Gothenburg
When Sweden’s largest forest owner Sveaskog invests in AI, two projects link up at ForestX. Oskar Selmeryd at ForestX is currently leading two innovative AI projects for the forestry giant.
Swedish Sveaskog funded an AI-forum two and half years ago. Brainstorming gave the forum 27 ideas for developing the use of AI in forestry. Some have been tested and implemented, some will never be tried out and new ideas have been added.
During spring 2021 two projects are in progress where Sveaskog has chosen Finnish company CollectiveCrunch and Gothenburg-based Tenfifty for two pilot projects on how Sveaskog can use and develop AI in the forest. Both of these leading AI companies are also linked as industry specialists and partners to ForestX. When the projects now are underway at Sveaskog, it’s Oskar Selmeryd in his role as project manager at ForestX who’s in charge.
– We contribute with the knowledge between the forestry and the technical, he says. Sveaskog is a good customer to work with. The attitude towards AI is good and it’s exciting that they have a number of concepts they want to try.
Value optimization with a new tool
In the project with Tenfifty and Sveaskog, AI is used to find the optimal point between fulfilling customer requirements and value to provide the right instructions before felling.
– There are tools that provide support in the decision-making process today, but it is a time-consuming process, says Oskar Selmeryd.
There are no ready-made solutions in this project, a completely new tool is being developed. Tenfifty bring the experience and competence in terms of AI to the project, ForestX builds the interface. Through Sveaskog, there is access to data on all types of forest throughout Sweden, necessary to be able to train AI.
The purpose of the project is to develop a new tool for timber value technicians and corresponding professional groups at Sveaskog. They will in turn save time, have access to better quality pin files and have more well-founded options to consider.
– If you look at the longer term, you could get an even higher degree of automation by continuously taking in data from ongoing fellings and make corrections, says Oskar Selmeryd.
Synergy effect with an edge with Tenfifty
From Sveaskog’s point of view, it is of course the large degree of automated calculations that is interesting.
– To be able to do things faster and better, that is the great benefit, says Christer Ranvald, project manager at Sveaskog.
The collaboration with ForestX began early in the process:
– All the regular IT providers also have AI. Together with Christer Lindqvist at ForestX we looked for specialists in AI, and through that we found Tenfifty.
– ForestX knows forestry and can make it into products. Together with Tenfifty, it gives a synergy effect with an edge, says Christer Ranvald at Sveaskog.
In the spring of 2021, work will continue on developing and implementing the tool.
Better forecasts with LindaForest
The project with CollectiveCrunch is based on the company’s product LindaForest. It collects both public and general data such as climate and satellite information, together with customer-specific data on, for example, stands and felling. Together, it provides improved estimates of planned care and outcomes.
– The goal is improved estimates of the forest without having to make field visits. It should provide better outcome forecasts and be time saving. It also provides increased data quality, says Oskar Selmeryd.
The project will be carried out in Sveaskog’s area Södra Norrland and has just started. It will end before the summer of 2021.
Practical applications
AI is a concept that is used generously and the hopes for what AI can solve are high in all industries.
– AI is a term that is sometimes used a little fluffy. Here we work with two practical applications. We’re doing something concrete and value-creating, says Oskar Selmeryd.
Sveaskog
Sveaskog is owned by the Swedish state. The main geographic market is Sweden. Sveaskog owns 14% of forest land in Sweden, spread across the entire country. The forest and its assets are Sveaskog’s core business. Conducting forestry operations and developing new business opportunities and applications for wood raw material, wood products and forest land are a major responsibility. Sustainable development permeates every aspect of Sveaskog’s business.
Sveaskog had sales of SEK 7.209 million in 2019 and in average 807 employees throughout Sweden.
CollectiveCrunch
CollectiveCrunch is a leader in AI in the forest industry. The company collects climate, geo- and process data and “crunches” the information into AI models. All for better predictions about forest holdings and forest management. Five of the top ten forest companies in the Nordic region are customers of CollectiveCrunch.
Tenfifty
Tenfifty develops and implements customized customer solutions based on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to optimize, automate, predict and forecast customers’ operations based on all types of data. Tenfifty has over 15 years of experience in delivering stable AI solutions to customers in Europe.
