5.- Enhance economic and environmental performance of forest supply chains

The Center of Excellence for Forestry 4.0 is developing Industry 4.0 digitalization concepts for the forest and wood cluster. The driving force behind this approach is a closely cooperating working group of companies, research centers and the Forestry Education Center  North-Rhine Westphalia as a practical testbed.New, intelligent and decentrally acting machines, devices, services and people, will enable the cluster to optimize its complex value-added networks, develop new business models and meet current challenges from ecology, economy and climate change. Existing approaches address the complexity of structures and processes, and the conflicting demands on forest management only insufficiently. To "smartify" the forest and wood cluster, existing competencies from industry, science and administration must be bundled: The goal of KWH4.0 is to create a know-how base and infrastructures, and to implement forest and wood 4.0 components via innovative Smart Forest Labs. The Smart Forest Labs serve as experimental forestry laboratories in which developed components, systems and processes are tested, standardization advanced, concepts disseminated, and actors trained. Developed concepts and standards are continuously published as practical recommendations, a first version of the communication infrastructure S3I (Internet of Things application) has been established. In addition, there is an increasingly smart fleet: forestry machines have been upgraded to retrieve digital information (GPS position, fuel consumption, production data, etc.) and at the same time networked via alternative radio standards with machines in regions where mobile communication is not possible.

FeltGis was established in 2016 by three entrepreneurs from the IT and forestry sector with intent to develop easy to use digital solutions for increased efficiency in the forestry value chain. Today the FeltGis team consists of four working partners and are owned by a group of shareholders in an Ltd.  The product FeltBox is a wireless router connecting the forestry machine to the application FeltLog. The FeltLog app makes it possible to transfer information to a computer and to receive data. Two-way communication allows the forestry machine operator to receive work descriptions and to forward production data to the whole value chain. Production data is uploaded to a central database and the user has full control over what data to transfer. FeltBox can easily be installed in any forestry machine regardless of brand, at an affordable price. The system uses access via smartphone to stay updated and to transfer information, no additional internet connection is required. Today 100+ FeltGis solutions are installed in Norway and the same number are installed for testing in different countries. The FeltGis team actively work to develop customized and market-oriented solutions for the national and international market and has concrete plans for developing new innovative solutions in the time to come, expanding their product portfolio in both depth and width. The FeltGis team are currently in dialog with stakeholders from France, Spain, Uruguay, Ireland, and Finland.

Thanks to TimFlow it is possible to check if the exploited wood is legal, if the supplier companies meet the requirements of the company's Due Dilligence system; Whether or not the wood comes from buffer zones of national parks or from other areas where intervention is not allowed. The most important quality of the Timflow system is the unprecedented level of transparency. All GPS data collected is publicly available on the portal also in English, which allows local and international stakeholders to check log shipments. Users can check via Timflow:

• all transports in the country from the last 12 months which have reached the gates of HS Timber Productions’ sawmills in Romania;
• information on transport documents;
• photos of the cargo;
• truck routes;
• in addition, users can request copies of the transport documents.

In addition, users can request copies of the transport documents.With the help of Timflow, HS Timber Group ensures that all shipments are legal, meet the requirements of the Due Diligence system and that the loaded timber does not come from buffer zones of national parks. Timflow is an important part of HS Timber Group's Due Diligence system, which strongly supports the group's efforts to reduce the risk of non-compliant timber in the supply chain. 

The application started in April 2017, the number of registered users grew 60% in the first two months following the update, and the number of transports checked on the platform surpassed the 3,000 mark – a growth of 75%. In 2017 over the first six months in operation, Timflow has recorded real-life data from all the trucks delivering logs to the first company implementing the traceability system. This includes the precise routes of the transports, a reference to the documents of origin and photos of the cargo. For each of the 16,000 transports (as of October 2017) a unique dataset is stored securely on the Timflow servers.

