Logging Industry in the United States: Employment and Profitability

This study analyzed logging industry employment and profitability in recent decades in the U.S. based on Occupational Employment Statistics (OES), Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI), Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), and Timber Product Output (TPO) Reports. The logging industry in the U.S. has experienced reduced employment with an aging workforce over the past two decades. The changes might be related to increased productivity from mechanization, combined with reduced demand for logging, but estimates of capital and labor productivity for logging are not available. To overcome the data limitation, a simple and cost-effective economic model, Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) Model, was applied to estimate the profitability of the entire industry at a state level. It was found that the reduced demand and increased operating costs led to poor profitability and a wave of closures of logging firms but also accelerated the adjustment in the logging industry. Serious challenges facing the forestry sector include the lack of an effective monitoring tool for the logging industry, structural shortage of logging labor, and rising operating costs.

Fir Reproduction Technology for Harvesting Coniferous Boughs

The article considers the use of innovative technologies in logging industry. Manufacture of products “for health” can turn into a substantial profit if one approaches the business competently and chooses a low-competitive niche. Nowadays, there are still types of industries where competition is minimal, despite high consumer demand. These include the industrial production of fir needle oil, which is popular with consumers. It is famous for its healing properties and is used in treating colds, intestinal issues, joints, and nervous disorders; in the manufacture of cosmetics and medicines (ointments and creams). However, there are a number of issues related to the organization of the fir needle oil production, which are the basis of legislation in this area. This applies to the harvesting of raw materials. The share of fir stands in the composition of forests is constantly decreasing. In the European part of Russia, it became necessary to find a way to ensure a regular supply of fir needle oil enterprises with the necessary raw materials. The article proposes a new technology for the artificial reproduction of fir plantations for the purpose of their further use in the production of fir needle oil. A periodic cycle, which allows producing fir needle oil wherever a fir plantation is laid out, is recommended. The design of the device has also been developed. It helps to reduce the planting time, the loads on people when forming the planting spot and thereby increase labor productivity. The article materials can serve as a guide for the efficient use of production resources (people and machinery) for those who lease land for fir growing for oil production. For citation: Tsarev E.М., Rukomojnikov K.P., Anisimov S.E., Tatarinov D.S. Fir Reproduction Technology for Harvesting Coniferous Boughs. Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2021, no. 6, pp. 79–88. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2021-6-79-88

Formation of the timber industry competitiveness

The article is devoted to the methodological and instrumental study of the process of forming the competitiveness of the timber industry. The authors substantiated the structural and logical scheme of the competitive development of the logging industry, which includes the directions for generating competitive advantages in the process of industry development. Within the framework of the program-targeted approach, the main directions of the system of measures for the formation of the competitive development of the logging industry were formulated in the form of a draft Program for the Development of the Competitiveness of the Timber Industry, considering the time periods of the Strategy for the Development of the Forestry Complex of the Russian Federation until 2030. The authors have proposed the Passport of the Program for the Development of the Competitiveness of the Timber Industry, which includes a set of Subprograms within the framework of the legal and regulatory framework that regulates the use and reproduction of forests. The tactical goals are clarified, tasks are solved within each subprogram; target objectively controlled indicators of the Program are proposed.

Marketing analysis of the technological equipment market for the Russian logging industry

The results of the analysis of the equipment market for the logging industry in Russia are presented. A literary review of the domestic and foreign equipment markets is presented, the size of the market is estimated, its segmentation is carried out, consumer preferences are identified and characterized. The assessment of the key product range for the industry is carried out, the main foreign competitors are identified and the existing barriers to the entry of domestic products into the market are analysed, as well as ways to overcome them are proposed and justified. The features of the demand for products are analysed, the possibilities of import substitution of currently used logging machines are studied and the ways of their marketing promotion are presented. The directions of further development of forest engineering and the entire forest complex of Russia based on import substitution and ensuring the economic and technological security of Russia are substantiated.

