LOG MAX harvesting heads have been given more than just the thumbs up for being solid, robust and reliable … they’ve been one of the reasons for a turning point in a south coast NSW business!
Kevin Clunie, managing director of Eden-based Cempac, has been high in praise of the harvesting heads and of Scandinavian Forestry and Engineering (the Australian distributor).
“We started with a Log Max 7000XT three years ago,” said Kevin. “Then we got a 10000XT and this year we got a 7000B which is working in second thinnings.
“We put that on a machine with a squirt boom se we could keep the weight down and swing it on the squirt boom and that’s the only reason we didn’t go for an XT. There’s about 300kg difference in the weight,” he said.
Kevin explained that the heads were used in “pretty rough pine”. “The XTs are both working in a fair bit of unthinned clearfall, which is about 34 years old, and there’s a lot of big branches; pretty hairy stuff, but they handle it with no problems.
Kevin is an engineer by trade so he’s well qualified to offer an opinion on the heads. “I built forestry gear. I did my apprenticeship many years ago with a company that was making sawmilling equipment; I’ve always been attached to the forestry industry,” he says. In latter years he’s built some small cable haulers and worked on thinning and chipping equipment. “We also operate a very large softwood chipper down here and we do all the pine export chip for the whole region — about 200,000 tonnes a year through a chipper we virtually built together; built the drum debarker and everything else. It’s onsite at Fibre Exports in Eden,” Kevin said.
But, back to the Log Max heads and Kevin says he can’t praise Log Max enough. “The connection with them was pretty much the turning point in our business. They really are a bloody good thing. They’re a fantastic bit of gear; robust, very well put together.
“It’s not just the one factor, though,” he says. “It’s the availability of service too. When you’ve got harvesting crews all based in the Bombala region and have trucks that go to Tumut pretty much on a daily basis spares are readily attainable. However, if you have to pick another standout thing it’s just the willingness of Johan (Jaktman principal of Scandinavian Forestry and Engineering) to drop everything if you get an issue then he concentrates on it.
“They’ll meet part way with parts if needed. They can do a lot of stuff over the phone. They’re very hands on with the service side, both David (Wakem) and Johan,” said Kevin.
