The management and development of the chopped firewood production process

The main aim of the research project is to improve competitiveness by reducing the production and distribution costs of chopped firewood and raising the quality of chopped firewood. The aim is to attain the goal through four subprojects: 1. Productivity, costs and development targets of new firewood machines, 2. The artificial drying and storage management of chopped firewood, 3. New logistics solutions for the chopped firewood production process, and 4. The current situation of the firewood trade in Europe. The research project covered an analysis of the productivity of new firewood machines, and the costs and quality of produced chopped firewood. Suggestions were made to firewood machine manufacturers for developing firewood machines. Also, the cost-effectiveness of current chopped firewood production and distribution chains was studied. The drying process will be modelled for artificial drying, the functionality of a theoretical drying programme will be tested under field conditions and instructions will be prepared for building a chopped firewood drier. Furthermore, a survey was carried out on the volume of firewood sales and the firewood production equipment available for sale in Europe, and European firewood merchants. methods of operation was studied. (orig.)