General Info

Increase Log Quality Through Improved Bucking

OVERVIEW:

The USDA Forest Service's Wood Education and Resource Center (WERC), The Ohio Forestry Association, Inc., Michigan Technological University, and other partners recognize a need for providing assistance to the forest products industry regarding improving the value of hardwood logs. The Hardwood Value Improvement Project (HVIP) was developed to address this need through the transfer of information and training to loggers in the 28 states of the eastern hardwood region. The project utilizes a mixture of indoor and field activities in concert with a computerized decision tool. The general approach to achieve project goals is a train-the-trainers process which involves the training the Local Trainers that will then train loggers.

GOAL:

The goal of the Hardwood Value Improvement Project is to increase the value and quality of hardwood logs in the eastern hardwood region through improving log bucking skills of loggers.

OBJECTIVES:

The general approach to achieve project goals is a train-the-trainers process which involves transferring training tools and materials, training session format and strategies, and regional customization of the training to fit the needs of Local Trainers. The specific approach employed to train the Local Trainers relies on Regional Coordinators, who would train the Local Trainers.

The objectives of the project are to:

Develop a network of certified HVIP trainer throughout the eastern hardwood region
Train hardwood log buckers using a computerized decision tool, with a mixture of indoor and field activities that will improve hardwood log bucking values
Engage stakeholders to ensure that products and services generated as a result of this program reflect user needs
Create conditions that will encourage the application
of technologies and practices developed beyond the life of the project.

TRAINING:

The training sessions are 1-2 day events, which integrate field, classroom and computer simulation techniques to teach loggers skills to make better bucking decisions. This combination of hands on activities and classroom teaching has proven to be effective at engaging loggers and delivering the program information.

A pre-packaged training program has been developed that includes a bucking simulator, which enables buckers to make bucking decisions on screen and then compared their decision to an optimal bucking decision generated by the computer. In addition to the computer simulation there is printed info on log defects, grading and scaling, etc. This training package was developed by Dr. Jim Pickens at Michigan Tech. with funding from WERC.

Why Should I be Involved?

Impact on hardwood bucking decisions

A tremendous opportunity exists to improve the quality and value of logs produced in the bucking operation and this improvement is needed to help offset the overall decline in the availability of high-quality sawlogs.

Two recent studies (Pickens 2003, Haynes and Visser 2001) have exposed the degree to which this lack of emphasis on high-quality log production during the bucking operation is responsible for diminishing the quality and value of the log stream processed by hardwood sawmills. The two studies agree, more than 20 percent (and in some cases approaching 40 percent) of the potential value of sawlogs is lost due to poor log bucking. The potential for recovering a substantial portion of this value is very real. Pickens (2003) found that loggers who are given training and asked to focus on quality log bucking do indeed improve their performance (as measured by log value recovery) easily and dramatically. The appalling difference between the maximum potential value of logs and the actual recovered value of logs was reduced by 50 percent after loggers participated in a very brief log-bucker training program (Pickens 2003).

Increased availability of high quality sawlogs can make significant contributions towards assisting the U.S. hardwood lumber industry to sustain itself under the pressures of global competition. Increased quality and value will provide higher profits to the small businesses that make up the solid hardwood products supply chain, enabling more of them to survive. Applied on a region-wide basis, improvements in log bucking provide one of the greatest opportunities for sustaining the eastern forest resource and resource-dependent economies.