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Nisula Forest Oy has long experience in converting forwarders for forestry work. In the course of years, we have converted dozens of forwarders into combi machines.

Combi machines can handle the two main phases of timber harvesting: felling and forwarding. In terms of machine and work techniques, combi machines are divided into two main types. With full-fledged combi machines, both the phases can be performed in one go without changes in the equipment. With other combi machines, the harvester head and the loading grapple are changed depending on the operation.

Equipping a forwarder for combined use offers the owner increased productivity compared with a normal forwarder. As a combi machine requires comparatively less capital than two separate machines, it is a much smaller risk to a contractor. A combi machine is a cost-effective “one-man-chain” for several different purposes. It offers a flexible way to complement the traditional timber harvesting chain or to cost-effectively perform contract work in which a harvesting chain with two machines would be an unnecessarily heavy and expensive solution.

Nisula’s equipment can also be used to convert a forwarder into an energy wood harvester. The hosing and the rotator with its adaptor are designed to allow quick and easy harvester head change. The NCU3 control system automatically recognises the 285E+ energy wood head. No changes or adjustments are needed in the control system, and work can start immediately. How much more versatile can one machine be? The answer is simple – no one machine can. The versatility of a combi machine allows it to be utilised round the year.

Benefits of a combi machine:

• Increases the productivity of a forwarder.
• One machine can be used to provide timber harvesting services from stump to roadside.
• A harvesting area/ cubic volume that is too small for a harvesting chain can offer full-time work for a combi machine operator
• Less risky: less capital tied to machinery than in a traditional chain.
• Smaller transportation and maintenance costs compared with a chain.
• More diversified operations.
• Highly competitive at small sites, where the impact of transfer costs on the unit costs in timber harvesting is heaviest.
• Possibility to convert both a new and an old forwarder into a versatile combi machine.