The Impact of Fleet Size, Harvesting Site Reserve, and Timing of Machine Relocations on the Performance Indicators of Mechanized CTL Harvesting in Finland
Upscaling an operation typically results in economies of scale, i.e., cost advantages in business, especially when the production unit’s utilization rate can be improved. According to economic studies of mechanized timber harvesting, large wood harvesting entrepreneurs tend to be more successful in...
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MDPI AG
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Forests |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/10/1328 |
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| author | Kari Väätäinen Pekka Hyvönen Ville Kankaanhuhta Juha Laitila Hannu Hirvelä |
| author_facet | Kari Väätäinen Pekka Hyvönen Ville Kankaanhuhta Juha Laitila Hannu Hirvelä |
| author_sort | Kari Väätäinen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Upscaling an operation typically results in economies of scale, i.e., cost advantages in business, especially when the production unit’s utilization rate can be improved. According to economic studies of mechanized timber harvesting, large wood harvesting entrepreneurs tend to be more successful in business than small entrepreneurs. What are the factors that influence harvesting costs, and how great is their effect on costs? These questions were investigated in mechanized cut-to-length timber harvesting in Eastern Finland by varying (a) the size of the harvesting fleet, (b) the harvesting site reserve, and (c) the timing and duration of the working day of machine relocations, in the case of an entrepreneur using a discrete-event simulation method. Prior to the simulations, harvesting site data were generated from the National Forest Inventory data by the MELA software, and the spatial data analyses by ArcGIS. According to the results, largely because of the low utilization rate of the contractor’s own relocation truck, the harvesting cost of a 2-harvesting-unit (2 HU) scenario was 9% or 6% higher than 4 HU, and 13% or 8% higher than 8 HU, with or without a specifically employed driver of a relocation truck, respectively (the harvesting unit consists of a harvester and a forwarder). In the 4 and 8 HU scenarios, harvesting costs decreased on average by 1% (0.3–1.5), when doubling the size of the harvesting site reserve. With fleet sizes of 6 and 8 HU, good utilization of a relocation truck reduced relocation costs, whereas machine costs only increased a small amount because of a longer machine relocation waiting time than with smaller entrepreneurs. The study raised the importance of entrepreneur-specific planning of machine relocations in the cost-efficient timber harvesting in Finland. |
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| issn | 1999-4907 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:34:08Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
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| series | Forests |
| spelling | doaj.art-dc844333119b4945a6e6ff8296b5d7c32023-11-22T18:17:56ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072021-09-011210132810.3390/f12101328The Impact of Fleet Size, Harvesting Site Reserve, and Timing of Machine Relocations on the Performance Indicators of Mechanized CTL Harvesting in FinlandKari Väätäinen0Pekka Hyvönen1Ville Kankaanhuhta2Juha Laitila3Hannu Hirvelä4Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Latokartanonkaari 9, 00790 Helsinki, FinlandNatural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Latokartanonkaari 9, 00790 Helsinki, FinlandNatural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Latokartanonkaari 9, 00790 Helsinki, FinlandNatural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Latokartanonkaari 9, 00790 Helsinki, FinlandNatural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Latokartanonkaari 9, 00790 Helsinki, FinlandUpscaling an operation typically results in economies of scale, i.e., cost advantages in business, especially when the production unit’s utilization rate can be improved. According to economic studies of mechanized timber harvesting, large wood harvesting entrepreneurs tend to be more successful in business than small entrepreneurs. What are the factors that influence harvesting costs, and how great is their effect on costs? These questions were investigated in mechanized cut-to-length timber harvesting in Eastern Finland by varying (a) the size of the harvesting fleet, (b) the harvesting site reserve, and (c) the timing and duration of the working day of machine relocations, in the case of an entrepreneur using a discrete-event simulation method. Prior to the simulations, harvesting site data were generated from the National Forest Inventory data by the MELA software, and the spatial data analyses by ArcGIS. According to the results, largely because of the low utilization rate of the contractor’s own relocation truck, the harvesting cost of a 2-harvesting-unit (2 HU) scenario was 9% or 6% higher than 4 HU, and 13% or 8% higher than 8 HU, with or without a specifically employed driver of a relocation truck, respectively (the harvesting unit consists of a harvester and a forwarder). In the 4 and 8 HU scenarios, harvesting costs decreased on average by 1% (0.3–1.5), when doubling the size of the harvesting site reserve. With fleet sizes of 6 and 8 HU, good utilization of a relocation truck reduced relocation costs, whereas machine costs only increased a small amount because of a longer machine relocation waiting time than with smaller entrepreneurs. The study raised the importance of entrepreneur-specific planning of machine relocations in the cost-efficient timber harvesting in Finland.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/10/1328CTL harvestingharvesting fleetdiscrete event simulationmachine relocationharvesting costoperation logistics |
| spellingShingle | Kari Väätäinen Pekka Hyvönen Ville Kankaanhuhta Juha Laitila Hannu Hirvelä The Impact of Fleet Size, Harvesting Site Reserve, and Timing of Machine Relocations on the Performance Indicators of Mechanized CTL Harvesting in Finland Forests CTL harvesting harvesting fleet discrete event simulation machine relocation harvesting cost operation logistics |
| title | The Impact of Fleet Size, Harvesting Site Reserve, and Timing of Machine Relocations on the Performance Indicators of Mechanized CTL Harvesting in Finland |
| title_full | The Impact of Fleet Size, Harvesting Site Reserve, and Timing of Machine Relocations on the Performance Indicators of Mechanized CTL Harvesting in Finland |
| title_fullStr | The Impact of Fleet Size, Harvesting Site Reserve, and Timing of Machine Relocations on the Performance Indicators of Mechanized CTL Harvesting in Finland |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Impact of Fleet Size, Harvesting Site Reserve, and Timing of Machine Relocations on the Performance Indicators of Mechanized CTL Harvesting in Finland |
| title_short | The Impact of Fleet Size, Harvesting Site Reserve, and Timing of Machine Relocations on the Performance Indicators of Mechanized CTL Harvesting in Finland |
| title_sort | impact of fleet size harvesting site reserve and timing of machine relocations on the performance indicators of mechanized ctl harvesting in finland |
| topic | CTL harvesting harvesting fleet discrete event simulation machine relocation harvesting cost operation logistics |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/10/1328 |
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