Effect of mechanization level on manpower needs in forestry

High work consumption in forest operations is above all the result of the character and task realization mode in works undertaken in forestry. Development of mechanization in forest management activities allows to considerably decrease manpower needs. In the present study, there were analyzed the possibilities of reduction of work consumption by improving the mechanization level of forest works. The method was developed to consider the following assessments: 1) variant W1 – basic option comprising factual work consumption values in works carried out on the area administered by the Regional Directorate of State Forests (RDLP); 2) W2 – showing the effect of 25% upgrade of works to a higher level of mechanization; 3) W3 – showing the effect of 50% upgrade of works to a higher level of mechanization; 4) W4 – comprising analogous calculations to those in variant W1 , but work consumption upgrading was 75%. Simulation calculations revealed considerable differences in needs for labor of different categories of forest workers. On the other hand, with increasing mechanization level, there increase the demands concerning worker qualifications, e.g. a harvester operator must be trained for about 2 years, and the training has to include both simulator exercises (first using software and next – harvester simulator) and field work under supervision to gain sufficient experience. The introduction of higher levels of mechanization into forest operations, and hence considerable reduction of jobs for unqualified workers who are replaced by qualified employees, can help decreasing work consumption in forest operations.

Przemysław Szmit