Load level forwarding work element analysis based on automatic follow-up data

Abstract

Recent developments in on-board technology have enabled automatic collection of follow-up data on forwarder work. The objective of this study was to exploit this possibility to obtain highly representative information on time consumption of specific work elements (including overlapping crane work and driving), with one load as unit of observation, for large forwarders in final felling operations. The data used were collected by the John Deere TimberLink system as nine operators forwarded 8868 loads, in total, at sites in mid-Sweden. Load-sizes were not available. For the average and median extraction distances (219 and 174 m, respectively), , , , and effective work (PM) accounted for ca. 45, 19, 8.5, 7.5 and 14% of total forwarding time consumption, respectively. The average and median total time consumptions were 45.8 and 42.1 minutes/load, respectively. The developed models explained large proportions of the variation of time consumption for the work elements and , but minor proportions for the work elements and Based on the means, the crane was used during 74.8% of PM time, the driving speed was nonzero during 31.9% of the PM time, and occurred during 6.7% of the PM time. Time consumption per load was more strongly associated with distance than with extraction distance, indicating that the relevance of extraction distance as a main indicator of forwarding productivity should be re-considered.LoadingUnloadingDriving emptyDriving loadedOther time Driving emptyDriving loadedLoading Unloading. LoadingLoadingSimultaneous crane work and drivingLoadingLoading drive