The SkogsElmia Innovation Award is a new prize launched by the Swedish trade event organiser Elmia AB. Consisting of two categories gold and silver, the award aims to highlight new and innovative technology in forestry and the forestry sector. The jury has nominated eleven innovations that have the chance to win the inaugural SkogsElmia Innovation Award at the upcoming SkogsElmia forestry tradeshow June 6-8, 2019 in Bratteborg, outside Jönköping, Sweden.
Consisting of industry experts, the jury has assessed the innovations according to the criteria of novelty value, environmental impact, work environment, end-product quality, and economy or productivity. The eleven nominees presented below all have a shot at gold or silver medals but the “who wins what and why” will be revealed on June 6 in the “Event Tent” at SkogsElmia.
Product: EasyCut
Company: Fomatec OY
About the product: Harvester sawbar with a new design that saves fuel and cuts faster, which in turn saves money and time for the contractor. Fomatec also states that the sawbar improves log quality, as the risk of splitting or cracks in the tree decreases.
Product: Combino
Company: Fomatec OY
About the product: Hybrid tracks for forest machines that the operator can piece together. The base is a cutting track that can be made to carry by inserting bolting on plates. Fomatec states that switching plates from its hybrid tracks saves time compared to changing entire tracks. The load-bearing plates also have a new V-profile that will provide better bearing capacity and pack “inwards” instead of pushing the sides.
Product: Sensomatic
Company: Markusson AB
About the product: New grinding patented machine for harvester sawchains. All parts of the sawchain are automatically ground – cutting tooth, bottom and rider – using a sensor. According to the manufacturer, the result is a “better bite” in the sawchain, fewer cracks in the tree, faster cutting and bucking, and longer life for both sawbars and sawchains.
Product: Forest Falcon
Company: Optea AB
About the product: A Head Up display for retrofitting in forest machines. Important information is projected in the driver’s field of view, on a so-called “combiner” similar to what is used in fighter jets. Studies show that productivity is improved and that the working environment becomes less stressful. The image is displayed so that the driver feels that it is located seven meters in front of the cab, in the harvesting unit’s working area.
Product: MS500i direct injection
Company: Stihl Norden AB
About the product: The new MS500i is the world’s first chainsaw with electronic fuel injection. The fuel is injected directly into the crankcase via a valve. The result is a weight/power ratio of 1.24 kg/kW which, according to the manufacturer, is the best in the market. Direct injection also makes the chainsaw easier to start than the equivalent with a carburetor.
Product: Arboreal tree height measurement
Company: Arboreal
About the product: A mobile phone app that calculates the height of the tree from distance to the tree and angle to the top. According to the manufacturer, it is more precisely a traditional instrument such as angle gauges. A different business model where the app and the first measurements are free, then you buy measurements. So far only available for IOS, but an Android version will be ready for SkogsElmia.
Product: Tracyman
Company: Tracy of Sweden
About the product: Patented technology for identifying each log with a reading of the cut surface using a mobile phone or camera. Processing and re-identification take place with a cloud service. The app Tracyman is part of a larger system.
Product: Katam Forest
Company: Katam AB
About the product: App for mobile phone that replaces relascope, calipers, and measurement tables. Together with Katam’s treetop detection system and with the help of the drone foot that detects position and height, all trees in a stand or on a property can be calculated in terms of tree species, diameter, tree height, and standing volume.
Product: Tallskydd
Company: Viskadalens Produktion AB
About the product: Tallskydd is a mechanical form of plant protection made from metal and placed on the pine plant in August-September before deer and elk begin to browse. The installation can be performed when desired, weather-independent. From year two and onwards no work tools or accessories are needed to move and adjust the protection to the new top shoot. Tallskydd can be reused over many years.
Product: Woodflow ux
Company: Creative Optimization Sweden AB
About the product: Woodflow is a product that integrates several components into complete decision support for flow and allocation problems. It is aimed at companies that have complex supply planning problems where it is important to balance the supply of assortment against the demand for sawmills, pulp, and paper industries. Woodflow handles several transport modes at the same time so that trucks are coordinated with train systems and boat transports. Woodflow can be used for planning for both roundwood and forest fuels.
Product: Dosers
Company: Arevo AB
About the product: ArGrow is a patented dosing device for manual planting pipes, developed for the company’s fertilizer arGrow Granules. The innovation is that the movement of the push rod is used to automatically dispense the right amount of fertilizer around the roots of the plant. It is supplied mounted on planting pipes, with a doser adapted to the size of the pipe. The feed wheel can be changed if another dosage is desired.
