento), established in the area where FAE was founded in 1989. The production, sale, after-sales service and distribution of spare parts are guaranteed through our 4 production sites, the head office, 6 commercial branches and a network of authorized dealers all over the world.FAE has more than 250 employees worldwide.

www.fae-group.com

CONTACT INFORMATION
FAE Group Marketing Team
Francesca Carlet – Press Relationship fcarlet@fae-group.com
Elia Grando Mattiazzi – Marketing Manager egrandomattiazzi@fae-group.com

One of the most modern saw mills for small diameter logs, Gelo Timber in Wunsiedel, starts its operation after only 11 months of erection time.

A few days before Christmas, General Manager Wolf-Christian Küspert and Project Manager Sergej Fink together with their business partners and colleagues saw the first log running into the sawmill.

In future 350,000 solid m³ logs are cut per year at the 100,000 m² area. 35 new jobs are created with this investment of about 40 million Euro.

Building a sawmill based on most modern points was the aim from the beginning. This included also the reduction of material handling to a minimum. Thus, it was decided not to invest in a petrol operated log handling machine, but using an electrically driven gantry crane type SENNEBOGEN instead. The concept that was developed together with HOLTEC focusses on savings in fuel and CO₂ as well as optimal land use and efficiency.

HOLTEC supplied the complete log yard mechanization as well as the sawmill infeed for the new GELO site. In both systems the innovative chainless technology is implemented, feeding up to 40 logs / min.

Thanks to a good cooperation between plant operator and suppliers, the new site has been put into operation in record time.

Now you can easily turn on the forest machine’s engine heater wherever you are – whether the machine is running or not.

The MaxiFleet engine heater function has been made both easier and better thanks to new, connected technology that makes it possible to interact directly with the forest machine’s computer.

The new technology brings great opportunities for improvement and this is only step one.

The MaxiFleet engine heater function has received several practical upgrades that makes it both easier and better. Information about current battery capacity, cab temperature and machine position is regularly sent to MaxiFleet – regardless of whether the machine is running or not. This allows the operator to see, for example, that the heater is working and has warmed up the cab, that there is sufficient battery capacity to start the machine, and so on.

Most operators have programmed a schedule for the machine’s engine heater based on their usual working hours. But sometimes you need to work at other hours and with the new MaxiFleet functionality it is easy to program the engine heater to start, for example, an hour earlier.

The machine’s pre-programmed engine heater schedule can be displayed in MaxiFleet, but changes to this schedule can only be made in the machine. It is also possible to manually switch the engine heater on or off through MaxiFleet.

The upgraded engine heater is the first improvement made possible by the new, connected technology, but more news is to be expected.

When harvesting in rough forests, an operator can face several challenges. For example, trees that need to be cut from two directions, root flares that are too wide for the saw bar or rough limbs that need to be processed several times. The C164 is designed with these conditions in mind.

Komatsu C164 is a brand-new model in the range of C heads and a perfect match for the Komatsu 951 harvester. The robust head is specially designed to handle large trees, big root flares and rough limbs. Still, it has a design that makes it smooth and easy to handle. The C164 design is inspired by the features of other C models, but it is a completely new head where many parts are optimised for the size and application of the head.

Constant Cut, the saw motor control that ensures that the head has a constant and efficient saw motor speed throughout the complete cutting cycle, is further developed for C164 to handle long saw bars and broad stems. The saw bar position is designed for optimal felling performance and the position of the saw bar is new compared to other C heads. This gives a better felling cut in the direction of the head, which in turn gives the saw bar better longevity whilst also reducing the risk of log splitting. For increased durability and service life the chain tensioning of the saw bar has been improved, the saw bar mount has a more robust design, stronger saw bar clamp and increased bolt dimension to hold the saw bar.

The rotator has a stronger and more robust design as well as a new hydraulic motor and bigger slew bearings to cope with this type of demanding logging operations.

To make the head more fuel efficient, the C164 also has a new type of hydraulic control valve that can handle a high flow, which reduces energy losses.

The C164 is a “carry style” head, where the stem is carried by the feed wheels and the delimbing knives are mainly used for delimbing the stem. The head’s feed system allows good contact between head and stem, which reduces the clamping pressure and makes the feeding procedure energy efficient. Komatsu C164 comes with the option of two different feed roller motors. The bigger motor is standard and gives a high traction force which improves the productivity of the head. The smaller motor is optional and gives a more aggressive feeding start, but with less force than with the bigger motor.

Upon customer request, the Komatsu C164 has a completely new tilt lock function, i.e., the ability to lock the tilt link at the desired angle, which facilitates access to difficult branches or tree forks. The Find End function makes it possible to reset length measuring without needing to make a first cut and lump a part of the log. This reduces forest residues and minimises value loss. It is particularly useful when processing pre-felled trees.

