Pan Pac Forest Products Ltd, based in Whirinaki, on New Zealand's North Island, is an integrated forest products company. It manages 32,500 hectares of FSC certified forest land, operates a world-class sawmill delivering 230,000 tonnes of high-quality lumber for domestic and international markets, own a pulp mill that produces 220,000 tonnes of pulp per year and - have an export woodchip operation of 170,000 tonnes per year.

The company credits its success in competitive world markets to consistently high-quality fibre supply, good technology and a progressive approach to doing business.

To help keep its competitive edge in the future, the company migrated to using the Remsoft Spatial Planning System with the aim of improving and better integrating its overall planning process.

"Our challenge was to better align and integrate our strategic, tactical and operational business plans, in a real time basis, with a focus on how best to manage both the current and future tree crops," explains Brett Gilmore, Pan Pac Environmental and Technical Adviser.

He added that the suite could accommodate Pan Pac's existing way of describing the forest plus for the first time let them produce graphical and spatial forest planning results that fostered collaboration and communication amongst stakeholders across their organization.

"Rather than endless lines of printouts, folk needed to "see" the plan because it is difficult for people to develop faith in a product if they find it hard to decipher the outcome.

"Our old software did not interface with GIS to geographically reference the data, and the reporting capability was limited without "add-ons". Also running different management scenarios was cumbersome and time-consuming." 

Start-up Service

To facilitate a smoother transition to the new software system, Pan Pac also used Remsoft's Start-up Service to begin using the software quickly and efficiently.

Remsoft senior analyst Andrew Cogswell worked with Mr. Gilmore and his colleagues in advance to identify how they planned to apply the software and then spent two days at the Pan Pac offices guiding Pan Pac foresters and analysts as they constructed models that suited their needs.

"By being there as they were first learning to use the software, I think I was able to clarify concepts, guide them in their coding so to eliminate any hang-ups and I was able to facilitate brainstorming amongst the six participants and keep them on track. I felt it was a really good session," Mr. Cogswell says.

Mr. Gilmore shared the impression, adding: "It was such a wise move because it not only eliminated the frustration of learning a new software program but, with Andrew's guidance, our team was able to develop our planning model over two days."

"The team approach to model development was extremely useful and provided an opportunity to involve and get the buy-in of a group of senior planning staff.

"Shutting the door, focusing on the challenge, and being led through it by a capable Remsoft staff member saved us probably months of 'start-and-stop' work," he said.