2017 International Forest Industries Magazines April May 2017 | Page 64

Thanks a buncher Making life better for contractors continues to be the trend in the harvesting space C onvenience, comfort and steep-slope functionality are some of the key points targeted by feller buncher improvements brought to market by two of the industry’s heavyweights over the past 12 months. The North American forestry giants, Caterpillar and Tigercat, have been bending over backwards to make the harvesting experience a more pleasant one without compromising on productivity. There has also been an increasing effort to cater for operations accessing high-gradient stands. Both manufacturers have 62 International Forest Industries | APRIL / MAY 2017 their own unique ways of tackling challenges and driving innovation and in this year’s review we’ll start with Tigercat’s enhancements to what was already a world-class feller buncher fleet. operator sightlines. All Tigercat feller bunchers feature the fuel efficient and reliable Tigercat FPT engine, which is directly supported by Tigercat for all service and warranty. ER Boom technology Tigercat offers one of the broadest ranges of both track and drive-to- tree feller bunchers in the industry. Along with innovative features like the ER boom and WideRange, Tigercat’s feller bunchers offer long service life, high machine availability rates, excellent service access and the clear An important advantage common to Tigercat track feller bunchers is ER boom technology. ER technology provides increased production compared with conventional boom systems – especially in high-cycle applications. ER allows the operator to extend and retract the boom on a horizontal plane using a single