Industry News Roundup

MacDonald Becomes Tigercat President

Grant Somerville has stepped away from his role as President of Tigercat Industries. The timing is related to Somerville’s original intention to serve as President for a five-year term when he took on the role in 2017. Tigercat founder, Ken MacDonald, has assumed the role of President.

“I wish to thank Grant for all of the contributions that he has made to our company during his entire 30 years with us,” MacDonald says. “I want to particularly recognize the leadership he provided during his presidency. He very capably steered us through and oversaw record production and sales volumes in 2019. He then went on to lead our team through the incredibly trying last two and a half years during which we dealt with the COVID pandemic as well as the effects on our business related to the war in Ukraine. Despite these challenges, he took everything in stride and saw to it that we still managed to complete two major plant expansions and launch several new product lines.”

Somerville will continue to serve the company as a director. In his new role, he will offer advice, and support various engineering initiatives focused on the development of new products and the improvement of existing products.

Grant Somerville Ken MacDonald

Ponsse Developing Electric Forwarder

With fuel costs at historic highs this year, there is perhaps no better time to tempt loggers with the prospect of a fully-electric powered forestry machine that requires diesel only to charge the battery— and may eventually not even need that. Such a machine appears to be on the horizon soon.

Promising to “walk the talk” of its commitment to environmental sustainability, Finnish forestry equipment manufacturer Ponsse hosted an online event on August 17 announcing the introduction of a new forestry machine concept, the electric Ponsse EV1. Ponsse has been developing the concept for the last three years with Epec, a Finnish technology company, owned by the Ponsse Group, that specializes in advanced electronics. Juho Nummela, Ponsse’s President and CEO, and Jyri KyläKaila, Epec’s Managing Director, took the opportunity to discuss the emerging technologies. A recording of the online event is available to watch on Ponsse’s YouTube channel.

“Technological development is fast and offers us excellent opportunities to develop our solutions further, even in unexpected directions,” Nummela says. “We have worked hard with our technology company Epec to enable this concept. At the same time, both companies have developed their capabilities, and we have gained significant new knowledge during this project. This launch of a new technology concept is a peek into the future and one of the solutions offered by electric powertrains. Sustainable development is a significant future success factor for Ponsse. We want to strongly develop our solutions with Epec. Our strategy reform has been suc-

The Ponsse EV1 forwarder is a concept machine in development, with a diesel engine used as a generator to charge an electric powertrain.

cessful at Epec, and we’re very happy with Epec’s excellent development.”

Aiming to lead the way in developing machine technologies for sustainable forestry, Ponsse seeks carbon neutrality in its operations and solutions. This launch of a new technology concept is part of the company’s strategy and represents a tangible step toward the goal of carbon neutrality.

Ponsse has been studying and developing such new technological solutions for several years. The EV1 concept took its first steps in 2019 when Ponsse and Epec started to investigate responsible power source solutions in line with sustainable development.

While Epec’s technology can al ready be used in electric or hybridelectric commercial vehicles and non-road mobile machines, the EV1 forest machine is still in testing and a few years away from serial production for commercial availability. The prototype machine will be presented at FinnMETKO 2022, a heavy machinery expo held in Finland in early September.

The EV1 concept has been developed for forwarders with a 15-tonne (16.5-ton) load-carrying capacity, the most popular Ponsse forwarder size category. The machine features a fully electric powertrain, as well as Epec’s power distribution unit and hybrid control unit. The ma chine’s powertrain operates fully with battery energy. Batteries are charged using a Range Extender, which is a combustion engine at this stage of development. This technology provides significant improvements in fuel economy in this size category.

According to representatives of Epec’s engineering team during the online event, the machine is de signed to charge while it works, running half the time on the battery alone and half the time with the onboard diesel engine serving as a generator to charge the battery while in operation (it does not re quire external charging). It reportedly affords equivalent power but with greater fuel efficiency compared with conventional, fully diesel models. The concept features a 700v DC power system, potentially enabling compatibility with other (non-diesel) power sources in the future, such as hydrogen or biogas.