El objetivo del proyecto ChainWood es diseñar y desarrollar una infraestructura de software segura basada en tecnologías blockchain y de Internet de las cosas, ajustada a todas las cadenas de suministro de la madera, que permita a los distintos actores sacar el máximo partido a sus datos y gestionar el producto de una forma más eficiente en términos de coste, trazabilidad y sostenibilidad.
Las principales soluciones a problemas detectados son: Garantía en las transacciones, Información de confianza en tiempo real, Semiautomatización de la operación, Datos de calidad accesibles, Mejora de la competencia.
Recomendaciones: 

• Para los productores
  Información en tiempo real sobre el volumen y el estado del producto.
• Para la industria transformadora
  Acceso a una enorme fuente de datos sobre la materia prima que les permitirá optimizar sus procesos de suministro y agilizar la gestión de sus operaciones.
• Para las empresas de explotación
  Transparencia y garantía en las transacciones, sacando el máximo partido a la tecnología actual.
• Para las autoridades de control
  Reducción de costes en los procesos de auditoría y control, así como un conocimiento más preciso de las cadenas de suministro.
• Para las empresas logísticas 
  Información que les permitirá optimizar su flota y prestar servicios de manera más eficiente.
• Para las administraciones públicas
  Mayor facilidad de acceso a los datos sobre la madera permitiendo una gestión más ágil y eficiente de los procesos que supervisa.

The objective of the ChainWood project is to design and develop a secure software infrastructure based on blockchain and Internet of Things technologies, adjusted to all wood supply chains, allowing the different actors to make the most of their data and manage the product in a more efficient way in terms of cost, traceability and sustainability. The main solutions to problems detected are: transaction assurance, Real-time trusted information, Semi-automation of the operation, Accessible quality data, Improved competition.

Recommendations:

• For producers: Real-time information on the volume and status of the product.
• For the processing industry: Access to a huge source of raw material data that will allow them to optimize their supply processes and streamline the management of their operations.
•  For operating companies: Transparency and assurance in transactions, making the most of today's technology.
• For control authorities: Cost reduction in auditing and control processes, as well as a more precise knowledge of supply chains.
• For logistics companies: Information that will enable them to optimize their fleet and provide services more efficiently.
• For public administrations: Easier access to timber data, allowing a more agile and efficient management of the processes they supervise.

ForestMap intuitive interface allows anyone to automatically generate forest inventories of a chosen area without the need of field work and unnecessary delays. ForestMap is an unprecedented solution that delivers accurate, quick and cost-effective forest inventory reports. It is necessary to integrate a maximum of information sources to generate the most accurate, complete and updated inventories possible: LiDAR, satellite, photogrammetry, available terrain data... Stakeholders in the forestry sector are not used to working with technological tools, so it is important to do important demonstration work and support.

ForestMap has a positive impact for a major mobilisation of wood resources allowing forest-owners, operators and indutries to assess stands in an easy and remote way. ForestMap is able to provide valuable reports on demand. An operative version of the web platform (link) is working for 10 provinces in Spain, that covers more than 3 M ha. ForestMap models showed a high performance in terms of accuracy (volume BIAS< 20%) and response times being able to produce a full inventory of less than 500ha in minutes.
ForestMap has been used to produce tailor-made products for specific uses and clients, based on innovation projects:

• Tool for calculating (link)the amount of carbon in forest masses in the province of Bizkaia (Basque Country, Spain).
• Inventory mapping of fuel models tool and for the prevention and management of forest fires in La Rioja

With two newly developed forwarder prototypes, five new and different modules were implemented and tested in the fields under varying production conditions within Europe. These modules are developed towards raising the productivity of the machine, improving the working conditions and lowering the ecological impact of the forwarding process. The modules contain a hydrostatic-mechanical transmission system (HVT, M1), a suspended cabin (M2), an energy regenerating and recuperating hydraulic crane (M3), a triple bogie axle for wet terrain, that can be used with or without tracks (M4) and a monitoring system to surveil and document the machine status to derive further information of production and environment (M5).

