HOW IT WORKS
speed of sound through wood provides a direct measure of stiffness
MOE (stiffness) = density x (sonic velocity)2
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Extract structural logs from non-structural stands
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Cut logs to right length knowing stiffness, streamline operation, OSH
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Log segregation within stand can provide significant financial benefit
Stiffness of green wood in logs and stems is variable dependent on species, site, genetics and silviculture. Acoustic velocity measurement is used because it is a direct measure of wood stiffness.
The biggest destruction of value after 30 years of forest nurture is at the point of log making when quality decisions are made without measuring the wood strength.
Fibre-gen is world re-known in the forestry industry for its HITMAN HM200 and HITMAN ST300 handheld tools which rely on a manual hammer hit to operate.
HITMAN HM200 is applied on the end of the log, and is used by many logging crews around the world to measure wood stiffness in motor-manual logging operations - a much larger, automated version of this technology the HITMAN LG640 is installed in saw mills.
The HITMAN ST300, is used to measure wood stiffness in standing trees for pre-harvest assessment. Effectively, the HITMAN PH330 processor head device takes the technology of the award winning HITMAN ST300 and integrates it into a harvester head to automate the wood quality measure into mechanical log making operations.
Forest Industry Insights
NZ industry is losing value selling unsegregated high stiffness logs at no premium.
An industrywide focus on quality is required to significantly increase domestic wood value recovery
Savvy buyers pay a premium if they have to and make sure they access the highest stiffness logs possible.
Forest owners care more about volume currently than they do about log quality because they can’t measure, cut and sort for stiffness automatically and cost effectively.
Transport costs are driving stiffness segregation as savvy mill owners don’t want waste.
The forest industry wants men off the ground with safe, automated, skid site based grading systems