Efficiency and productivity of skidder dragging full-trees of Eucalyptus sp.

Abstract

The development of activities in the forestry sector is constantly evolving. The constant search for improvements in the production system in order to increase production and reduce costs are, therefore, necessary to maintain the growth of forestry. The forest harvesting stage corresponds to a large part of the financial amount spent on the activity and, therefore, it becomes the target of constant studies aiming at its improvement and evolution. The objective of this study is to carry out a technical analysis of the operation of a forest machine skidder operating in the drag of a eucalypts stand in the whole tree system. The technical analysis encompasses factors such as the study of times and movements, operational efficiency and productivity, evaluating the performance of the machinery for three different drag branch distances. In the study of times and movements, the operations “travel without load” and “travel with load” were the operations that demanded the longest total cycle time. The operational efficiency of the machinery approached 90% and the productivity of the skidder decreased according to the increase in the distance from the skidding branch, being in the order of 19.36 m³. hˉ¹ for the 100-meter skid road, 14.01 m³. hˉ¹ for the 200-meter skid road and 8.35 m³. hˉ¹ for the 300-meter skid road.