Holmen Introduces Digital Wood Scanning
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Holmen is now taking another step towards more resource-efficient and digital forestry. Through an advanced three-dimensional image analysis of the forest company’s wood deliveries, Holmen will be able to increase the efficiency of transport and boost the added value of the wood.
“This is a climate-smart solution that makes wood scanning more accurate and the whole process more efficient. Unmanned measurement terminals offer the possibility to be open around the clock, creating greater accessibility and fewer queues. In this way, we can make better use of transport resources, which is good for both the work environment and the climate,” says Andreas Rastbäck, Marketing Director at Holmen Skog.
During wood scanning, the timber truck drives in through an unmanned measuring rig where the logs’ diameter and solid volume percentage are read digitally. The information is immediately sent on to a log measurer, who then quickly informs the driver that the load has been scanned and whether it has been approved for the plant it is heading to. This means more accurate scanning of the volume on which payment is based and faster unloading of the load.
The first measuring rig will be installed at the train terminal in Vännäs. Then a rig will be installed at Holmen’s paper mill in Hallstavik, followed by one at the paper mill in Braviken. Holmen has signed an agreement with the Jönköping company Cind for the supply of measuring rigs, cameras and technology.
“Holmen’s strategy to digitize and streamline its wood measurement process fits well with our offering. They will be the first to use our new solid volume calculation function, and I look forward to upcoming joint development efforts in other areas where machine learning will be an important component,” says Marcus Schelin, CEO at Cind.
Digitization of the forest value chain creates opportunities to gather and process data, making it easier to improve support for intelligent planning and decision-making for the forest industry. In the long term, Holmen expects to fully automate wood handling. With the help of Artificial Intelligence, scanning can become more accurate and lead times further reduced.
