Solution for small-dimensioned wood logistics and handling processes

Comprehensive Fixteri solutions offer significant benefits for the forest and energy industry regarding logistics chain solutions and handling processes of raw wood material. When the Fixteri harvesting technology, intended for first thinning and refining of young forests, is taken into use, the logistic bottlenecks which have diminished the profitability of harvesting small-dimensioned wood, can be opened, and the quality of the energy delivery of raw wood material is also improved.

The Fixteri solutions are also an answer to the raw material purchasing related challenges: high growing stock drain per hectare, productive method of measuring the green weight, and clean harvesting result are some of the examples of why Fixteri will be a keyword in future wood trade.

There is demand in the market for Fixteri solutions. Since the owners of young forests benefit most from Fixteri harvesting methods, they will make purchasing raw wood material easier for the industry, and harvesting entrepreneurs will be able to make important bundling agreements to base their operation on.

Improved forest transportation of small-dimensioned wood

The forest transportation of bales bundled by the Fixteri baler even two or three times more efficient than the transportation of traditional loose cuts. The easy manageability of bales guarantees that loading bales in the cargo space, and unloading at the road-side landing is considerably faster and takes less space compared to loose cuts. The optimal bale size produced by the Fixteri baler always enables using the cargo space fully in loading. Since a load of bales is easier to manage in forest transportation than a load of loose cuts, the risk of the remaining growing stock being damaged is significantly lower.

Improved long-haul transportation of small-dimensioned wood

The long-haul transportation of Fixteri bales is significantly cheaper than transporting energy raw material chipped at the roadside. The onward transportation of small-dimensioned wood to the sites of usage or terminals will be considerably more efficient when no special transportation equipment is required, but the transportation can be done with traditional log trucks. Bales can also be transported by rail using the same stock as in traditional log and pulpwood deliveries. In the archipelago, Fixteri bales can be transported flexibly by barge.

Since Fixteri bales can be stored in less than half the space, it is easier to find storage than before. Furthermore, the planning of onward logistics becomes more simple when traditional log truck, railway, and barge transportation can be used.

Improved handling process of small-dimensioned wood

Fixteri solutions also introduce noticeable cost efficiency into many of the small-dimensioned wood handling processes. Thanks to Fixteri bundling, the chipping of the wood material, traditionally performed at the road side, can now be done either at the place of use or in a terminal.

This brings many benefits. For example, centralized large volume crushing on the site is over 80 % cheaper than road-side chipping. Crushing/chipping done at a terminal also helps achieve significant cost savings, by improving the utilization rate of mobile crushing/chipping equipment. In addition, this eliminates the littering and noise impact problems in the environment, and the estimated 5-10 % storage loss of road-side chipping.

Improving the quality of raw wood material and more efficient measurement

Fixteri breaks the surface of the stem wood, and bundles bales that are optimal in their composition and size, thanks to which Fixteri-baled wood dries quickly. The quick drying of a bale significantly increases the energy content of wood, which is an important factor in energy deliveries. Industry can thus decrease the aggregate costs of raw material purchasing per produced energy unit.

Furthermore, the quality of the delivered raw material remains even, because no soil deteriorating the quality of the raw material, snow, or machine-breaking stones are carried to the final place of usage.

Fixteri bales are automatically weighed before the bales are dropped on the ground, meaning that the amount of growing stock harvested is known immediately after the harvesting is done. This is not possible with any other harvesting method of energy wood.

Based on the structure of the growing stock and the market demand, either pulpwood and energy bales can be baled, or bales can be directed solely for energy use. The bonding material of the bales is selected based on the final place of usage.