To celebrate Timbeter’s 5th birthday, Semion Smolyak, IT Specialist from Russian timber company Red October, shared with us some of his experiences using Timbeter. You can check it below:
**1 – How did you find Timbeter and how did the collaboration start?**Smolyak: I was looking for some application which would measure round wood and I encountered Timbeter.
Then I was contacted by Vallo (Vallo Visnapuu — Chairman of the Council), and he clarified all my doubts and answered all of questions, so I continued testing. This is how it all started.
**2 – How workers perceived the innovation implementation? And how did the transitioning from a manual method go?**S: Initially, it was met with grain of salt, obviously. Later, the workers came to realize the method speeds up the process (which is very relevant to Russian regions, most of them experience very low temperatures during winter season) — and they appreciated that!
**3 -Tell us about Timbeter implementation. Was it hard to get a resolution to switch to a new method from the decision makers?**S: We have a Quality Control department. The head of QC department was making measurements manually and was comparing with what Timbeter obtained. The head of the department then came to a conclusion that Timbeter is precise enough to substitute manual method, while time saving is significant. That is how the decision maker gave us a green light to use the program on permanent basis.
Regarding our partners, on paper in “measurement method” we point Timbeter as one of the official methods. We took some partners who had doubts and demonstrated Timbeter’s working, so they could see clearly with their own eyes. One partner (“Region 59”) bought a license afterwards.
**4 – The most important question. Prospective customers have the following doubts: if one of the parties would use Timbeter as measuring method and another one would use GOST (Russian standard), would the discrepancy be unavoidable because the parties are in different measuring systems. Could you comment on that?**S: I do not see any discrepancy. Let’s go through it in order: “diameter” measurement corresponds to tally sheet method, and “pile” measurement corresponds to geometrical method. For valuable sortiments, such as veneer logs, we use GOST 2708 75 in “diameter” regime, because then the logs are stacked narrow-ends-one-side, as GOST requires. When stacked with mixed-ends, then it corresponds to the “pile” with density coefficient.
With this being said, the method of obtaining a diameter varies (when seeking for a diameter with the help of GOST, it is needed to measure the diameter of a log with the help of two mutually perpendicular measurements, and then calculate an average. This happens because in nature, there is no such a thing as absolute round wood trunk. What Timbeter does is, in the first place, to draw a circle which square is equal to the log cross-section, and derive a diameter from the square). But as QC department saw coincidence in the results, it gave us a green light, as I have mentioned above.
5 – **What do you think regarding price? Starting from what volume of logs it pays off?**Smolyak: It is hard to bring some exact volume, because it always depends on different factors. However, I have discussed that issue with a partner, and we came up to conclusion that having operative information when controlling on receiving logs, visual proof (Storage Module), to evaluate quality of measurements and to minimize human error is an unique opportunity itself for reports for harvested, transported, and calculated when received volume, and price for this opportunity is not high at all.
