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With over 60 machines, more than 40 actively involved in daily logging operations, small changes can have a big impact on Greg Jacob’s bottom line. Take machine idling for example. FPInnovations suggests that reducing idling by one hour per day for a feller buncher would save upwards of $600/yr in fuel alone.
Doing the same on skidders and processors would net anywhere from over $300/yr to $450/yr. Across a fleet of 60 machines, that can net $30,000/yr of additional margin from fuel, more if machine wear and tear are included. Given the tight margins outlined in CFI Magazine’s 2016 Contractor Survey, that’s significant.
To Jacob, it’s also low-hanging fruit. Jacob owns Lo-Bar Log Transport, a large BC Interior contractor that harvests 1 million cubic metres annually, including road building and road maintenance to support that work. Following the mantra that you can only improve what you measure, the seasoned logger added telematics systems to 10 of his bunchers and processers this past spring. A major Tigercat client, he added the manufacturer’s RemoteLog telematics solution to all of his D-Series track machines, and will expand to his older C-Series models when that software version is available.
“We wanted to identify efficiencies and deficiencies in the way we operate, which is what these systems are best geared for. We had ideas of where we could improve, but no data to prove it and no way to measure success once we made changes.”
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