New patented method for traceability in the forestry industry

July 6, 2010 by timbercommunity

New traceability technology can revolutionize the global forestry industry. The growth company Otmetka Log Marking AB outside Uppsala is now, after ten years’ development work ready to present the marking system Woodpecker. With this solution a code or label is stamped into the wood. The code can then be read by an image analysis system - similar to the interpretation of number plates for congestion charging in Stockholm. The system can guarantee full traceability of the timber from where the tree grew in the forest to the saw.
 

Woodpecker is a patented system with sole rights in all the important forestry industry countries.  ​The system can even be linked with existing bar code systems and thereby create traceability all the way out to the retail trade. This makes it possible to mark every log with an automatic ID code when it is felled with a harvester.

The harvester save the coordinates of the tree. A code, unique for every log, mark the logend. All produced data by the harvesters computer describes each log. This file can e saved later to a database thanks to the "Woodpecker-code".

Disclosure of this technology is taking place at a time when there is huge demand for the traceability of timber. At the beginning of July (5-8 July), the European Parliament, after many years of treatment, shall decide upon legislation to prevent the trade of illegal timber. It has been indicated that there will be sharper wording and that companies that import or sell wood or wooden products within the EU may need to take active measures to prevent such trade. Critics fear that the demand for traceability will lead to higher costs, complications and bureaucracy. But it can instead lead to the opposite.

The advantages of the Woodpecker system are significant and multifaceted. Besides preventing illegal felling, corruption, money laundering and distorted competition within the forestry industry, the system can make timber handling much more efficient through improved logistics and provide better security in business transactions with timber. Certification systems that demand traceability can also receive automatic receipts that traceability regulations have been followed with, among other things, increased biological variety as a result.

– The system can create completely new opportunities throughout the processing chain, where Swedish industry, among others, has plenty to win, says Bengt Sörvik, CEO and founder of the company.

The most established international certification system for responsible forestry is FSC, but over the past few years FSC has been criticized for being too lenient and for the lack of secure traceability. Recently, one of the founders of the Swedish FSC, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, pulled out of the project. Woodpecker can help prevent such problems.

Only practical testing of the technology remains and the company is now looking for proactive partners, clients and investors in order to launch Woodpecker. If all goes well, the system is expected to be up and running in connection with next year’s international forestry trade fair, Elmia Wood.

OTMETKA Log Marking AB is a public limited company with over 50 shareholders. The name OTMETKA is the Russian word for mark that can loosely be translated to approved.