In the May/June 2015 edition of My Take, Timber Harvesting magazine Executive Editor DK Knight discusses challenges in logging transportation. Knight writes, “Transportation has apparently replaced logging capacity as the thorniest challenge in the wood fiber supply chain. It’s the most inefficient and underpaid component in the supply system, a pothole that seems to grow deeper and wider with each passing season. Add it up: mounting regulations, thin margins, mechanical issues, a shortage of qualified, dependable drivers, long haul distances, rising insurance rates and fewer carriers, liability exposure, a litigious society, posted roads and bridges, road access permits, performance bonds, high operating costs, slow turn times at delivery points, and more. Transportation was challenging enough before the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration came out with its Compliance-Safety-Accountability program in 2010."

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This article, titled “Consistency Trumps Complacency!”, is supplied to Timber Harvesting magazine by Wendy Farrand, operating as WFarrand Consulting, a forest industry consultant who emphasizes the value of strengthening the people side of a logging business and the impact it has on safety, production, efficiency and professionalism. Farrand writes, “I will never forget the very first time I walked on the job. My new boss and I were walking down a skid trail as he was giving me a broad overview of how the wood moves from the stump to the mill. Off in the distance, I could hear the sound of something large and powerful moving closer. My boss seemed to be unaware, or he just didn’t care, as he continued with my logging education.”

Timber Harvesting magazine Associate Editor Jessica Johnson visits R.D. Jones Logging, Inc. in Lacey, Arkansas. For some industries, having a fourth generation involved in a business is all but out of the question. For the forest industry, it seems almost run of the mill. But for the four generations of Jones men who have worked the forests of southeastern Arkansas, they are anything but run of the mill. R. D. Jones, Inc., has changed and grown with the times, as has each R. D. who has been at the helm. First formed in the 1930s by R. D. Jones, Sr., the outfit worked with mules and horses. When it was time to pass the torch that first time, R. D. Jones, Jr. (Sonny) moved away from animals and purchased crawler tractors, then skidders. Now 71, Sonny isn’t as involved as he once was, sidelined mainly to a back injury while in his 50s.

Set for June 18-20 near Hot Springs, Ark., InWoodsExpo (IWE) is shaping up as the year’s largest action-packed forestry equipment demo-display west of the Mississippi River. As of early May more than 50 exhibitors, ranging from big machine heavyweights to small attachment providers to insurance companies, had signed up to participate. At least 100 manufacturers, dealers, product brands, agencies, associations and other interests will be represented during the 2-½ day event, according to Larry Boccarossa, Executive Director of the Arkansas Timber Producers Assn. (ATPA) and Expo Manager. He expects attendance to be the highest since the expo’s benchmark performance of 2007. “The forest products industry continues to strengthen and the confidence level of loggers, timber brokers, mills and landowners is much improved,” he says. “In addition, we’ve promoted this year’s expo very vigorously, and in different ways, so we anticipate a strong turnout.”

Accu-Ways, Inc., Alucar OY, Battle Wagon Trailers, Big John Trailers, Evans Trailers, Great Lakes Manufacturing, Inc., Innovative Trailers Inc., Kaufman Trailers, KNL Holdings, LLC, Keith Manufacturing Company, Manac, Maxi-Load Scale Systems, Inc., McLendon Trailers, Pitts Trailers, Prolenc Manufacturing, Inc., Rogers Brothers Corporation, Smart Scale Technologies, Titan Trailers, Inc., VishayPG SI-Onboard Scales, Vulcan On-Board Scales, Western Trailer Company

(Titan Trailers provided the editorial framework for this article. Photos were provided by Fennell Forestry.) Southern Australia timber harvester Barry Fennell is not one to let a few thousand miles and a continent or two interfere with his quest to make Fennell Forestry, the progressive business he jointly owns with his sister, Wendy, more efficient and profitable. In fact, it’s second nature for him to go extreme distances to secure the equipment and products most beneficial to the company, which is based in Mount Gambier in the far southeastern tip of the state of Southern Australia. Fennell Forestry deploys three harvesting crews—two that produce pine cut-to-length logs and another that turns out eucalyptus chips for export. Tigercat, TimberPro, CBI, Hyundai, and Kenworth are offshore brands it embraced years ago.

Timber Harvesting magazine Associate Editor Jessica Johnson highlights the Southern Loggers Cooperative and their recent milestone of 2,000 members. The Southern Loggers Cooperative (SLC), like many of its members, looks a little different today than it did just over 10 years ago. Back then it was just a group of nine guys with the idea that unifying their buying power of diesel fuel might save them a few dollars a week. While SLC still operates under the same guiding principle of saving its members money, it has left its kitchen table office behind and moved on to a new facility and six-person team based in Pineville, La. SLC’s membership recently surpassed 2,000, touches 15 states, and continues to climb almost daily. Last year it sold almost 29 million gallons through 24 stations in seven states, including one in Ohio. Why? See the guiding principle above.

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