50 | FORESTRY Manulife Forest Management - Waikato (NZ) T T Rosa Watson Technology opens up career pathways Safe Start: National Certificate achievers with guest speaker Graham Lowe. Skyworks choppers in action (below). 027 483 3009 / 07 886 8967 Fax 07 886 5365 smiley@fastharvesting.co.nz 55 Croad Place, PO Box 322, Tokoroa 3444 Proudly supporting Manulife South Waikato www.azteclog.co.nz | Ph. 027 530 5774 Log Haulage Specialists Technological advances across the board in the forestry industry are helping forest management company Manulife Forest Management (NZ) Ltd (MFM (NZ)) - fill labour shortages and create safer working conditions for forestry staff. Formerly Hancock Forest Management (NZ) Ltd , Manulife carries out planting , silviculture, harvesting and log distribution operations, with all forestry undertaken by local contracting businesses. In the Waikato region, MFM (NZ) engages in the order of 50 contracting businesses who in turn employ upwards of 800 workers, “For every direct job there’s two indirect jobs that come out of that,” MFM (NZ) National Operations Manager Andrew Widdowson said. “That’s a lot of businesses that we engage and a lot of income both to the business owners but also to the employees.” The Waikato region is managed out of Tokoroa and includes Kinleith, Mamaku and the King Country covering 103,000 hectares of forestry. MFM (NZ) began operating in the Waikato region in 2005. The forests in the region were purchased in 2006 when the former owner, Carter Holt Harvey, put all their forests on the market. Since 2014, it has embarked on fully mechanising their harvesting operations across the board. Andrew said they were now seeing the benefits of this come through, particularly in health and safety and in productivity. Right now, they are trialling mechanised planting systems. “We are collaborating with other companies in New Zealand that are also on that journey, but also monitoring global happenings in that space.” Mechanisation was helping fill gaps in the “very tight” labour market, Andrew said. “Which I think has been really challenging for many businesses in the country. Mechanisation in operations has helped to solve some of that shortfall.” Driving technology and imagery technology is starting to replace the need to have people in the forest on the ground, for example taking measurements, he said. “We’ve got several different types of drones just to supplement that on the ground work.” And in the logging truck driver wellbeing space, Manulife was working with specialised companies on fatigue management. “We require all logging trucks operating in our system to be fitted with guardian camera technology.” These cameras are driver facing and forward facing, and can monitor drivers’ attention and sound an alarm if the driver takes their eyes of the road for an extended time or falls asleep. “It’s proving to be extremely useful in improving the whole driving environment for drivers.” The company is working with its contracted distribution suppliers to introduce automatic log restraining systems that eliminate the need to manually throw chains over loads “There are systems now that do that hydraulically.” This could open up the industry to a whole new demographic of truck drivers. “These are really advanced trucks that no longer need physical strength to drive, so that’s exciting.” This was especially important as there was a dire shortage of truck drivers. A scheme bringing migrant workers from the Philippines was helping in some way to address the shortage. MFM (NZ) recently joined a programme run through the Central North Island Wood Council, which gives school leavers on the job training. “It’s been very successful in terms of I think we had about 50 to 60 per cent placement rate, which is pretty good given forestry can be challenging. People have to experience it to see if it’s for them.” Forestry has an important role to play in tackling climate change with carbon sequestration, improving soil and water quality as well as making a significant contribution to the overall economy. “We believe forestry will always make a positive contribution in New Zealand.” “We’ve got several different types of drones just to supplement that ‘on the ground’ work.”
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