The Virtual Harvester: Corner Brook Pulp and Paper uses Simlog software for re-training

Here is the complete text of the article which appeared in the September 2001 issue (Volume 8, no. 1) of the Atlantic Forestry Review, written by George Fullerton. © 2001 Dvl Publishing. All rights reserved.

When a 1998 union agreement gave Corner Brook Pulp and Paper’s senior chainsaw operators the option to train in mechanical harvesting, Bruce Yates found he was in the market for a computer simulator to help fulfill this new commitment. He chose a mechanical harvester simulator from the Montreal-area manufacturer Simlog.

Yates has been involved in training and safety with CBPP for the past 10 years, a period of rapid mechanization for the Newfoundland company. (About 73 percent of its wood supply is now harvested mechanically.) In 1999, he developed a retraining program consisting of one week of in-house instruction, one week of heavy equipment training at the College of the North Atlantic, and four weeks of on-the-job practice in a harvester. In the first week participants spend 30 hours on the harvester simulator, and an additional 10 hours are devoted to topics such as shift work lifestyle, machine maintenance, and fire suppression, presentation via video and written materials. CBPP estimates the program represents an investment of $15,000 to $20,000 in each trainee.

In Yates’ view, affordability, the ability to generate detailed evaluation reports, and an efficient support network were among the qualities that made Simlog the best choice for CBPP. The simulator is a PC-based system, running two Pentium 500 processors, to give it power and speed. Trainees face a computer screen, seated in a regular office chair equipped with two harvester joystick controls.

Yates says some participants in the retraining program have had 20-year careers as chainsaw operators. This experience makes them good candidates, he notes, because they have a strong background knowledge of forestry work and a familiarity with CBPP’s safety and quality control requirements. On the other hand, these workers may have to be taught the basic skills needed to use the simulator.

“You have to appreciate that it was the first time for some of the trainees to sit down in front of a computer”, says Yates. “Something that many of us take for granted, like how to use a mouse, is a foreign and complicated procedure.” Yates initially familiarized himself with the simulator, spending about 15 minutes on each of the eight modules to get some baseline data for assessing the progress of trainees. The simulator generates a report of each participant’s skill development.

As an example, Yates explains that the first module develops familiarity with the harvester controls. “At the start of training, the report might show it took five seconds to find a required button. We might expect it to take one and a half seconds to find the button at the end of the simulator training. The trainee can look at the report at any time to see how the individual skills are improving.”

Each module builds on skills acquired that have been developed. The first module, for example, does not require that the trainee activate a saw button, but the second involves grabbing a tree at the proper orientation to make it fall on a line on the screen, and the third requires that the trainee fell the virtual tree to hit a target on the forest floor, leaving a low stump height. The fourth module expands felling skills, using manual feed rollers for delimbing and piling processed wood; the fifth uses auto feed for delimbing, with special emphasis on proper piling for efficient forwarding; and modules six and seven focus on increasing speed and developing efficiency for multi-stem processing.

Yates says the simulator’s reports pinpoint problem areas where a particular trainee may need assistance with technique. “We are able to sit down and look at his report and see where he is compared to the average of all trainees.” In some cases, the reports show that a certain candidate simply does not have the skill or aptitude to succeed as an operator, and Yates must sit down with this person and discuss the matter. In most such cases, the trainee voluntarily withdraws from the program, says Yates, though he points out that more than 80% of candidates complete the course successfully.

For the 30-day work trial, trainees are assigned to a machine owned by an independent contractor with CBPP. Yates admits that this arrangement is unconventional, but he says it benefits the cooperating contractor as well as the company. Trainees who would be expected to harvester 20 trees per hour after their first week on a processor have been averaging 40 trees per hour, he says, and at the end of the training period, they have been in the range of 80 trees per hour. This high level of production at the entry level pays off for both parties. Yates claims another advantage for the machine owners is fewer breakdowns, thanks to the care, skill, and up-to-date technical knowledge freshly-trained operators bring to the job.

“It takes team work”, says Yates. “Each part of the team has respect for th other’s place in the scheme, and we get the job done.”

Sidebar: The Simple Simulator

Bruce Yates says some Corner Brook Pulp and Paper contractors have arranged for training on manufacturer-specific simulators, to help operators adjust to the different controls and functions. Simlog, however, limits its product line to general simulators.

“We concentrate on the elements common to running all machines, instead of the specifics of a certain manufacturer or model”, says Simlog President Paul Freedman. “That’s because the people using our simulator will go on to train on all kinds of real requirement. It doesn’t pay, either for us or for them, to waste time learning things about a certain manufacturer or model that won’t be helpful later.”

Simlog has sold 16 harvester simulators, delivering them to customers in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland. Freedman says the company expects to make sales in Alberta, western Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Maine. The list price for a single unit is about $65,000, though there are discounts available for schools, and volume discounts for purchases of two or more units.

Freedman says Simlog technical staff visit the customer to set up the simulator and to provide training in operation and maintenance. Each unit requires a dedicated telephone line, to allow for direct assistance from the manufacturer if any problems arise, and also to upload software updates, which typically occur two or three times a year. Simlog maintains a toll-free number for customer support as well. The simulator comes with a 1 year guarantee, and extra technical support beyond this period is available at an additional fee.

Of course, the success of a training program depends on variables that cannot be guaranteed. “Simulator-based training can only take you so far,” admits Freedman. “Sooner or later, you’ve got to go on to learn about running real machines at work in real forests.”