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Södra grants SEK 2.5 million for funding of new research projects

 Wednesday, April 27, 2016

SODRA_300x200At its last Board meeting, the Södra Foundation for Research, Development and Education decided to grant funding of SEK 2.5 million to support four new research projects.

 
Laila Rogestedt, Senior Vice President of Innovation and New Business at Södra, and Board member of the Foundation, shared, “Finding solutions for tomorrow’s forestry and forest industry is a very serious matter for us. Stable funding for long-term research paves the way for our success in this area.”

 
One of the projects that received funding from the Research Foundation is focused on driverless vehicles. The project will evaluate the technical, safety and financial conditions for introducing autonomous forklifts for the handling of timber packages at sawmills.

 
“The idea is that autonomous timber forklifts will perform simple tasks totally automatically, while more complex tasks are handled by an experienced operator sitting in a control room. This will reduce salary costs because a forklift operator will be able to handle several forklifts simultaneously, and it could also reduce the risk of injury, since fewer people are needed in and around the forklifts”, added Laila Rogestedt.

 
The goal of the research project will be to further explore issues related to safety, technology and economics. The long-term goal is to work together with forklift manufacturers to develop the technology.

 
The Södra Research Foundation has also granted funding for the following Projects:

 
•  Local wood fibre orientation in spruce, and its significance for the wood’s properties
The project will examine knowledge of the local wood fibre orientation close to knots and how it affects such wood properties as strength, stiffness and dimensional stability. The goal is to contribute to the development of more advanced methods for strength grading, thereby adding value in the production chain.

 
•  Does controlled breeding affect the supporting function of spruce roots?
The project aims to examine the effect of controlled breeding on young spruce roots with regard to the mechanical stability of the trees.

 
•  Additional genetic gains from clonal forestry
The goal is to estimate the genetic gains expected from clonal forestry. This will be analysed by observing the effects on an early selection in nurseries and the effects from field trials.

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