Our achievements speak for themselves.  What we have to keep track of are our failures.

- Ethel Barrymore
 

Photo credit:www.corbis.com; photographer Neil Rabinowitz Image ID NL002230

The software described below is a start, but much more would be needed to enable unitholders to track forests online.  First, each forest would need to be a legal entity.  Each change in the size of the forest (plantings, partial or full harvesting, wind damage, et cetera) and each change in ownership would need to be captured.  With automated links to both LINZ and the Companies Office, forestry could actually become the ideal investment it's touted to be.
 

TimberSmart's Darryl Nicolson tracks timber over the Internet

Logging Online

Niche software firm TimberSmart has developed a product which uses the Internet to enable timber companies to efficiently track their inventories.  The TimberSmart software enables sawmillers and timber processors to keep track of timber as it is moved about.  TimberSmart director Darryl Nicolson says efficient inventory management is vital for timber processing and trading companies.

"However, outside of the two large players - Carter Holt Harvey and Fletcher Challenge Forests - the industry uses limited information technology.  Even now, IT for some industry members consists of little more than an electronic calculator."

No one was using the Internet to swap timber information, which is what the new software does.  "New technology makes information readily available and can change how enterprises work," he says.  "Timber is a difficult product from a computer perspective.  Company A, for example, might call a grade of timber, say, FR1, but another company might call the same grade No1FR.  The software developed by TimberSmart allows the different companies to keep their own naming systems, but still allows the product to be tracked."

Nicolson believes that by using the new system, companies could cut 20% from clerical costs and lift profits by up to 10%.

TimberSmart has 10 staff but Nicolson thinks the new program could create more jobs overseas as people track timber over the Internet.  "Our vision is to establish the model domestically, then move it to international markets including Australia, South Africa, Chile and Argentina.  These are key radiata pine growing regions of the world."

The project was supported by technology New Zealand which invests in research into new products, processes or services

Source: Computerworld New Zealand 27 March 200

I apologise for the poor quality of the photograph of Darryl Nicolson.  My copy of the Logging Online article was too dark to scan properly.

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