In 2023, Metsä Group received its first logging machines equipped with precision positioning, which enables the location of the head of the boom to be determined down to the nearest centimetre. The system can be configured to provide alerts on various things such as estate boundaries or buffer zones. The harvester boom can fell trees as far as 10 metres from the machine, but thanks to the alert, the operator immediately knows if the boom crosses the estate's boundary. This considerably reduces the risk of felling being carried out on the wrong estate due to inaccurate location data.
When the accurate location of the boom is known, so is the location of the felled logs, and this information is transferred to the forwarder collecting the logs. This facilitates the operator's work especially in the winter if the logs have been covered by snow.
Precision positioning makes the harvester operator's work more efficient, as they no longer need to leave the cabin to check the location of the estate boundary. Positioning also saves the time of Metsä Group's personnel because it eliminates the need to mark unclear estate or site boundaries with flagging tape.
GPS has been used in forestry for a long time, but new technology has further improved its accuracy. Metsä Group will require all its contractors to use position tracking in both new and existing machines as soon as machinery manufacturers make the system available for forestry machines.