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How To: Manage Decked Wood
1. Background
In many regions there is a logging season where the majority of logging is performed, often resulting in harvesting getting ahead of mill deliveries. In this case, there may be substantial wood cut and decked with the expectation that it will be delivered at a future date (usually when the logging is light and mill demands then exceed current harvesting). To the degree that the wood decked in remote areas represents future income, it is important to account the amount of wood that has been cut but not yet delivered.
In The Logger's Edge you can track the amount of wood harvested and the amount of wood delivered, by block. The amount harvested can be accounted for by making use of the tree count entries on time slips. The amount delivered can be accounted for by the load slips entered into the system. These two different amounts are used in the 'Decked Wood' report to determine the wood inventory build (or depletion) over a certain date range and for one (or several) blocks.
2. Steps InvolvedEnable Tree Counts on Time Slips
You can enable one or two tree count entries than can be used to account for one overall tree count or two distinct 'types' of trees.
In the time slip window above, I have set up two tree count entries: one to keep track of Spruce trees; one to keep track of Aspen trees. You can set up one generic tree count if you want or you could set the counts up to be something else like pulp logs or saw logs.
Set the Volume per Tree on the Block
The volume of trees harvested is calculated by the product of the tree count on time slips and the volume per tree entered on the block.
The volume per tree is entered in the block set up wizard as the next to last step. The labels in the above window 'Volume/Spruce' and 'Volume/Aspen' are configurable, but should be made consistent with those for time slips. The unit of measure for volume is determined by the selection of the volume unit of measure for the block. See Below.
In this example, the entry 0.34 for Volume/Spruce is interpreted as: "There are 0.34 M3 per Spruce tree." Thus, if a guy cuts 200 spruce trees in a day, calculates his production as 68 M3 (= .34 x 200).
Set Production Indicator Flag
Often times, tree counts will be entered for workers that perform different activities for the same tree. Thus, a feller-buncher, a delimber and a loader may all record a tree count on their time slips. If we just added up the tree counts, however, we would get a far higher number of trees than were actually cut. In order to get an unduplicated count of trees, you need to set the 'production indicator' for one (or more) activities that indicated which activity will govern the count of trees for volume calculations. For example, if you think that the tree count for your delimber is the most accurate, you should set the production indicator for delimbing. This is set by navigating to Setup | Pay Activities.
In the screen above the activity delimbing has been set as the production indicator. This means that only the delimber's tree counts will be used when we need to calculate harvesting volume.
Establish Mapping Between Tree Counts and Load Slips
When only one tree count is enabled, The Logger's Edge has sufficient information to calculate harvesting volume and compare it against load volumes for any given block.
No mapping is
need when only one tree count is enabled.
In the case where two tree counts are enabled The Logger's Edge needs to know how to match tree counts on time slips against volumes on load slips. This mapping is set up as a Basic Setup item. You will need to be logged in as an administrator in order to enter these settings. See below.
The 'C Part Context- is used for those who enter tree counts on their time slips and want to compare the volume of the trees entered on time slips versus the volume of loads delivered to the mill. The difference between these two volume measures can be used to estimate the decked wood remaining in a block. This option only needs to be set if the user is using two (2) tree counts instead of one. If the user only employs one tree count, the C Part Context should be left blank. The 'C Part Context' tells the The Logger's Edge which load attribute (species, sort, product, etc.) will be used to match loads against tree counts on time slips. For example, if we chose species as the C Part Context, we might assign the first tree count to be Spruce and the second tree count to be Aspen. We could then compare Spruce loads against Spruce tree counts and Aspen loads against Aspen tree counts.
The 'Prod 1 C Part Value' is used to specify a specific attribute of the first tree count. For example if the C Part Context is Species, this might be an entry such as Spruce, Pine, Aspen, etc. This attribute should not be the same as the Prod 2 C Part Value.
The 'Prod 1 C Part Value' is used to specify a specific attribute of the second tree count. For example if the C Part Context is Species, this might be an entry such as Spruce, Pine, Aspen, etc. This attribute should not be the same as the Prod 1 C Part Value.
Report
The 'decked wood' report allows you to compare your estimated production (based on tree counts) against the volume of your mill deliveries. See Below. This report shows your current period production and deliveries and your calculated inventory build (or depletion). The report also shows the production and delivers for all time -- the difference providing an estimate of the wood currently decked.
The report shows the following columns:
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Block: Block
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Species: Species
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Current Production Vol: Volume harvested in the date range (based on tree count and volume/tree on the block)
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Current Delivered Vol: Volume delivered in the date range selected
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Inventory Build (+/-): Increase or decrease in inventory. If production exceeds deliveries, the build is positive, and vice versa.
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Total Production Vol: Total volume harvested through the end date of the date range (based on tree count and volume/tree on the block)
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Total Delivered Vol: Total volume delivered through the end date of the date range.
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Decked Vol: Difference between total production and total deliveries. This amount should reflect the current inventory not yet delivered.
The Logger's Edge performs the volume calculations for tree counts when the report is generated. Thus if you update your volume-per-tree amounts, they will be reflected the next time the report is run.
