Article published in the iVT magazine.
Forestry machines no longer just cut trees. These timber production
factories rely on a sophisticated control and information system to
increase productivity right along the supply chain.

CC Systems, the Swedish control system specialist, has a long track record in forestry machinery controls. In close co-operation with John Deere Forestry, the company has over the years developed several generations of advanced control and information systems for these vehicles. It all started with the introduction of a CAN-based distributed system in the early 1990s. Since then, a number of new system features have been launched to cater for new needs in the fast-developing forestry business.

The modern way of harvesting trees is the cut-to-length (CTL) method, which means that the tree is cut into logs in the forest. The length of the logs depends on an instruction that is based on the demands of the industry – i.e. sawmills. The CTL method is gaining in use, because it increases productivity in the value chain and is much more environmentally friendly than the fulltree method, which involves felling the tree and transporting it to the sawmill in one piece.

A CTL harvester processes up to 100 trees per hour and is operated up to 24 hours a day. The machine is virtually a mobile processing plant, quite integrated in the forestry value chain, which puts high requirements on machine productivity and uptime. In order to meet these requirements, the control and information system is probably one of the most advanced deployed on an industrial vehicle. CTL machines typically operate in teams that consist of harvesters and forwarders, with the forwarder undertaking the cross-country transportation of the logs. It is also a key component in the value chain, managing the raw material flow to the sawmill as well as the information about the raw material that is required in the value chain. Therefore, this machine needs an advanced control and information system. In certain geographical markets, harvesting is carried out by general purpose base machines, typically modelled on excavators, which are equipped with an attachment, such as a harvester head, together with the control system.

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