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EXPOFOREST 2023

Tigercat goes big with Tracbel at large-scale live forestry exhibition in Brazil.

— Gary Olsen, international sales manager southern hemisphere

Since the pandemic, opportunities to exhibit at southern hemisphere forestry equipment fairs have been lacking. As a result, Tracbel and Tigercat were excited to participate in Brazil’s fifth Expoforest event. This world-class dynamic show was held in August for the second time near the city of Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo State. The focus was on silviculture, forest management and harvesting of eucalyptus pulpwood plantation forests.

The previous Expoforest was held over five years ago in April 2018. Many advances in technology and new product introductions have transpired in the meantime and Tigercat was ready to showcase some of its latest products and developments.

The show site was sufficiently sized to allow Tigercat and Tracbel to present both their tree-length and cut-to-length systems. The proverbial ‘go big or go home’ was the approach taken by both entities in relation to the size of the site and the number of machines on display. In addition, 42 Tigercat team members travelled from Canada to attend and support the event. Consequently, attendees were left with no doubt as to the level of commitment to the Brazilian industry demonstrated by the Tigercat-Tracbel team.

The tree-length system included an 870D feller buncher fitted with a 5300 bunching saw, followed by a 635H skidder. The impressive Tigercat 6500 chipper processed the tree-length timber into bio-fuel wood chips.

The cut-to-length system on show featured a Tigercat 534 harvesting head configured for eucalyptus debarking installed on a Volvo 20-tonne excavator. A 1075C forwarder equipped with a Tigercat FT195T85 crane loaded seven metre lengths. The forwarder featured Tigercat’s payload scale system in combination with the F30 productivity monitoring system. Tigercat’s smaller 1055C forwarder also made an appearance at the show where it was used to compete in the forwarder competition.
1075C Forwarder
Tigercat 1075C forwarder loading seven metre lengths.
A Tigercat 1165 harvester with a six-wheel configuration was also fitted with a 534 head equipped for pine harvesting. The machine featured prominently at the main entrance and proved quite the attraction for visitors waiting to enter the show site. Back at the Tracbel-Tigercat booth were several static machines including a 720G drive-to-tree feller buncher equipped with the 5600 bunching saw, a 630H skidder and a second 870D feller buncher.
635H skidder
The 635H skidder was part of the full-tree demonstrations.
Inside the booth, Tigercat had the very popular cut-to-length simulator station available for anyone to put themselves through the paces of either harvesting or forwarding without risk of damaging a real machine. In this same space, Tigercat demonstrated the RemoteLog® telematics system projected on a large screen in real time. It gave interested attendees an idea of the capabilities of the system for machine health monitoring and production analysis, while demonstrating the seamless integration of the harvesting head production data generated by the Tigercat D7 control system.
6500
Tigercat’s new 6500 material processor producing fuel chips.
The dynamic harvesting systems operated for fifteen-minute intervals at four time slots throughout the day, drawing significant crowds. Our booth was inundated with customers from all over South America. Expoforest organizer confirmed 35,000 in attendance over the three-day event. Tigercat dealer Latin Equipment hosted customer groups from its divisions in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Central America. Tracbel hosted a customer event on the first evening of the show with nearly 400 in attendance. It proved to be an excellent social gathering and networking opportunity.

These large-scale international trade shows represent a culmination of months and even years of planning, consuming significant resources. However, the opportunity to connect intensively with industry professionals, share ideas, and register critically important feedback is invaluable. Expoforest 2023 was a worthy endeavour.
Tigercat CTL simulator
The Tigercat CTL simulator attracted a lot of attention during the event. The forest companies recognize it as a powerful tool for operator training.

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