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34 Part One Organizations, Management, and the Networked Enterprise

lengths. The harvester marks each type with a different color spot in order to help
the forwarder to sort each log into its correct pile.
Forwarders (special forest tractors) use a map application and GPS position-
ing to transport the cut logs from the forest to the roadside. This facilitates work
and improves safety, because the system warns the operator when the machine
is approaching dangerous hazards, such as power lines. Piles of cut logs are then
transported from the roadside to factories by trucks that also use information sys-
tems, for example, to find optimal routes.
Drivers of harvesters and foresters can learn the skills required to operate their
machines by using 3D simulators that simulate real-world conditions. A driver can
sit in a simulated machine and control the machine using the levers, just like they
would in the field. The forest landscape is reflected as a 3D image on a canvas, and
the operator can move freely within the harvesting area and view the forest from
different angles.
Sources: Quotes and other information from interview with Simo Tauriainen, 2010, Software
Chief Designer, Ponsse, www.ponsse.com.
Case contributed by Ari Heiskanen, University of Oulu
onsse has well-functioning, cooperative information systems that link
Ptogether the various parties of the wood production and procurement
chain, such as the forest owner, the wood-purchasing organization, the forest
machine owner and operator, and the manufacturing plant that uses the wood
cut from the forest. The systems benefit all parties. Some of the information sys-
tems provided by Ponsse are integral parts of forest machinery, like those embed-
ded in harvesters and forwarders; others are products that can be purchased.
Information flows between these parties automatically. The availability of these
kinds of information systems boosts the selling of Ponsse’s main products, the
forest machines. The harvester information system guides the machine and gath-
ers exact information on how the machine is being operated and the details of
the yield. The company that owns the forest machine can monitor the machine’s
utilization and the distribution of working hours and sequences, for example.
The harvester driver can adjust the harvester operating settings according to
his or her own preferences. The forest field office gets information from several
sources, such as harvester operations in the forest, the trucks, or the factory. All
of this makes the management of the various phases of the wood procurement
chain more efficient. Harvester and forwarder information systems also enhance
the ecological treatment of forests by highlighting areas to be avoided.

Q Develop new production
processes Business
Q Develop new management Challenges
techniques Q Increase forest production efficiency
Q Increase use of data by Q Integrate the production process
managers Management Q Build supply chain system
Q Build new business
production processes
Q Build new channels of Information Business
Organization
information flow System Solutions
Q Train employees in use of
the systems Q Optimize utilization
Q Display and report GPS of forests
Q Develop GPS systems for Technology location data Q Increase production
Q Reports on production efficiency
field use
Q Provide online coordination Q Coordinate production
Q Create email links with
processes
operators
Q Develop data base to receive
information

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