Hitachi Construction Machinery Australia

Melvin Webb, Robert Campbell and Darren Webb of the National Industrial Skills Training Centre — Wodonga TAFE.

What has brilliant fuel economy, works all day, and makes things a lot easier for young blokes to get a start in the forestry industry?

Well, according to the crew at the National Industrial Skills Training Centre (Wodonga TAFE), it’s got to be their latest acquisition from Hitachi Construction Machinery Australia, a John Deere 753JH tracked harvester with a Waratah 622B harvesting head.

But wait... there’s more! The John Deere deal included a simulator, modifications to the boom piping and a TimberRite system. That’s first class news for the people who are seeking training so they can get into the industry.

The NISTC crew delivers training in many fields: road transport, civil construction, warehousing, and forestry harvesting and haulage including chainsaw training. The trainers and assessors are Melvin Webb (twenty-four years in the industry), Robert Campbell (twenty years in the industry), Dave Barlow (fifteen years in the industry), Brendan Harding (twenty-five years in the industry) and Darren Webb (twenty years in different sectors of the industry).

“We purchased the 753JH fitted with a Waratah 622B harvester head with TimberRite system with optimisation, to give people a chance to train on the latest machinery and to get into the timber Industry. I find contractors need experienced operators, but cannot afford to train their own operators in most cases,” Darren said.

“With the purchase of the harvester we also got a Waratah TimberRite simulator to show students how to change settings and to make adjustments as required... it’s also teaching us a thing or two! “When we looked at the options fuel was a big factor in our decision to buy the 753JH. We were told that there was a machine operating in a hardwood job using about eighteen to twenty litres per hour,” Darren said. “Sput Lowry, the manager at the time, and Brian Blake, acting CEO at Wodonga TAFE, worked very hard to make this dream a reality, and we are very fortunate to be given areas to work and train in by Hancock Victorian Plantations,” he said.

Each of the trainers gets a kick out of seeing their students succeed... “That’s what this is all about and the acquisition of the John Deere 753 is helping them to succeed.”

Darren is ready to extol the virtues of the frugal fuel use and says it’s phenomenal. “When we’re teaching students we can basically get a week out of it with 500 litres. I know it’s not working very hard but even when we cut a bit of production wood to help cut costs for the organisation it’s just great on fuel.”

And as for those learning the craft, Darren says it is time in the seat that counts. “They need every minute in the seat they can.”

“What we are doing is training people in and on systems they will be using in the real workforce, so it’s got to put them at an advantage,” Darren said. Ron Crook, Waratah Sales Manager for the eastern states, described the 662B head as a good, strong and reliable head.

“It has a bottom delimb knife arm, it has a 404 main saw and a 404 topping saw. The reason they’ve gone for the bottom delimb is obviously for versatility, and they are using it in some thinnings work.

“The 622B has been on the market since 2004-5 with about a hundred and twenty being used in Australia on softwood and hardwood. “It’s a very versatile head. It can go down to very small diameters and up to the larger diameters so it’s very versatile,” says Rob.

With a little over seven hundred hours clocked up and several well trained students ready for the workforce, there’s still a mountain of work to be done by the crew, the students and, of course the harvester.

Images and story courtesy of Australian Forest & Timber Magazine.

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