Wood measurement at the factory gate: a comparison study to evaluate the accuracy of a state-of-the-art digital truckload measurement system
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15287/afr.2025.4151Keywords:
transportation, supply chain, estimates, agreement, digital systems, traceability, decision makingAbstract
Precise wood measurement and traceability are important for increasing supply chain efficiency and guaranteeing legal compliance in the forest industry. Digitalization has emerged as a transformative trend globally, offering significant potential to address current challenges associated with wood transportation. This study investigates the accuracy of the CIND’s Timspec ® system in measuring the roundwood solid volume at the factory gate. It compares the system's performance using data from a number of 1,300 truckloads, of which 1,292 were retained after outlier removal, and were compared to data sourced by manual measurements performed in the forest and Microtec® measurements carried out in the sawmill yard. The study followed a comprehensive methodological framework from outlier removal using the DBSCAN (Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise) algorithm to statistical analysis and heteroskedasticity tests to assess the reliability of the system. The results indicate a high degree of agreement among the used measurement systems. However, it highlights the differences in volume estimations produced by these systems, revealing that while the Timspec system tends to overestimate wood volumes by approximately 0.5 m³ overall, which is likely attributed to operational factors such as truckload gaps and moving speed, Microtec system underestimates by about 0.8 m³ overall, primarily due to observable factors such as bark loss during mechanical handling in the sawmill yard. Based on the findings, Timspec® system can be used to effectively check the conformity regarding the quantity of wood delivered to the processing industry by those in charge with tactical and strategic decision making, mainly due to speed, effectiveness, and coverage of measurements. Following improvements, this digital system may stand as an effective tool for the wood supply chain, allowing for fast and accurate estimates of the truckload-based wood deliveries, as well as automation of the measurement processes at the factory gate.
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