From Forestry Machines to Sociotechnical Hybrids: Investigating the Use of Digitally Enabled Forestry Machines

Most forestry machines being produced today include a personal computer that monitors and controls the harvester head, and an information system that stores data on every action the driver or the machine performs. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) thus provide an opportunity to improve efficiency and competitiveness and possibly also opens up new ways of working for actors in the forestry industry. The purpose of this study is to investigate how ICT can enable the transformation from selling products to selling services in the forestry industry. We investigate such transformation through conducting a case study including a number of actors from the forestry industry in northern Sweden. First, we investigate the barriers for establishing an open innovation system in forestry. Then we describe how the use of ICTs can enable the establishment of such a system. The case study shows that the forestry industry as a whole is dominated by the salient traditional value chain where the raw materials are refined to paper products and that many of the actors are committed to a closed innovation paradigm. We argue that the ICT component in forestry machines constitutes a latent potential that can be fully captured in the context of an open innovation system.