Last year, we wrote about an extraordinary logging company. But as you may guess, there are ordinary logging companies as well. We visited one in the Swedish forest, an ordinary day, but maybe with some special kind of work that day. They were involved in the battle against the bark-beetle and also took care of some windthrow.
An ordinary Swedish logging company
Simnatorps Skogs AB is the third-generation forest machine contractor. The company is run today by Martin Jonsson and owned by him and his father on a 50-50 basis. However, the company was started by Martin’s grandfather Stig some 50 years ago. It started with a Rottne Blondin forwarder and grew quite fast. At the most, some 10 – 15 machines were in the company’s fleet.
I used to work for the company in the 80s’ and 90s’, mainly operating a Rottne processor, but for a short while I also operated a Lokomo/FMG 910 as you can see in the pic below.
Photo: KAJ
New generations take over
Stig left the company to his two sons Mikael and Ulf who continued as a team until recently when they split up. Mikael went on together with his son Martin who is now in charge of the company. The company Simnatorps Skogs AB nowadays consists of two machines and two operators + daddy Mikael as a spare operator.
The machines
Back when I was in the company, the variety in the machine fleet was wide, to say the least. The oldest machine would have suited a museum, and the newest was as modern as it could be. Not all machines were always used. There was at least one “spare” forwarder, an old one that nobody wanted to operate but everybody did on occasions. There were processors, harvesters, forwarders, chippers, and one scarifier. The company covered most forestry operations.
Today, Martin has focused on one harvester group – one harvester and one forwarder.
The forwarder
The forwarder is a 2019 8-wheeled John Deere 1110 G. A mid-sized machine with a 12 tons payload, purchased in 2020 after being in a forestry school for one year. It´s equipped with IBC crane-tip control, rotating, and tilting cab, a 10-meter crane, TimberMatic map system, TimberManager managing system, and much more.
The harvester
The harvester is a 6-wheeled 2021 John Deere 1170 G that was delivered last fall, completely new. A mid-sized harvester that is suitable for both thinning and final felling. It´s equipped with IBC crane-tip control, an 11,3-meter crane, and a John Deere H423 harvester head.
Rotating and tilting cab is standard equipment on the JD harvester. The cab follows the crane automatically for the best view for the operator. Also, the harvester has map- and managing systems.
TimberManager and service deal
The TimberManager system allows John Deere service personnel, the machine owner, etc. to see the status of the machine, that is service intervals or problems, on distance. It also shows where the machine is so that a service person can find the machine in the forest. A function that could be quite handy as even the Swedish forest is big.
Simnatorps Skogs AB has a service deal with John Deere meaning that JD is responsible for the maintenance of the machines during an agreed time.
Film, photos, and more info
You will find more information about the machines on John Deeres home-page.
Here is a short film from the visit:
and here are a couple of more photos from the forest:
Film and photos: Per Jonsson
