FOREST HARVESTING MACHINERY INDUSTRY NEWS
Six of the best at this year’s SkogsElmia in Jönköping, Sweden
Harvesting heads
A leader in the development of harvesting heads in Finland, Lako Forest Oy Ltd has not had a Swedish distributor for a number of years, but returned to this year’s SkogsElmia with several new heads. The company has made harvesting heads for more than 30 years and has distributors around the world except in its nearest neighbour to the West. “The Swedish manufacturers are so strong that we chose to focus on other markets,” explained CEO Turkka Lastunen. Now, though, he believes Lako’s new harvesting heads will allow the company to handle the Swedish competition.
The big innovation was the updating of the Lako 2-series designed for thinning and harvesting energy crops. The head has a modular construc- tion and can be updated later. Also presented were new versions of the 3 and 5-series. The 3-series is designed for second thinning and final fell- ing, whereas the 5-series has powerful final felling heads. Lako delivers its harvesting heads around the world for use on various types of carrier machines. One speciality is the felling of cultivated eucalyptus, where Lako has special heads that both debranch and debark the trees. More information from
www.lakoforest.fi
Rebirth of a classic
A classic Swedish forest machine reappeared in a new guise at SkogsElmia. Järnhästen (the Iron Horse) is a tracked vehicle that has been used for the past 31 years to move logs and moose carcasses. “A Norwegian customer suggested we should improve it by adding moveable mountings for attached equipment,” explained Dick Henriks- son of the manufacturer, Lennartsfors AB.
The idea turned out even better than expected. There are two versions of the moveable mounting – mechanical and hydraulic. The latter led to the machine also being given a hydraulic pump, which can be used to
Novotny forwarder made in the Czech Republic.
Järhästen Flex from Lennartsfors.
operate a variety of equipment.
“At the same time, we also switched to a new type of track,” said Henriksson. “The result is a new generation of Järnhästen that of- fers new possibilities. The moveable equipment mounting means that the length of the entire rig can be adapted to the terrain. Järnhästen operates even better off road now and the hydraulic pump means the machine can be used as a platform for a range of equipment. Among other things,” he revealed, “We’re looking at the possibility of mounting a crane and a load swap platform”.
The new version is called Järnhästen Flex and its predecessor is still in production under the name Classic. More information from
www.lennartsfors.com
Smaller forest machines
At SkogsElmia eight years ago, the Czech forest machinery manufacturer Strojirna Novotny s.r.o. made an attempt to break into the Swedish market. It was not very successful, but according to Thomas Fransson of the Swedish distributor, Fröseke Industriservice, there is now a demand for smaller forwarders.
At this year’s SkogsElmia it was again time to present machines from the Czech Republic. This time they met with great interest due to their size. With a load capacity of 5.0-7.5 tonnes they are a step under the established manufacturers’ smallest machines.
“There’s a pent-up need in the market for smaller forwarders,” said Fransson.
Novotny is also developing a harvester. The company had hoped to display a prototype at SkogsElmia, but decided to first do extensive test- ing at home before presenting the design to the Nordic market, which is the biggest in the world for CTL machines.
“Novotny builds its machines with components from the same com- panies that supply the big manufacturers,” explained Fransson. He has no doubt that the harvester, like the forwarders, will satisfy contractors’ demands.
More information from
www.loader.cz
8 Autumn 2015
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