With the tests of prototype machines, the aims of development could be proven by the field tests, that were executed within the study. Especially the effect on the soils on sensitive areas, also without the use of bogie tracks, as it was tested on distributed bark beetle infested stands in Saxony, was one field of application where the advantages of tire-based working, longer bogie axle and high contact surface were positively assessed. With more experiences, the revelation of further advantages or limitations are expected.

Within the field tests, all modules of the “Triple Bogie Prototype” (M3, M4, M5) were assessed with a positive effect. For wetland (Saxony) or even peatland working conditions (Scotland, Lithuania), the triple bogie showed advantages in technical accessibility but also the lower environmental impact on sensitive areas. Without the use of tracks, especially under varying, partly sensitive soil conditions the system has advantages towards other systems as the machine was able to relocate itself on own axle for long distances and provide the protection effect. The protection of ditches while entering forest stands was a positive additional effect of the system that could be observed as it acts like a built- in bridge. Due to potential high load capacity of both base machines, also a high productivity was recorded that fit or exceeded literature findings. The crane system (M3) which has also a high positive influence on the fuel consumption could withstand a fuel consumption reduction effect on its own, at is was proven under laboratory conditions.

• With higher productivity, now due to higher driving speeds and in course of a lowered fuel consumption, the second, “HVT- Prototype” (M1, M2, M5) setup presented its advantages especially under longer hauling distances with high possible driving speeds. This machine can be especially be efficiently used in regions with low road densities.
• With the monitoring system (M5), the environmental impact and the machine behavior was actively observed and evaluated. As the here implemented iFOS system is freely configurable, it was successfully implemented in the project and could for instance be further introduced as modular environmental documentation system by forest enterprises or in public services. The separately developed data-based crane scale as stand-alone or industry 4.0 service, makes it possible to use the forwarding information in logistic applications like the energy wood supply in the wood chip logistic (Geiger et al. 2019).

Forest information is standardized so that actors engaged in the forest sector could develop and use harmonized information systems. Although basic concepts and measurement units have been defined for decades, almost every actor has implemented them differently in their information systems. Converting and transferring information is difficult or almost impossible between systems. Forest information standards facilitate the use of open materials and data transfer between actors. This improves operational efficiency and international competitiveness of forest sector.

The development of information exchange interfaces is not finished. The goal is a situation where all forest industry systems would read, write and send via a forest information standard.

Standard defines the structure, data types and codes used in different schemes. Forest information standards are based on XML-format (geometry: GML).
Data to be exchanged with standards is: special feature data, forest compartment data, forest use declaration, timber trade, harvesting and operations. The projects outcome is: documentation, schemas, guidelines, practises. The outcome will be written XML files which are transferred between different systems. XML is used as it is international data standard, a method to structure electronic documents. XML-documents (=files) are readable and alloes to import data into all systems capable of reading such documents. The structure of XML-documents can be validated automatically so it follows its definitions (=schema).

The Best Practice is addressing the challenge of soft terrains in harvesting.

It eases planning of harvesting locations and anticipating of harvesting of different forested areas. It considers only the static features of forest, not daily weather for example. However, bearing capacity in three different summer moisture condition classes is considered in the maps.

The material of the mainland Finland harvesting maps contains rasterized harvesting maps describing the terrain's bearing capacity. The capacity is classified in six categories. The maps tell when it is possible to go into the forest with the harvester. The material is free to use.

Spatially explicit GIS-method and a collection of tools to assess the energy wood biomass availability and transport costs at regional level to any given end-use location. In the process the technical harvesting biomass potential, local competing demand and the wood resource balance are assessed. The transport costs from the grid of supply points can be viewed as a function of transport distance. Also, different future growth and demand scenarios can be included into calculations thus providing a valuable decision support to investors of energy wood industry.

Most customer projects differ from every other project in some respect. Calculation methods need more or less adjustment.

Results from the analysis: 1. Numerical (GIS) maps of biomass potential for any given timber assortment, biomass demand and wood resource balance (e.g. balance of small trees, see picture above).
2. Graphs depicting transport costs as a function of distance. 3. Spreadsheets of the result data used for graphs. 4. Summary report of the results for the customers.

For more information, see the reference.