Theoretical Studies of Forwarder Productivity with Limited Impact on Soils

Wheeled forest machines currently dominate the logging industry in Russia and in the world. Every year in Russia, the share of machine-made wood harvesting using Scandinavian technology increases, which involves felling trees, delimbing, and bucking them at a swath. Moreover, this technology is used not only for conventional two-machine systems with harvester and forwarder. In some regions of Siberia three-machine systems are gaining popularity. They consist of a feller-buncher, a swath processor, and a forwarder for skidding obtained logs. The issue of increasing the efficiency of forwarders is relevant for the timber industry. Its solving is possible on the basis of a comprehensive assessment of design solutions with the use of modern modeling and process optimization tools at the stage of development design. This approach requires deep theoretical and experimental research and is of great scientific and practical interest. When determining the maximum volume of skidded wood, the following machine limitations are considered: by bearing capacity; by tangential traction force; by the traction of the mover with the soil (tangential traction force should not exceed the traction force of the mover with the driving surface – the soil of the logging site). Besides this, there are recommendations to limit the weight of the skidder with the load, based on the permissible track depth after the first pass of the machine; it is believed that this figure should not exceed 20 cm. This statement is supported by the results of studies of the track development under the cyclic influence of the wheel mover (that is when the forwarder repeatedly passes the same section of the portage). This raises the question of forwarder productivity in the skidding operation with the regard to the track depth limitation. For citation: Burmistrova O.N., Prosuzhih A.A., Khitrov E.G., Kunitskaya O.A., Luneva E.N. Theoretical Studies of Forwarder Productivity with Limited Impact on Soils. Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2021, no. 3, pp. 101–116. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2021-3-101-116

Effect of Addition of Chopped Needles on the Fiberboard Quality Indicators

Until recently, only the trunk of a tree was recognized as valuable in the forest industry, and everything else, including the crown, was considered waste. Logging wastes cluttered felling sites and created a favorable environment for habitation and reproduction of forest pests, as well as contributed to the emergence of forest fires. Today, wood greens are used as a raw material in the logging industry for the production of pellet fuels; in the woodchemical complex for the manufacture of chlorophyll-carotene pastes, sodium chlorophyllin, and coniferous healing extract; in agro-industrial production to obtain coniferous vitamin flour. Analysis of literature sources showed that fibreboards are widely used in housing construction as structural, finishing, and insulating materials. The advantage of fibreboards is the ability to impart special properties to them, such as fire resistance, water resistance, biostability, soundproofing, and heat-insulating ability by adding various components to the fibreboard at the manufacturing stage. Studies of the effect of adding coniferous flour on the quality indicators and physical and mechanical parameters of the finished fiberboard have been carried out in order to solve the problem of expanding the raw material base for fiberboard production. The possibility of using this raw material in the form of coniferous flour in the production of fiberboard has been substantiated. The influence of the percentage of needle flour in the total volume of wood fiber pulp and particle size on the qualitative indicators of the material is shown. Statistical and mathematical equations and graphical dependencies have been obtained. They allow predicting the indicators of fiberboards for a given content and particle size of flour from coniferous greens. The optimal size of the particles of coniferous flour and its content in the fibreboard at which the values of physical and mechanical indicators of the finished product meet the requirements of the State Standard GOST 4598-86 are determined. For citation: Zyryanov M.A., Medvedev S.O., Mokhirev A.P. Effect of Addition of Chopped Needles on the Fiberboard Quality Indicators. Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2021, no. 3, pp. 125–132. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2021-3-125-132

Modernization of monitoring system of tir pressure for forest and agricultural machines

Technical solutions that can be implemented to increase mileage of tires up to 35%, eliminate the emergency of tires of forest and agricultural machines, reduce fuel consumption, increase cross-country ability and stability of machines, reduce damage of soil of cutting areas are discussed. These innovative methods for management of durability of tires are already widely used abroad, in leading transport companies in Russia, at large agricultural enterprises, but are still not known in the logging industry. The main competitive advantages of these technical solutions are simplicity of the construction, installation and operation, as well as low cost. As a result of the analysis of the existing tire pressure monitoring systems, the authors suggest the principle of improving the construction, which increases its reliability and reduces the cost.

THE STATE OF THE TIMBER INDUSTRY COMPLEX OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION IN A SPARSELY FORESTED REGION ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE VORONEZH REGION

The timber industry complex of the Russian Federation ranks fourth among all branches of the country, because in terms of forest area Russia ranks first in the world (8148895 km2), which is about 49.76% of the total area of Russia. The timber industry complex is a complex system and consists of four components (logging industry, woodworking industry, pulp and paper industry, wood chemical industry). Particular attention is paid to this industry in Eastern Siberia, Western Siberia and the Far East, because these regions have the greatest forest cover. In sparsely wooded regions, the timber industry is not a priority and little attention is paid to it, both by the state and by investors. In this article, we examined the state of the forestry complex of the Voronezh region, the forest cover of this territory is only eight percent of the entire territory of the country, all forests are protective, therefore the volume of timber is carried out thanks to sanitary felling and is about 285 thousand m3. In this region there are about 20 large and medium-sized enterprises involved in the timber industry and about 40 small private enterprises. The main problem of the timber industry complex in a low-wooded region is low-quality products, imperfection of regulatory legal acts at the regional level, and lack of investment. In this regard, measures were proposed that will contribute to the development of the timber industry complex in the low-forest region.