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Australian Forests & Timber News, August 2012 – 23

AFCA HALL OF FAME

AFCA 2012 Launceston Green; Max Helm; Dennis James; Trevor Leis; Glen Radford; Leon Triffett; the late George Whatley; John Whatley; Victor Weller; Peter Williams; Robert Williamson; and Yule Woolley. All up, this group has amassed more than 550 years service to the industry. Drane recognised the support provided by AFCA sponsors, which were represented on the evening by Komatsu Australia; Caterpillar Australia; OneTrak and Premium Wholesale Tyres. AFCA director, Ken Padgett spoke of his involvement in the painfully slow negotiations that will ultimately decide the future of the state’s forestry industry, but appeared quietly confident of achieving a positive outcome.

By Rosemary Ann Ogilvie

ROUND 70 forestry people attended the AFCA Hall of Fame induction dinner at Launceston’s Grand Chancellor Hotel on May 31, 2012. AFCA manager David Drane hosted the evening, and with his usual skill introduced the inductees and extracted stories about their experiences. Only four were present: Ray Palmer, Max Iles, Oliver (Percy) Chatwin and Stephen Flewin, but all admitted to thoroughly enjoying the evening – even those who had been hesitant of accepting. Those not present were Ray Taking; Anthony

gottstein trust applications for 2013 awards

the Joseph william Gottstein Memorial trust invites applications from interested persons for Gottstein fellowships and Gottstein industry awards. GOTTSTEIN FELLOWSHIPS Fellowships are awarded to people from or associated with Australian forest industries to further their experience, education or training either within or outside Australia. Project proposals on any relevant topic are welcome. Candidates will be selected on the value of the project, and on their ability to complete and disseminate the information acquired.

GOTTSTEIN INDUSTRY AWARDS 14 – August 2012, Australian Forests & Timber News

Australian Forests & Timber News, August 2012 – 15

From the very basic to the very best, Harold’s operated them all 2012 Issue AUGUST

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int To the po

Minister Forestr y revive Queensland gh plans to of John McVei g fortunes y. the laggin timber industr ment and Queensland’s his depart would He said Queensland y plan nd. Timber p an industrfor the y Portla map chip facilit jointly develo e a road  Wood to provid future. is not sland Queen shows Timber by a report that r surprised in the numbe decline report by the rapid a sing lls. The of sawmi shows log proces over ABARES declined 70% 332. have just to mills decade a move the past is due to ing The decline mills produc -up larger towards and the locking part. played a more timber the has also of stands benefit of strateg ic spokesperson industr y forest “So, the h the mill in port is now less,” is really going Tasmania’s ed new researc will the pulp than to feed er, it is now said. “Also, Gunns er rather has welcomsaying it forest be sent ient howev a pulp producer.” funding, the state’s l border of Tasma nia, is a suffic in to be hip export le, on the complement ent. The Federa ia. ed there availa ble a woodc $5 Green Trianglia and Victoruse the believ of woodchips peace agreem announced for GUM to g source South Austra N BLUE planne d Governmentresearch fundin lture millio n Tasma nia. in USTR ALIA a subsid iaryl It had also up to 1.5 aquacu be million to load hips to be used y and Plantations, firm Globa facilit y sed the forestr The money will woodc billion of US-ba has been touted tonnes of the $2.3 industries. up an Experimental rs, Gunns as feedst ock in and set mill. ate Forest Partne buyer of of used to Facility likely Bay pulp need to liquid as for Future as the site. As this editionhad Bell a Aquaculture sale Institute However, the Portla nd both in press there sale Portla nd National ssing its the went to Industries, assets forced s on progre t at move on AFTN Forest official million. mill projec Gunns focuse been no Hobart. ed $60 25-yea r $2.5 billion pulp nia. jobs for a reportwhich has a nd, Gunns in Tasma r more a NSW as to y Gunns, 4ha site at Portla e Bell Bayding TWENTY-fou a ’s an orderl lost acrossattempts to to finalis30 Accor lease on n, “there will be seeking ment June atise spoke sperso s happe ning”.Gunns had been ction before the Govern and corpor cuts includ ing (sales) proces n said job the the transa l factor s, restructure ACCC, spoke sperso expec ted NSW. The workshops A the severa by but ally Forests five be used igation ans closing had origin y would an invest completion. hips include ope, Eden, Batemwith the iling and Portla nd facilit for woodc in delayed built a stockp point in Wauch o, and Grafton en Port the transit Triang le” a Gunns g facilit y at Bay, Toront job losses. Thirtethe “Gree n Austra lia to at a as 11 from the 2009/10 South ship loadin a total of also be cut in nd over n to support Victor ia and of Portla jobs will Region. the millio in $24 cost of tion operat ions Brigalow its planta

