And his work has already attracted the attention of rock stars and one of the world’s largest musical instrument companies, Yamaha. “Music has the power to connect individuals,” said Furutani. “The value of forests can be conveyed to people if wood is transformed into musical instruments and performed to produce melodies.”

The eldest son in the family behind Furutani Lumber, he grew up around timber but never lost his passion for guitar, a hobby sparked in junior high school by the rock band Spitz. Even while working in Osaka after college to learn the logistics side of the lumber trade, he continued teaching himself music and later spent time at a vinyl record company.

And when he returned to Kanazawa at 27 to join the family business, he quickly saw the challenges facing the Noto region: stagnant timber prices, a shrinking workforce and a forestry sector struggling to attract successors. “Forest resources will no longer be able to circulate if things continue like this,” he recalled.

After becoming head of Furutani Lumber in 2019, he pushed the company in a new direction—using Noto Hiba to make musical instruments. The idea was initially dismissed as a hobbyist’s distraction, but he insisted that “it would be impossible to maintain forests in Noto unless we succeed in creating high value on our own.”

The key lies in compressing the wood

Noto Hiba is lightweight and naturally resistant to water and insects, but softer than maple and other hardwoods typically used in instruments. To overcome that, Furutani developed a method to compress the wood, increasing its strength enough for guitar necks and piano components.

Working with Yamaha, he tested the material’s acoustic properties. The results showed that Noto Hiba has a fast sound response and low vibration absorption—qualities similar to spruce, the gold‑standard tonewood for acoustic instruments.

In 2020, he launched the Ate no Oto (“the sound of Ate”) project, named after another local term for Noto Hiba. Since then, he has produced around 30 types of instruments, from guitars and pianos to Japanese drums and samisen. The Noto Forest Piano, installed at the Ishikawa prefectural government headquarters, became a symbol of recovery after the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake.

And last year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries selected his initiative as an outstanding example of regional revitalisation under its Discover Countryside Treasures in Japan program.

But for Furutani, the work is about more than crafting instruments. His mission, he said, is “linking the people who fell and cut trees with those who create sounds.” He consults with loggers on which trees are best suited for instruments and works with sawmills on specialised drying and cutting techniques.

“Although lumber dealers are apt to just sell wood, that is not enough to fully convey the value of forests,” he said. “I want to supervise the entire process through to the point where our wood actually reaches people as sounds.”

Recently, he has turned to salvaged wood from demolition sites in areas affected by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake. More than 2,000 woodland paths and over 30 facilities, including sawmills, were damaged by the quake and torrential rains in 2024, according to the Ishikawa Prefecture lumber industry promotion association.

Starting in 2025, Furutani has finished owkr four guitars made from Noto Hiba, with the zelkova wood taken from the veranda of a home destroyed in the disaster. Masafumi Goto of the rock band Asian Kung‑Fu Generation is expected to test the instruments in February and plans to play one during the band’s 30th‑anniversary concert at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena in April.

“I never imagined that I, as a lumber seller, could be involved in a musical band’s milestone event,” Furutani said. “I definitely want to witness the moment timber from Noto will become sound on stage.”

The technology, known as the Autonomous Forest Navigator, is being developed under a research project called SilvaNaut: Incorporating Autonomous Operation into Australian Forest Machinery – Robotic Weed Control Conditions.

Wood Central understands the system bolts onto existing forestry machinery and allows it to steer itself between plantation rows without human input, a capability researchers say could improve safety, efficiency and long‑term wood yields.

SilvaNaut is being delivered by Daryl Killin through his company, Native Conifers Carbon Sink — the first organisation to register a tree‑planting project for carbon credits under the Carbon Farming Initiative in 2012 — and Killin said forestry presents challenges that traditional automation systems cannot handle.

Designed for young plantations aged 0–3 years — when weed pressure is highest and manual labour is most intensive — the system uses high‑resolution GNSS, LiDAR, inertial sensors (IMU) and AI‑based obstacle detection to navigate rough terrain. This geospatial backbone will also support future applications such as inventory assessment, fire management and forest monitoring.

Tackling labour shortages, rising costs and safety all-in-one.

It comes as Australia’s forest value chain faces mounting pressure from labour shortages, rising operational costs and increasing safety risks. Manual weed control is labour‑intensive and often carried out in hazardous conditions.

“Not many people want to put on a knapsack and work in remote areas with snakes, spiders and rough terrain anymore,” Killin said. “And even when people are available, you’re limited by human constraints; you can’t work at night, reliability varies, and safety risks are always present.”

By removing operators from high‑risk terrain and enabling 24‑hour operation, the Autonomous Forest Navigator allows growers to target optimal spraying windows and reduce early‑stage tree losses.

“Weeds in the first two years are critical,” Killin said. “If you lose 200 trees out of 1,000 per hectare early on, you’ve lost future options for wood volume, and you can’t put those trees back later. That loss shows up 25 or 30 years down the track, right when the return on investment really matters.”

And whilst automation is well established in agriculture, Killin said existing systems are too costly, too fragile and poorly suited to forestry.

“Agricultural systems are often designed for flat land and annual crops,” he warned. “Forestry is a much longer game. We needed a forestry‑specific solution that’s cost‑effective, robust and fit for purpose, not something adapted from agriculture that doesn’t quite work.”

SilvaNaut aims to fill this gap with a vehicle‑agnostic, bolt‑on autonomous system for mid‑sized forestry equipment that complies with international technical standards. The system is also being engineered to work alongside drones, enabling smart task allocation between aerial and ground‑based weed control.

“There’s still an important role for ground‑based rigs,” Killin said. “Our system is designed to work with drones, not compete with them, choosing the right tool for the right job.”

