Digitalisation increases productivity, quality and satisfaction at work
“With good working life skills, forestry graduates are sure to secure employment,” says the University of Eastern Finland’s newly appointed Professor of Forest Technology Kalle Kärhä.
Professor of Forest Technology Kalle Kärhä comes to his new post from the business world. For the past ten years, he’s worked in operational and RDI roles in Stora Enso's wood procurement.
“The forest-based bioeconomy is undergoing rapid digitalisation. This aims to achieve cost-effectiveness and quality in wood supply from forest to mill. At the same time, added value is created for the customer. Sustainability and biodiversity have also become part of everyday work in wood procurement.”
“We Finns must build our own competitiveness and make sure that we succeed on the global market. No one else is going to do that for us.”
According to Kärhä, the university should be a visionary leader.
“The university must keep a close eye on companies’ competence and RDI needs. They should be the foundation for building education programmes and projects that serve working life needs,” he underlines.
“A lot of pioneering research is carried out in the forest sector. We at the university need to spark innovation, which means that basic research and interdisciplinary collaboration play an important role.”
Kärhä has supervised a number of final theses. According to him, forestry graduates must have strong basic knowledge of forest technology and understand the entire value chain, as well as different raw material requirements. They must be able to lead – both themselves and others. A good attitude is key to doing well in the sector.
“We are all freelancers of our own lives, that’s the way things are done today, in my opinion. We must do our part well in order for the next step in the process to succeed. The ability to solve problems is also an important skill, as new challenges keep landing on our desk.”
The use of wood has not yet been optimised in Finland
The automation of the forest sector has been talked about for a long time, but according to Kärhä, there is still a long way to go. Autonomous forest machines are one objective; however, the next step is more about assisting the machine operator with the help of new sensor technology. This will improve the quality of thinning and the work satisfaction of machine operators, among other things.
“Making use of digitalisation is a topic that interests me. With digitalisation, we can enhance the efficiency and quality of wood procurement operations and improve the coping and well-being of employees working in the procurement chain. In particular, I want to be involved in the development of systems that guide machine operators.”
“It is great that there is now a good momentum: machine and truck manufacturers are actively developing operator guidance systems, which is supported by a number of research and development projects. Future machines and trucks will have hybrid sensor systems consisting of different machine-vision and laser scanning technologies,” Kärhä predicts.
“The use of wood has not yet been optimised in Finland. Publicity challenges transparency when the procurement chain is reported to authorities and forest owners. Humans still perform the majority of in-house control and inspection measurements, which eats up resources. For example, we need more accurate information on buffer zones along streams, artificial snags, and carbon footprints.”
“Automated reporting also strengthens energy efficiency and ensures that we can meet future information and other needs related to working with this unique and renewable material – wood.”
For further information, please contact: Professor Kalle Kärhä, tel. +358 50 475 4772, kalle.karha (a) uef.fi, https://uefconnect.uef.fi/en/person/kalle.karha/
Print-quality photos of Kalle Kärhä:
https://mediabank.uef.fi/A/UEF+Media+Bank/44556?encoding=UTF-8
https://mediabank.uef.fi/A/UEF+Media+Bank/44557?encoding=UTF-8
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Kalle Kärhä, Professor of Forest Technology, especially digitalisation of forestry operations and logistics, 1 October 2021 –
Doctor of Science (Agriculture and Forestry), University of Joensuu,1998
Master of Science (Agriculture and Forestry). University of Joensuu, 1994
Master of Economics and Business Administration, Lappeenranta University of Technology, 2001
Title of Docent (forest technology), University of Helsinki, 2005
Title of Docent (forest technology, forest energy procurement), University of Eastern Finland, 2013