AROLD BRANT has been driving Forwarders for the past 37 years with a “home-made Mac” one of the early machines he operated. Since then he’s put quite a few through their paces and he readily admits that the machines of today are a far cry from those early offerings. “Really, you just can’t compare them,” he says. Harold says it doesn’t mater what the brand is the current day machines are quite simply streets ahead. He recently spent two weeks trialling the new Logset Titan 10F Forwarder (which made its debut

at AUSTimber 2012 near Mount Gambier) and says the Finnishmanufactured machine more than lived up to its credentials. “I was surprised at just how good the machine was,” he said. “The worse part was that at the end of the trial I had to give it back,” he quipped. Markku Turunen, of Karmet Enterprises (Australia’s Logset dealer), was in the cabin with Harold for the start of the testing. “As soon as I hopped in and started driving it down in the bush I knew it was something special,” said Harold. “I did one load and then another one and he (Markku)

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his knell for the death he would sound logging us to mill,” business. that native r-old family tive timbers for 50-yea ts forest policy no alterna ban the ng a new Forest Produc “There’s is planni native logging or with the LABOR of work to all STATE lia. said said. produce done a lot timber. e a halt “We’ve plantation products that we building West Austra er Sally TalbotLabor could includ ission on in jarrah in but minist and other import felling of environment be determined nmental Comm for using them g can floorin you “But yet to Enviro Shadow joinery, e in that than we policy was seriously” two 2010 that noted - which is are suitabl better quality the final “very s since to sustain products - nones that are of was takingAuthority report was unlikely y or timber r were directl ry Protection rn jarrah forest d cheape to here.” g indust being worke , have access ted 3000 people t on the northe native loggin g levels. policies An estima ed by the closures and impac series of ted in native forestsas current loggin native whole employ a mill as far forests are indirectly would result in “There are ly we are interes on the board Dr Talbot . Old-growth . and a ban on and certain s got the runsgrowth goes,” communities been logged Labor’ regional never of old I mean logging ted timber forests that have ending the on of fabrica manager ts, said a ban said. i, group ood Produc David Gosatt r Inglew manufacture

The same industry-leading news, views and ad’s you’re reading in this issue are now available on-line as well. While we know print is the most convenient form for reading in the cab, lunchroom or highlighting an important point for the next reader, we also know that many of our readers want to go straight to websites or send emails from the articles and ad’s they’re reading.

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working in a sawmill when he first left school then went pine falling for about 11 years. “It was getting too hard and a lot of people were getting out of it then and the machines were starting to come in so I went on the Forwarders and never looked back.” His operational skills – apart from normal day-to-day work – have been on display at competitions around Australia and also in Sweden. He’s won three National Forwarder titles and competed in two in Sweden. “You’ve just got to take it easy and away you go. If the nerves don’t get to you you’re right,” he said of the demanding competition standards.

“I’ve always taken a lot of pride in my work,” he said. So, from a man well credentialed to cast a verdict on the Logset Titan 10F ... “It’s the best machine I’ve been in. I reckon they’ll sell a lot of them once they sell their first one.”

INTERVIEWS statiivi.fi

stopped me and asked what I thought of it and I said it was the best machine I had ever driven.” Harold said there was good vision from the cabin plus it was comfortable and quiet inside the cabin. “It had good reach with the boom ... much the same as all of them (other machines) around. “It rode very smoothly despite it being pretty rough where I trialled it. The ground was flat but very rough. “Tonnages were similar to the others trialled against it, and the engine had plenty of power; the same motor as some of the others have got, same motor as the Komatsu has got. “Logset has a feature in it where when you need it you can get 10% more power, but we didn’t need that where we were working because it was too flat. That’s more for steep terrain work. “The operating control set up was very good; just have to go into the computer and adjust them as you want them. Nice light levers; very good to operate. “It was a little bit different because you have to do it with your levers, switch your crane off and then work around it with your lever and boost your percentages up or down to where you want them and then kick it in and go to the next one.

