Rugged Handhelds Revolutionize Scaling Process

New technology lets you take your entire music library with you on bike rides, and new technology can allow a dispatcher to unlock your car from 1,000 miles away. But how much can new technology improve a process that's been virtually unchanged for centuries?

As it turns out, a lot. Logging has had the same process at its core for a long time: Find a tree. Cut it down. Cut it up. Build things out of the wood. But critical questions enter into that simple process: Which tree should I harvest to get the best return from this stand of timber? How can I manufacture the logs for the most yield? And, once the timber is cut, how much will someone pay for it?

With so much money at stake, it's not surprising that people on both sides of the transaction are seeking the latest technology to refine the process. And that's why — thanks to the combination of customized software, a rugged handheld computer and a cooperative effort — the 19th century process of log scaling has experienced a 21st century improvement.

Six months after implementing the one-two punch of new software and their rugged handheld, scalers noted an appreciable difference in both gathering and transmitting data.