The EV1 features Epec Flow, Epec’s electromobility system solution. The solution is based on the Epec Flow Power Distribution Unit (PDU), to which electric motors, batteries and various devices can be connected. The PDU’s integrated safety solutions enable effective manufacturing and maintenance of the machines, as well as their operations in demanding conditions. The Epec Flow Hybrid Control Unit (HCU) controls the electric powertrain and includes software developed through simulations, enabling optimal energy consumption, productivity and usability.

“The Epec Flow solution is at the heart of everything,” says Epec’s Kylä-Kaila. “It has been developed for the electrification of various commercial vehicles and non-road mobile machines. The software can be developed using simulation models, and the solution can be agilely developed for the needs of different machinery. The different systems,

including the transmission and control system, work seamlessly to gether, enabling the manufacture of safe and efficient zero-emission machines in the future.”

Ponsse seeks to provide sustainable harvesting solutions by listening closely to customer needs, and as such invited several customers from Uruguay, Sweden and Finland to witness the EV1 in action firsthand. They seemed both surprised and impressed by how advanced and work-ready the concept is. As one customer, Paulo Mancinelli of Suzano, put it, “I think the future is coming shorter and faster than we thought it would be.”

Visit ponsse.com or epec.fi/ ponsse-ev1/ for more information.

Canfor Corp. plans to invest $210 million USD to build a state-of-theart sawmill at a greenfield site in southern Alabama, north of Mobile. The sawmill will have an annual production capacity of 250MMBF on a two-shift basis and will provide a modern work environment for approximately 130 people who will be employed directly, in addition to supporting significant indirect jobs.

In alignment with the company’s sustainability goals and decarboni zation targets, the facility de sign includes investment in a biomassfueled lumber drying system. Startup of the facility is anticipated in the third quarter of 2024.

“Building on Canfor’s proud operating history in Alabama, we are excited to invest in a new worldclass facility that will ensure our long-term ability to operate com petitively. In addition, the facility’s versatility and flexibility will en hance our ability to more closely align our production of high-quality products with market demand,” comments Don Kayne, President and CEO, Canfor.

“We greatly value our employees and are committed to providing family-supporting jobs and generating economic activity in the region. We are pleased to be transforming the workplace for our employees by providing a new, modern facility that will continue to operate for generations,” adds Tony Sheffield, President, Canfor Southern Pine.

The new facility will replace the existing operation in Mobile. Following the construction and start up of the new facility, an orderly wind down of the Mobile operation will be undertaken. All current em ployees will have the opportunity to remain with the company.

The existing Mobile sawmill was operated by Gulf Lumber and the Stimpson family for many years, before Gulf Lumber merged with Scotch Lumber, which subsequently sold to Canfor.

BID Group will deliver the new sawmill, and will manage, design, build, equip, install and provide full startup services.

The new operation will incorporate the full spectrum of BID’s bestin-class wood processing technologies, including equipment, software, automation systems, Artificial Intelligence-enabled optimization and the plant-wide Industry 4.0 solution, OPER8.

Domain Acquires Southeast Acreage

Domain Capital Group, LLC, a private investment management services firm, and its subsidiary, Domain Timber Advisors, LLC, announced the acquisition of nearly 3,400 acres of timberland in middle Georgia and south Alabama, further enhancing the company’s substantial Southeast timber portfolio.

“These acquisitions offer im mense potential through diverse management opportunities and harvest capacity as timber product demand remains strong in the Southeast,” says Joe Sanderson, managing director and CEO of natural resources at Domain Timber Advisors. “In addition, the accessibility of the south Alabama property and the river frontage of the middle Georgia tracts allow for higherand-better land use sales.”

The middle Georgia, “GFP Flint,” property includes 2,029 contiguous acres along the Flint River and Po tato Creek, located south of Atlanta. Located northwest of Mobile, Ala., the “Walley” property is composed of two tracts of young longleaf and loblolly pines totaling 1,360 acres.

Domain Timber’s most recent ac quisitions increase the total acreage of timberland under the company’s management to more than 264,000 acres. Domain continues to re search opportunities for additional, strategic acquisitions in the Southeast to meet the region’s demand for lumber and other wood products.