Weyerhaeuser plans to use artificial intelligence across logging, replanting, trucking and mill operations as it seeks to add $1 billion in annual profit by 2030 without relying on higher lumber prices.

Chief Executive Devin Stockfish said that the company has 125 years of forest-growth data and plans to use AI to improve decisions across its timberlands. The Seattle-based company says the targeted profit increase would roughly double 2025 profits.

Weyerhaeuser's shares have fallen about 40% from their 2022 peak during the pandemic lumber boom, while the broader market has risen on investor interest in AI. The company hired John Scumniotales, a former Amazon Alexa executive, to help lead its AI deployment.

Weyerhaeuser is building a digital model of its timberlands using satellite images, drone footage and lidar sensors. The system is expected to identify tree size, species and spacing, giving the company more detailed data on forests covering an area roughly the size of Indiana. The company has trained an AI model to review drone footage and measure seedling survival rates. The system can replace manual counts by foresters in steep or difficult terrain while producing faster and cheaper data.

Weyerhaeuser plants more than 100 million seedlings a year, equal to about 190 a minute. Its hardwood forests in New England and West Virginia are logged selectively and regenerate naturally, while its conifer forests in the South and Pacific Northwest are clear-cut and replanted.

The company is testing semiautonomous logging equipment, including a driverless skidder that dragged felled trees at a Southern logging site. The machine used AI-assisted navigation and terrain mapping from Kodama Systems, while an operator controlled it from 400 miles away. Senior Vice President of Timberlands Travis Keatley said the technology could allow one operator to manage multiple skidders and move the company toward full autonomy. Future systems could cover more of the logging workflow, including machines that cut, stack and delimb trees.

Weyerhaeuser is also working with Sweden's Nordic Forestry Automation on an in-cabin AI assistant that shows harvesters which trees to cut during thinning. The company built an algorithm to leave the strongest trees with space to grow into higher-value products, including lumber and utility poles.

Weyerhaeuser is also using AI to monitor mill equipment, match production with demand and market prices, and optimize truck routes. About 5,000 trucks rumble each day along company logging roads whose total mileage rivals the U.S. Interstate Highway System.
  
Source: nipimpressions.com