Elmia Wood, for those not familiar with the event, is staged every four years in the forests south of Jönköping in Småland, southern Sweden, and has grown since its inception in 1977 into the largest forestry exhibition in the world. Perhaps this isn’t surprising considering the importance of timber to Sweden’s economy, yet it attracts visitors from North and South America, eastern Europe and Australasia, as well as the main European timber growing countries, and is used as one of the main occasions for the industry’s major players to launch new product onto the world market.
From 1977 the event took place every two years, but more recently it has settled on a four-year cycle. This year’s event, the 10th, was held on a site near Vaggeryd and attracted 470 exhibitors who between them took stand space of 78,000m² – a near two-fold increase over the 1997 event which used 41,000m². Attendance was also up with a staggering 54,369 visitors over the four days from June 6-9. ‘This fair was really an organisational challenge. The size of the stand area was considerably larger than last time but things still worked even better than before,’ said fair manager Torbjörn Johnsen.
Many exhibitors at Elmia reported more foreign visitors than at previous fairs. Lars Forsberg, responsible for Scania’s presence at the fair, said: ‘Up until Friday, half our visitors were from outside Sweden – from Germany, Austria, France, Chile, the Baltic states and Russia.’ There was a notable increase in visitors from the former eastern bloc, where there is a tangible need to modernise forestry techniques and equipment.
CTL method established
Elmia Wood 2001 will also be remembered as the event at which the Nordic cut-to-length method (CTL) became firmly established on the international scene.
Ed Rapp, vice-president of marketing for Caterpillar in Europe, declared at a press conference at the fair that his company will make a major investment worldwide in CTL technology. He estimates that within 10-15 years, 70% of the world’s forestry will use the CTL method. Other new technology from Caterpillar, announced by forest products manager Dan Binz, focuses on developing new machines that exert much lower ground pressure, which will allow commercial forestry to work longer seasons or to work areas previously not accessible for environmental reasons.
New models
Software and hardware were both featured by forestry giant Timberjack. At Elmia the company showed four new harvester and five new forwarder models in addition to two new skidder models and the Fiberpack bundling machine. Its new software products, Timbermatic 300 and TimberOffice, have been designed to further improve productivity and performance of Timberjack machines. Timbermatic 300 is a centralised, digital control system for the harvester head, timber measurement and base machine control functions, integrating the harvester head measuring and controls system with TMC (total machine control) functions. The single display unit, which also contains the computer, can be seen at a glance and the system can be used either with a keyboard, mouse, keypads or levers.
With a choice of manual, semi-automatic and fully automatic settings, Timbermatic 300 helps optimise wood usage with features including full-stem prediction and value optimisation. The system features integrated controls for stump treatment, colour marking and electronic calipers. It can transfer data and files to and from the harvester via a mobile phone connection. With e-mail and GPS functions, the harvester has up-to-date mill requirements and location information, and the contractor has current production and performance figures.
TimberOffice, on the other hand, is an integrated suite of software options for contractors and forest companies allowing the user to manage and use various forms of information from forestry machines. With a mobile or fixed internet connection, it also facilitates data transfer to and from mobile email-enabled harvesters for production management.
Rapid data transfer
The software innovations shown by Timberjack were reflected by many other exhibitors who are all gearing up to rapid data transfer and electronic information handling. One interesting website being demonstrated was that of IHB timber.org which, operating on two levels, allows users to access all aspects of the industry from forest management through to sawmilling and merchanting. The main website is open to everyone and provides users with basic information about the timber wholesale business, a worldwide timber search engine, a timber library, and a co-operation and machinery exchange.
For subscribers, another level of access becomes available whereby roundwood, sawn timber, veneer, wood products, machinery etc can be identified and traded online. The new timber exchange is fully interactive allowing you to bid for items, initiate an auction, or simply watch what is happening in the market. E-mail updates can be requested for a variety of topics, including industry news, and coverage is global. A rapid response email helpline is also available for those needing additional guidance. A detailed overview of the package is at www.timber.org.
Following the undoubted success of this year’s show, the organisers have announced a new event to be held in Göteborg next August. A combination of the Wood & Technology Fair, which specialised in sawmill technology and wood finishing machinery, and Elmia Timber, which focused on wood as a material, it is aimed at creating an international fair for the entire wood products industry.
Harald Lang, managing director of Elmia AB, said: ‘The new fair is right for the times. Technological developments are tying the two sectors of the forest products industry ever closer together.’ The fair will be held every two years and alternate between Göteborg and Jönköping.