The head has several features designed to minimise unplanned downtime and thereby improve productivity. The frame is designed and verified to stand the force from heavy operations. Components like the head unit are well protected under the hood. Cast iron is used for strategic components and ORFS couplings on hoses. Overall, the head with all its features, in combination with the Komatsu 951 harvester, is a useful tool for demanding operations.

Technology significantly increases dozer productivity
Productivity is key to job site success. And just as technology has transformed global business, Komatsu’s intelligent Machine Control (iMC) can help quickly transform construction job sites into highly efficient, highly productive operations. Komatsu’s iMC incorporates a host of advanced, proprietary machine technology, to let contractors take advantage of productivity-enhancing automation and cutting-edge job site design. Operators — even those with limited experience — can work with utmost efficiency, guided by sophisticated automation.

Both the Komatsu D51i-24 (131 HP) and D61i-24 (168 HP) are now available with Komatsu’s iMC 2.0 with the following benefits:

Learns as it works
With proactive dozing control, even less experienced operators can automatically cut/strip from existing terrain. The dozer measures the terrain it tracks over and uses that data to plan the next pass. Productivity can improve by up to 60% versus previous generation.

Spreads fill material automatically
Lift layer control automatically lets operators spread fill from existing terrain with the press of a button. The dozer measures the terrain it tracks over and uses the data it gathers to plan the next pass for up to double your production with consistent layers for compaction quality.

Levels material even during rough dozing
Tilt steering control automatically tilts the blade to maintain straight travel during rough dozing. Reduces operator steering input by up to 80%.

Quick surface creation
Operators can create a temporary design surface with the press of a button with quick surface creation. Combined with other iMC 2.0 functions, crews can begin stripping or spreading using automated input while waiting for the finish grade model.

From automatic dozing, rough cut to finish grade, iMC-equipped Komatsu dozers help make every pass count for superior production compared to traditional aftermarket systems.

To learn more about dozers with iMC 2.0, go to www.komatsuamerica.com/smart-construction/intelligent-machine-control

About Komatsu
Komatsu is an industry-leading manufacturer and supplier of equipment, technologies and services for the construction, forklift, mining, industrial and forestry markets. For nearly a century, Komatsu equipment and services have been used by companies worldwide to develop modern infrastructure, extract fundamental minerals, maintain forests and create technology and consumer products. The company’s global service and distributor networks support customer operations, tapping into the power of data and technology to enhance safety and productivity while optimizing performance. Learn more at komatsuamerica.com.

Note: All comparisons and claims of improved performance made herein are made with respect to the prior Komatsu model unless otherwise specifically stated. Materials and specifications are subject to change without notice.

Photo: Komatsu D61i-24 with Komatsu’s iMC 2.0

A smart choice for contractors who need a versatile solution that still offers excellent range, the PC210LCi-11 is Komatsu’s smallest machine control excavator.

Proprietary intelligent Machine Control 2.0 offers significant productivity gains
Aimed to quickly lessen the skill gap between new and experienced operators, and improve the bottom line for contractors, Komatsu’s intelligent Machine Control (iMC) is part of the company’s suite of Smart Construction products, services and digital solutions that incorporate a host of advanced, proprietary machine technology. Developed with input from leading construction companies, iMC gives contractors sophisticated, productivity-enhancing automation along with cutting-edge job site design.

The newest entrant to Komatsu’s iMC 2.0 line-up is the 165 HP (123kW) PC210LCi-11 excavator. A smart choice for contractors who need a versatile solution that still offers excellent range, the PC210LCi-11 is Komatsu’s smallest machine control excavator. Weighing 51,397-53,882 lbs. (23,313 – 24,440 kg), this intelligent excavator excels at digging precise footings, retention ponds and utility work. Its updated, factory-integrated system minimizes over-excavation and empowers operators to dig straight to grade quickly and accurately.

Perform finish grading using only arm input
Operators can finish grade quickly and accurately with bucket angle hold control that automatically holds the bucket angle to the design surface during arm operation, enabling operators to perform finish grading using only arm input.

Auto tilt bucket control
With integrated machine control, the auto tilt bucket control on the PC210LCi-11 assists the operator in aligning the bucket parallel with the slope, so that finish grading can be accomplished without having to align the machine with the target surface.

Just as technology has transformed global business, intelligent machine control can help quickly transform construction job sites into highly efficient, highly productive operations. For more details on the PC210LCi-11 with iMC 2.0, go to www.komatsuamerica.com/smart-construction/intelligent-machine-control.

Main photo: Weighing 51,397-53,882 lbs. (23,313 – 24,440 kg), this intelligent excavator excels at digging precise footings, retention ponds and utility work.