Important collaboration between Sedu forestry school and Logset
Sedu Ähtäri forestry school campus in Tuomarniemi, Finland is surrounded by beautifully green summer trees and a lake surface that glistens in the sun. Several students will begin their forest machine operator studies here during the upcoming autumn.
– We had a record number of applicants this spring. 45 of them were primary applicants and we offered only 26 spots. Due to the large interest we raised the number of spots to 32. We have done a lot of marketing and now we’re seeing the results. Every fall we arrange an open doors event so that the regions 8th and 9th graders can visit our campus and see what the terrain education is like. In the terrain we do forest machine demos and serve grilled sausages with coffee. The visiting students are guided by student tutors, says Antti Virkkunen, forestry teacher who is responsible for the education.
The new students will get to operate a Logset 8H GTE Hybrid harvester that was delivered to the school in spring 2020. The school has also a Logset 5F GT forwarder from 2018 and a new Logset simulator. Sedu forestry school and Logset have started a new type of collaboration.
– In the future, Logset can offer forest machine training for customers and dealers through our school. We had a pilot project in 2019. The collaboration is possible now that our school has the required equipment.
Antti has a clear answer when asked why the school decided to invest in a hybrid harvester.
– The hybrid system highlights sustainable development, and ecological and environmentally friendly decisions. These are values that Sedu wants to bring forward. We want to guide our students in the same direction. Also, we want to lead the way by being the first forestry school to utilize hybrid technology in the education.
According to Antti the hybrid harvester is a leasing machine. To renew the machines through leasing agreements is getting more common even for schools. Leasing agreements lighten the economy of the schools by removing heavy one-time investments. Also, the agreements make it possible to update the machines more often.
– Forest machines are big investments. Lately the resources used for education have been cut which makes big investments almost impossible. At the same time the schools need to be up to date. Especially the technical side and the measuring device of the harvesters develop fast. We want our students to learn to use the latest technology. Everyone gains from it: the school, the students and region’s forest entrepreneurs.
HARVESTER OPERATOR WITHIN THREE YEARS
Soon Teemu Muhonen will start his third year of forest machine operator studies. He applied to Sedu because big machines have fascinated him since childhood, and he wanted a practical job. Currently Teemu has a summer job as a forwarder operator at Harvestline Oy. While working within the field he is collecting credits for his studies. If everything goes well, Teemu can graduate in December 2020.
– At work I operate a Logset 5FP GT from 2017. The cabin is spacious and there are several storage compartments. The visibility is very good too.
So far Teemu is happy with his choice of studies. He likes the education at Sedu.
– I think I will be operating a harvester within three years. It seems like an interesting job. I recommend this field of studies for anyone who wants to take responsibility at work, likes to be by themselves and is interested in forestry. I find forestry surprisingly complex, because of the nature reserves and the trees that need to be saved, he says.
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