“We simply cannot afford to ignore skilled female workers and leaders”: an interview with Hannes Plackner (HS Vienna)

Hannes, how long have you been with Holzindustrie Schweighofer?

I joined Holzindustrie Schweighofer (HS) in December 2015 – but my passion for timber started long before. I finished the undergraduate and graduate programs in Wood Technology at the University for Natural Resources and Life Science (Vienna). During the master’s program I visited the West Virginia University and the Washington State University in the U.S.

My professional career started – surprisingly to many – as a journalist. I worked for the timber industry trade journal Holzkurier in Vienna and Munich. In 2015 I interviewed Gerald Schweighofer when HS acquired the Kodersdorf sawmill. After the interview was finished I simply asked him, if he’d see a job opportunity for me. This opened the door for my current occupation, which started in December 2015. Needless to say, it was a very interesting time and I think we’ve made lots of progress since then.

Wood processing and forestry are often perceived as traditional, “folk” activities. However, the 21st c. industry is constantly innovating and introducing new ways of working with timber.

I profoundly disagree with the traditional, sometimes romantic image of wood processing and forestry. We are working in a highly automatized and very professional industry that is governed by quality and performance. Need some examples? Constantly we make data-driven decisions, e.g. choosing the right cutting pattern for our logs. Our products are not only sustainable; they outperform other building materials that are often seen as “modern”, such as steel or concrete composites. Even foresters are using drones and laser scanners in their daily work.

I am convinced that the importance of data processing and algorithm-based decision making will ever increase in the industry. And therefore it is very interesting that the industry also transforms from the folky appearance towards a high-tech sector. Otherwise we will have trouble attracting talented employees.

If you were to single out the most important innovation in wood industry in the last 5 years, what would it be?

That’s hard to answer. The Schweighofer Prize winners of the last few years give a good overview of important innovations. [Editor’s note: The Schweighofer Prize is awarded every second year for outstanding innovation in the European forest based sector] The acoustic saw line control “CSM heartbeat” (which we also use) is one specific innovation I particularly like.

But to answer the question in a more general way: The ever-increasing availability and utilization of data in wood processing is the most important innovation in recent years.

How is technology helping in compliance activities? In your opinion, which are the most important technologies implemented in recent past?

I think the most important technology for compliance was the smartphone.

Compliance means that a process or action is in conformity to rules, regulations or policies. In the timber industry you usually use something we call a “paper trail” to control compliance. This means: collect documents (a rather inefficient task). Technology can change this. Timflow (the GPS-based wood tracking system, which enables Holzindustrie Schweighofer to track every truckload of wood from its mill gates all the way to the loading place) is the best example. We do not only rely on documents (e.g. a waybill), but on real life data (a GPS route and pictures). This possibility became only available because drivers are equipped with smartphones and their built-in internet-access, digital camera and GPS-receivers. Five years back, this would not have been achievable.

What are the trends in the timber industry? How is HS meeting these trends?

Here I can only answer from my personal perspective. In future, I am convinced, the companies that are able to collect relevant and accurate data and are able to optimize their production and business models will be the ones that excel. Data driven production is also necessary for automatization. Given the current situation on labor markets, this is another trend that will gain momentum.

Speaking of products, there is still lot of potential in glued products. The timber sector shows growing market shares of pre-manufactured housing, both in frame-construction and massive timber (CLT). These construction methods have high requirements on product quality, e.g. dimension stability. From a business point of view, it means that the added value will move from the construction site into company workshops.

Finally, a compliance-related trend: Sooner or later it will be possible to trace any piece of lumber back to the stump. We see such tracking-and-tracing systems already in the food industry. In this regard we watch the Blockchain technology with interest. At the moment, there are only pilot projects aiming at implementing Blockchain into supply chains. But a distributed and unforgeable database would be perfect for keeping track of timber transactions.

When it comes to the recognition and utilization of such new technology, I think HS is a leading company. During my years as a journalist I visited hundreds of timber processors throughout Europe. But I hardly saw any company where technology was embraced and used to create value as efficiently as we do it.

Technology will definitely re-shape the future of the industry, but apart from that, what is the most profound change you would like to see in the timber sector?

I think the entire timber sector fails when it comes to gender-balance. There are very few women in the business, let alone in decision making positions. When I was a journalist, I counted a 95% males in the Austrian timber management boards. But the problem starts at the basis. E.g., we were all-male in my university’s wood technologist’s classes. This is something that slowly changes for the better and I want to encourage every woman that decides for a career in the timber industry. In the increasing competition for talent we simply cannot afford to ignore skilled female workers and leaders.