READ MORE ABOUT SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT
The journey of the wood used by Metsä Fibre from sustainably managed forests to the mill and into an end product can be traced along chains of custody. THIS IS WHERE THE WOOD COMES FROM
HEIKKI HAMUNEN, photos MIKKO NIKKINEN
Forest owner Antti Pätilä and Metsä Group’s Forest Special- ist Anu Rautiainen watch closely as a forest machine fells and cuts spruce, pine and birch trees in Ruokolahti in South Karelia, 30 kilometres from the eastern border of Finland. The teamwork between an efficient machine and a skilled operator makes for smooth progress in Pätilä’s forest. For- estry Machine Contractor Janne Mutikainen is on shift in the cab. “This is the best job in the world. The work is varied, and every day is different. I get to work at my own pace and see the results right away. It is a great feeling when the forest owner visits you at the felling site and thanks you for a job well done.” Mutikainen also has an ace up his sleeve: in addition to his forestry work, he is a trained electrotechnician. This helps with the modern harvester, which depends on elec- tronic systems and electrically guided hydraulics. The Ponsse Scorpion harvester that hums along under Mutikainen on eight massive wheels contains more than 2.6 km of electric wiring. UNIQUE NUMBERS BRING THE WOOD TO THE MILL Electronic systems also play a key role in the management of sustainable wood supply, says Rautiainen. She recorded the work instructions for the felling site being harvested by Mutikainen in the cloud service used by Metsä Group. Mutikainen and the other machine op- erators can see the instructions on the electronic map and its attachments, displayed on the screen of their machine. Part of the instructions is a unique contract number, generated for each felling site. This number is the key for tracing wood batches as far as the mill gate. It identifies the owner of the forest supplying the wood to the mill. “The number is visible to the forest machine operator and the timber lorry drivers. In the forest, the wood stacks
are marked with confirmation slips showing the same number. This allows the timber lorry driver who picks up the wood to make sure that the identification numbers in the information system and on the slip are the same,” says Rautiainen. Continuous information systems minimise human er- ror. For instance, machine operators must mark each page of the digital work instructions as read before they can start felling. “This is to confirm that the operator has not missed any instructions,” says Mutikainen. He demonstrates on the computer screen how the exact location of the forest machine is charted on the digital map as the machine moves. The map shows the boundaries of the felling site, the machine tracks and even the locations of individual felled trees as small dots. In addition to the accurate digital map, the flagging tape tied around the boundary trees of the felling site ensure that the neighbour’s trees are not taken. THE WOOD BUYER KNOWS THE SELLER The forest specialist’s job is to help forest owners plan for- est management and sales of wood. For many local forest owners, Anu Rautiainen is the face of Metsä Group and the first point of customer service. In her customer register, Rautiainen has a group of forest owners with whom she is in contact at least annually. In the spring, she meets forest owners daily. In the winter, she spends two or three days per week in the forest. “We discuss current forestry affairs, and I listen to their ideas or requests. I use these to make suggestions for forest management and felling.” Although Rautiainen buys wood from forest owners she knows, she always makes sure that the seller is entitled to sell the trees on offer, in accordance with Metsä Group’s policy.
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