Logging companies in the European mountains: an example from the Italian Alps

Spinelli, R.; Magagnotti, Natascia; Facchinetti, Davide

doi:10.1080/14942119.2013.838376

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Italian chipper operators have a long experience: many companies started chipping already in the early 1980s, when particleboard factories were the main customer. The biomass boom of recent years has determined a further development of the sector, which now counts a large number of operators and a vast, international machine fleet (Spinelli et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing chipper productivity and operator effects in forest biomass operations

Mola‐Yudego¹,

Picchi²,

Röser³

et al. 2015

Silva Fenn.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Highlights• A model is constructed to assess the productivity in chipping of wood biomass at roadside.• The data includes 172 trials and 67 operators in Italy.• The operator effect was included in a mixed model approach.• The R 2 were 0.76 (fixed part) and 0.88 (incl. operator effects). AbstractThe present research focuses on the productivity of energy wood chipping operations at several sites in Italy. The aim was to assess the productivity and specifically the effect attributed to the operator in the chipping of wood biomass. The research included 172 trials involving 67 operators across the country that were analysed using a mixed model approach, in order to assess productivity, and to isolate the operator effect from other potential variables. The model was constructed using different predictors aiming to explain the variability due to the machines and the raw-materials. The final model included the average piece weight of raw material chipped as well as the power of the machine. The coefficients of determination (R 2 ) were 0.76 for the fixed part of the model, and 0.88 when the effects due to the operators were included. The operators' performance compared to their peers was established, and it was compared to a subjective classification based on the operator's previous experience. The results of this study can help to the planning and logistics of raw material supply for bioenergy, as well as to a more effective training of future forest operators.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing chipper productivity and operator effects in forest biomass operations

Mola‐Yudego¹,

Picchi²,

Röser³

et al. 2015

Silva Fenn.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…That is the main reason why the Italian harvester and processor fleet is still much smaller than in the neighboring alpine countries, such as Austria [30] France [31] or Germany [32]. On the other hand, mechanized harvesting has made rapid and significant inroads in Italian forestry over the last few years [14] as the old generations of foresters and loggers are being replaced by new young professionals who are not ready to accept the same taxing work conditions that their elders had to cope with [33]. Therefore, Italian forestry may soon become intensely mechanized, which would justify the attempt to establish benchmark figures for the Italian case alone, even if the work conditions encountered in Italy could not be assimilated to those of any other countries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Obtaining detailed, long-term records from small-scale private contractors is rather difficult, because many contractors keep partial records only, and they are often unwilling to share data that may be considered sensitive. Therefore, the small sample size is a justified limitation, and its negative effect has been contained by selecting representative cases based on a detailed knowledge of the sector, which was obtained from three previous surveys of Italian contractors [14][15][16]. These surveys produced a detailed picture of the contracting sector in Italy, as well as a list of contractors that was used for extracting representative samples.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Italy, mechanized harvesting was introduced at the beginning of the new century [13], and by 2013 the Italian fleet counted over 200 units, including harvesters, processors and forwarders [14]. These machines are used under different and peculiar conditions compared with those encountered further North, and namely steep terrain alpine forests, industrial poplar plantations, close-to-nature forests, coppice stands, and non-industrial private forestry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Use, Utilization, Productivity and Fuel Consumption of Purpose-Built and Excavator-Based Harvesters and Processors in Italy

Magagnotti

Pari²,

Spinelli

2017

Forests

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Annual use, utilization, productivity and fuel consumption of three purpose-built and three excavator-based harvesters and processors were monitored for one work year. All machines were owned and operated by private contractors and were representative of the Italian machine fleet. Despite challenging mountain terrain, annual use ranged from 675 to 1525 h per year, and production from 3200 to 27,400 m 3 per year. Productivity was lower for excavator-based units, and for machines working under a yarder, due to limited yarder capacity. Purpose-built machines offered higher utilization, productivity and fuel efficiency compared with excavator-based machines. Fuel consumption per m 3 was 2.4 times greater for excavator-based units, compared with purpose-built machines. Excavator-based units offered financial and technical advantages, but their long-term market success will likely depend on future improvements in fuel efficiency, in the face of increasing fuel prices.

show abstract

“…As to anthropometrics, both operators were mesomorphic adult males, with an age between 30 and 40 years. All these characteristics can be taken as representative of the Italian logging workforce (Spinelli et al 2013b). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of feedstock, knife wear and work station on the exposure to noise and vibrations in wood chipping operations

Poje¹,

Spinelli²,

Magagnotti³

et al. 2018

Silva Fenn.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The effect of feedstock, knife wear and work station on the exposure to noise and vibrations in wood chipping operations Poje A., Spinelli R., Magagnotti N., Mihelic M. (2018). The effect of feedstock, knife wear and work station on the exposure to noise and vibrations in wood chipping operations. Silva Fennica vol. 52 no. 1 article id 7003. 14 p. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.7003 Highlights• Exposure to noise and vibration is higher when chipping branches rather than logs.• Noise levels are higher in the separate cab, especially at some frequencies.• Vibration is higher for the Z axis in the separate cab, for the X axis in the truck.• Noise is higher when working with blunt knives, rather than new knives.• Knife wear has no significant effect on exposure to whole-body vibration. AbstractIndustrial chipping is becoming increasingly popular, as the result of a growing demand for woody biomass. Industrial chippers are large, powerful machines that generate much noise and vibration. This study explored some factors that may affect exposure to noise and vibration, namely: feedstock type (branches vs. logs), work station characteristics (truck cab vs. separate cab) and knife wear (new knives vs. blunt knives). Exposure to noise was significantly affected by all three factors, and it was higher for branch feedstock, separate cabs and blunt knives. The higher exposure levels recorded for the separate cab were especially insidious, because they were below and above the hearing threshold and would elude immediate perception. Exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV) was significantly higher for branch feedstock and for the separate cab. Knife wear seemed to determine an increase in WBV, but this effect had no statistical significance and the result could not be taken as conclusive. Among the three factors studied, work station characteristics had the strongest effect. Further studies may extend the comparison to a wider range of options, as well as explore the use of exposure variation for machine diagnostics.

show abstract

Logging companies in the European mountains: an example from the Italian Alps

Cited by 29 publications

References 20 publications

Assessing chipper productivity and operator effects in forest biomass operations

Assessing chipper productivity and operator effects in forest biomass operations

Use, Utilization, Productivity and Fuel Consumption of Purpose-Built and Excavator-Based Harvesters and Processors in Italy

The effect of feedstock, knife wear and work station on the exposure to noise and vibrations in wood chipping operations

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About