Evaluation of the economic impacts of length and diameter measurement error on mechanical harvesters and processors operating in pine stands.

Value recovery studies from around the world have shown that on average mechanical log-making systems lose 18% of the potential value compared to 11% for motor manual systems. One of the potential reasons for their poor value recovery performance is the level of accuracy of their stem diameter and length measurements. Numerous studies have looked at the level of error in both the diameter and length measurements made by mechanical harvesters and processors; however, few have looked at the economic impacts of these errors. The paper investigates the economic impacts in terms of value loss of six different harvesting operations in three different pine species. The accuracy and precision of the measurements recorded in this study were similar to those of other studies from around the world. A simulation model was developed to estimate the value loss caused by these errors. The results of the simulation model showed that the operations were losing between 3% and 23% of the potential value because of measurement errors. Further analysis showed that the industry should concentrate on increasing the precision of the length and diameter measurements to optimize gains from reducing the measurement error rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]