Logset brings a better logging experience to the forest machinery market. Logset 10F Titan 18 ton forwarder offers better efficiency, better durability, better usability and better productivity. Logset is simply better – for a logger who demands more.

 LOGSET on show at AUSTimber.

New forwarder crane hits the market CRANE MANUFACTURER Cranab has released the FC16, the largest model in its new generation of cranes for forwarders. The FC16 has been developed especially for the market’s largest and most powerful forwarders. The development of today’s forwarders has resulted in their becoming larger and more powerful, with an increased loading capacity. The largest machines have an increased load capacity from 18 tonnes to 20 tonnes. At its full range of 8.5 metres the crane can lift all of 1310 kg at the tip. Gross lifting torque is 165 kNm. Added to this is a powerful slewing engine with a slewing torque of an impressive 42.5 kNm. “We have followed market developments and users needs very closely, and have designed our new model entirely to meet the new demands of the industry. This new crane is, for example, optimised in proportion to the slewing effect and the lifting force. We have been very careful in this respect when developing the new FC16,” said marketing manager Micael Olsson. “We know that harmony between lifting force and slewing effect is crucial. These properties are vital in sloping terrain where it is especially important that the forwarder is fitted with a crane strong enough to both lift and slew while fully laden in the same motion cycle.” The FC16 has all of the excellent properties featured in the new generation, with the addition of the increased capacity for larger machines. The FC16 comes as standard as a single telescopic crane, but it will also be available as a double telescopic crane and a 10 metre version. The new giant FC16 was premièred at the KWF exhibition in Germany in June.

These awards are available to assist workers in the Australian forest industries to improve their industry knowledge and work skills. Applications focusing on small group study tours will be favourably viewed, although any relevant project topic may be proposed. Candidates will be selected on the value of the project.

“Bit different to what we have normally been used to but once you started to get used to doing things like that it was OK,” said Harold. And what about any bad points ... “couldn’t find anything really wrong with it but the bars in the rack were a bit close together and a bit hard to see through but they (Logset) said they’d make another one for it. “Bit hard to climb up to clean the back window so he (Markku) said ‘right we’ll put a step on there’ (one each side). Anything you wanted done they said they would do. “I suppose they’ve got to to start and sell them. “Getting used to the controls didn’t take very long; they’re all very much the same these days with mini levers,” he said. Was the computer system hard to operate? “You don’t have to touch it really unless you want to do some things like reversing down into the bush at night. It’s a bit hard to see with cab lights going and if

you wanted to turn some off you had to go into the computer to do it and you could turn off one light at a time. Only took a few seconds to do, though. “It’s got wiper blades on the side windows which are good. “Lot of room in the cabin. “Good travelling speed in low gear. “They’re made fairly solid. “They’ve got a sliding rack and bolster, the first two bolsters and the rack are joined together and you just press a button in the cab to move it backwards if you want to load shorter wood and there’s the extension out the back of the chassis for doing long poles, all operated from within the cabin. “Just switch the crane off and press another button, operate the lever and back it goes,” said Harold. For a man who has been in the business pretty much all his life this Forwarder came up trumps. Harold started in the industry

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Applications for each category will be considered by the Trustees and promising applicants will be selected for interviews in October 2012.

FURTHER INFORMATION Further details may be obtained from the Trust’s website at www.gottsteintrust.org, or from the Secretary.

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS

Now available on-line Visit www.timberbiz.com.au/aft today to view your copy online

The closing date for applications is 7th September 2012. Applications should be forwarded to: Dr Silvia Pongracic, Secretary, J. W. Gottstein Memorial Trust Fund, Private Bag 10, Clayton South, VIC 3169 Telephone: 0418 764 954 Fax: 03 9545 2139 Email: secretary@gottsteintrust.org