In late November and early December I attended the Forest Tech 2012 conferences (http://www.fiea.org.nz/foresttech/) in Melbourne and Rotorua. I was there primarily to promote our Esri ArcGIS for Desktop based Cable Harvest Planning Solution (CHPS) – www.cableharvesting.com. Forest Tech 2012 focused on logistics, so there was quite a bit of material on transportation, supply chain optimisation, and some information on harvesting efficiencies – which is where CHPS came in. I presented on CHPS in Melbourne and Philip Elworthy, of Rayonier NZ, presented on CHPS in Rotorua.
From a content point of view, both conferences were very informative in an area of forestry that I have not had a lot of exposure to. There were some very good international speakers at both events. A highlight for both conferences was Dale Ewers of Moutere Logging – his presentation on the development of a new grapple carriage for cable harvesting was highly relevant, presented in a very practical kiwi manner, and showcased kiwi innovation. It highlighted not only the safety benefits (getting guys off the slopes) but also efficiency gains of using well designed equipment. It didn’t hurt that my presentation on CHPS followed Dale’s in Melbourne.
Well done to Brent and Gordon and their team for putting on a great event in both locations.