Successful and timely ExpoCorma for Tigercat

The biannual ExpoCorma 2003 held this past November was billed to be more important than ever before with strong interest coming from many parts of the world where intensive plantation forestry has become of foremost importance.

PARIS, ON, January 12, 2004 - For Tigercat, ExpoCorma was timely. Tigercat has made much progress in the South American market, particularly in Chile. Also, numerous expansions of forest product processing facilities have taken place in recent times. As a consequence, Tigercat, along with Latin Equipment Chile S.A. made its presence felt with the showing of three machines: L830 feller buncher, 620 skidder and 220 loader. 

Throughout the duration of this three-day show, there was strong interest in the ER equipped L830 for a number of reasons. Most important the size and capacity of the machine compared to any of the competing products introduced to this market to date. Prior to the show, the feeling was that in most radiata pine applications, the Chileans would require Tigercat's largest leveling feller buncher, the L870 with the 5702 disc saw.

However, the L830 is a transition machine in terms of cost and size and is still capable of high performance in the radiata application. There has been strong resistance to the disc saw due to previous negative experiences with other brands. Overcoming the perception of a cutting tool that is wasteful due to its wide kerf blade was another bridge to cross in bringing this machine to market.

The Chilean truck mounted loader market is possibly the biggest in the world with a typical transport contractor owning a loader and a fleet of trucks to service the landowner in getting the wood to the mill. Depending on the product, the logs can range from 18 m (60 ft.) lengths to 2.4 m (8 ft.) pulpwood and so a versatile grapple such as the Rotobec 6606 is a popular choice.

The Tigercat name and obvious structural benefits compared to a run of the mill loader drew strong attention from many transport operators. With its superior lift capacity, thoughtful design features and desirable cab, the new 220 loader should become a popular fixture in the Chilean forest industry. 

With some additional lights and final installation, the Tigercat 220 was put to work on a 24-hour loading operation and is likely not leaving the job site. Product manager Kevin Keats made the journey to this new market for the show and demonstration and returned very excited about the prospects for this new product.

The L830 demonstration was the pinnacle of the marketing effort. Tigercat Pacific northwest district manager, Rob Selby and Tigercat customer and operator, Blair MacKenzie were in attendance. MacKenzie who hails from Quesnel, BC made acted as demo operator for the show. He quickly mastered the machine’s capabilities, the conditions and the tree size. 

Given the prejudice toward the wasteful nature of disc saws, he ensured that each tree was cut as close as possible to the ground and placed with perfection for the subsequent motor-manual delimbing operation. Bunches were required to be five trees in size and trees had to be fanned in order to facilitate the delimbing activity. Compared to the traditional bar saw feller bunchers used to date, the disc saw cut consistently lower than what was expected. An added bonus using the disc saw is the "weed whacking" service it provides in clearing the site of heavy undergrowth which encumbers access for both the delimbing activity and the subsequent site preparation and planting operations.

The L830 - 5400 saw ER combination is already proving to be great choice for this application although the "big wood" boom package with the larger 5702 saw will be a future consideration for larger trees and steeper slopes. 

About Tigercat

Tigercat Industries designs and manufactures premium quality forestry and off-road equipment with manufacturing facilities in Canada and Sweden and world-wide distribution.

Tigercat and the Tigercat logo are registered trademarks of Tigercat Industries Inc. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright (c) 2001-2004 Tigercat Industries Inc.

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 For more information, contact:

Paul Iarocci, Tigercat Industries Inc.
519-442-1529 Ext. 314
piarocci@tigercat.com

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