Timber apps, there are not many around yet they are growing in popularity due to market demands for transparency. 2017 will be the year when you should be digitally measuring timber.
The timber and forestry industries are changing. Yes, the demand for timber is still high and the need for paper based products shows no sign of abating. But according to a UNECE (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) report price volatility remains constant between various timber exporting nations.
Combined with increased public and media interest in illegal logging, it is becoming more important that the industry becomes more transparent.
But how is this done? Price volatility is hard to amend with so many competing markets and prices falling domestically and costs rising.
So the industry is now moving to more digital methods of measuring timber – hence the rise of timber apps.
Increase Your Prices
Selling timber without measuring the products is like selling livestock without weighing the animals. Knowing what you have to sell and securing several bids can mean many additional dollars from your timber sales. But with various measurement formulae used globally and the subjective nature of manually measuring timber makes it almost impossible for forest owners to sell their timber and obtain a fair and increased price. Using timber apps like Timbeter, empowers the timber owner to present digital proof of their timber and send to various buyers.
Digitally measuring timber with a timber app enables international measuring formale to not only be used but converted accurately so that prices are not overcharged when adding conversion rates. Simply put, digitally measuring timber mitigates your financial losses.
Increasing Your Cost Efficiency
With rising costs and falling market volumes for several markets, it’s imperative that you increase the cost efficiency of your business. Using a timber app and digitally measuring timber does just that.
By all parties using a timber app ensures that timber measurements, whether in a pile, on a truck or within a container can be measured extremely quickly – freeing up time for you and co-workers to focus on other tasks to profitize your business.
Even in disputes where you need to re-measure digital measurements, doing it in 10-15 minutes is a 200% increase in your valuable time saved, aiding to reduce the cost burden to your business – staff salaries, fuel expenditure, paper costs and so on. Increasing your cost efficiency inevitably makes your business more productive so that you can increase profits.
Become More Productive
Using a timber app to digitally measure timber increased your productivity:
- take your digital measurements with an app rather than manually measuring (and arguing with others over the correct amounts)
- subsequently automatically uploading them online to be shared with buyers rather than writing a paper report (bill of ladings)
- Export the data when and where you want to (in the office, at home or even in the forest) versus waiting to return to a desk PC to do it.
By digitally measuring timber you can instantly get more done and do your tasks on the go rather than waiting to write up. Thus this enables you to complete other tasks or even finish for the day! (You wish!).
Eradicate Illegal Logging
Using a timber app empowers everybody to view and assess all timber measurements – meaning that both buyers and sellers can see precisely what is being measured, how much and where it comes from.
This reduces the practice of illegal logging because should a buyer question the timber purchased location of origin, if they determine that the timber was obtained by dubious sources they can refuse to buy. This places pressure on the illegal logger to either halt their practices and move on to legal means of obtaining timber.
If all businesses within the timber and forestry industries used timber apps – then illegal loggers who undercut official timber sellers will be out of business and lead to an increase in timber prices – great news for those who act legally within our industry. Using Timbeter has proven not only to reduce human error in measuring timber but is increasing mutual trust between partners.
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To conclude using a timber app to digitally measure timber will increase sales, productivity, transparency, cost efficiency and begin to eradicate illegal logging that is undermining our industries.
When is your business going to move over to digital this year?
