How do I automate my timber purchasing?

Even today, prices for raw timber are sometimes very high. This can be especially challenging when timber purchasing has to take place at a particular time in a particular quality. In the middle of this year we already released a major update to our raw-timber marketing platform. An important part of this update is the so-called search agent. We already introduced the search agent's basic functionality in an earlier entry.

Automating timber purchasing made easy

The search agent is a technology that, based on artificial intelligence (AI), matches requests with existing offers. When a request and an offer match in key respects – for example the type and quality of timber as well as a suitable catchment area – the timber buyer receives an automated notification. It works exactly the same way for the forest owner. If they post the assortments in their stock as offers, they are notified immediately if someone wants to buy precisely those assortments. Users receive this notification via app for smartphone, tablet, iOS or Android.

The comparison process takes place whenever buyers post new requests or forest owners post new offers. This way we ensure that buyers and sellers can connect with one another quickly and without losing time.

The search agent helps to automate timber purchasing. If the buyer of a large sawmill or a paper mill knows that a certain need for raw timber will arise over the course of the year, this can be posted on the platform as a request as early as the beginning of a month or quarter. With every newly created offer, the search agent automatically checks whether the offer matches the demand and informs the buyer immediately.

This feature also works in the case of a smaller need for timber purchasing – for example for certain rare types of timber needed by a carpenter who wants to make a special piece of furniture, or for private firewood buyers. The search agent does not only work for timber purchasing. Even when a particular offer matches an existing request, the search agent takes on the task of informing the seller about the existing interest. Naturally, the raw-timber seller can already browse existing requests.

Forstify, a pioneer in automating timber purchasing

That Forstify sets new standards in the digitalisation of forestry, and especially in raw-timber marketing, was a goal of the two founders Marco Hartmann and Christian Kaulich from the very beginning. Timber marketing as equals, using the means of digitalisation, is intended to help make the liberalised timber market quickly attractive and economically efficient for all parties in forestry. For this reason, Forstify is glad to be a partner of the Competence Centre Wood and Forest 4.0. Further information on this cluster can be found here.