The project is being co‑designed with seven major forestry companies — HQPlantations, HVP Plantations, Australian Bluegum Plantations, Australian Carbon Farming, Forestry Corporation NSW, Forest Products Corporation and Midway Limited — ensuring strong industry relevance and a clear pathway to adoption.

Native Conifers Carbon Sink has also engaged James Cook University to train the system to distinguish young plantation trees from weed species and ensure interoperability with drone‑spraying technology. Meaanwhile a Trans‑Tasman collaboration with Lincoln Agritech and Wrybill Robotics will fast‑track existing New Zealand technologies for Australian conditions, supported by the New Zealand forest research sector.

Field trials will begin in Queensland before expanding across Australia. Performance will be assessed against navigation accuracy, labour savings, safety outcomes, fuel use and overall cost‑benefit compared with manual operations.

According to Professor Mark Brown, Director of the AFWI Centre for Sustainable Futures and UniSC’s Forest Research Institute, the project aligns with AFWI’s mission to improve Australia’s wood‑fibre productivity: “By improving early‑stage plantation management, this project will help narrow the 30–40 per cent gap between biological potential and realised wood yield, bringing together industry experience, AI expertise and real‑world testing to build something foresters can actually use.”

The project is also expected to support workforce renewal by creating new roles in forest robotics, remote operations and data‑driven management. “This is about giving forest growers confidence to adopt automation in a way that makes sense for forestry,” Killin said. “If we get weed control right early, we protect future yield, improve safety, and make better use of the wood fibre we already have.”

• To learn more about the project, click here to read $1.5 million AFWI funding to advance autonomous forestry machinery and boost sustainable wood production from the Australian Forest and Wood Innovations (AFWI) Centre for Sustainable Futures website.

Chair Mark Parry said the commission made the recommendation in its final report on the net zero transformation. The recommendation says that fuel tax credits for trucking operators should be phased out, which, on current figures, would increase the effective fuel tax they pay by 19.2c per litre.

Parry said the fuel tax credit system reduced freight costs for everyone in Australia, including exporters. “Trucking businesses pay an effective fuel tax rate of 32.4c per litre, rather than 51.6c, because otherwise end users would pay tax on the fuel twice – once through the cost of the fuel excise and once through the GST,” Parry claimed.

“The fuel tax we do pay is calculated as a road user charge with the aim of covering the cost of the industry’s use of the road system,” Parry said. “The amount we pay has increased 19% over the last three years, with transport ministers considering another 6% increase for 2026-27.”

Parry said trucking businesses faced intense financial pressure from rising costs, long payment terms, driver shortages and natural disasters. The Productivity Commission’s idea that they should pay more tax would cause more businesses to fail before costs inevitably rise across the economy.”

The commission’s report claims that abolishing fuel tax credits would ‘incentivise all decarbonisation pathways. But Parry said the commission was wrong.

“In our cities and nearby areas, the most important barrier to firms using battery electric trucks is their upfront cost. Changing the tax on fuel would do nothing to address this barrier, unlike the voucher scheme that the ATA proposed,” he said.

“Linehaul, remote and heavy haulage businesses do not have a commercially available alternative to diesel. Although renewable diesel is an emerging option, the commission’s proposal would tax renewable diesel at the same rate as conventional diesel.”

“The commission’s recommendation would not encourage businesses to use low-emission vehicles or renewable fuel. It would make trucking businesses less viable and ultimately increase freight costs across the economy,” he said.

Supplied by Simpson Strong‑Tie, the range includes the MCT Mass Timber Column Tie and two column‑base options, the MCB and MCBS, each designed to provide designers and builders with a standardised, engineered solution for column‑to‑column and column‑to‑concrete connections.

Wood Central understands that all three products are fully concealed once installed, supporting the architectural push toward uninterrupted timber surfaces and helping meet fire‑performance requirements.

The MCT Column Tie is designed for column‑to‑column installations, transferring vertical loads through direct bearing while keeping hardware hidden from view. For exposed‑glulam projects, the concealed configuration delivers a cleaner aesthetic and reduces the visual clutter often associated with heavy timber hardware.

For foundation connections, Simpson Strong‑Tie has introduced two new bases. The MCB is the more economical option, suited to conditions where the column can sit directly on the concrete without a standoff. The MCBS provides the highest download capacity for a given column size and is intended for applications requiring a standoff between the timber and the concrete surface.

The new connectors are designed to support the rapid growth of mass‑timber construction by offering predictable, engineered solutions that can be specified early in design and installed quickly on site — a shift becoming increasingly important as mass‑timber buildings scale in size and complexity.

• To learn more about Simpson Strong‑Tie, click here for Wood Central’s exclusive coverage from inside its purpose‑built Tyrell Gilb Research Lab in Stockton, California.

Wood Central understands that the new partnership pairs Vecoplan’s expertise with Gibson’s deep local market knowledge to accelerate the adoption of efficient, low‑emission processing solutions and deliver stronger on‑the‑ground support for customers. Under the agreement, Gibson will market Vecoplan’s complete portfolio — from shredding and conveyor technology to downstream processing — and provide local installation, commissioning, maintenance and long‑term service.

Martina Schmidt, Senior Vice President Recycling at Vecoplan, said the firms share a common approach to engineering and customer service. “With Gibson, we have a new partner at our side who brings technical expertise, the emphasis on strong customer relationships and excellent support.” Meanwhile, Curtis Gibson, CEO of AE Gibson & Sons, said the alliance offers immediate, practical benefits for regional operators. “Our customers will benefit from a broader product selection, cutting‑edge global innovation and, at the same time, strong local support. Together with Vecoplan, we aim to develop the market sustainably and expand the position of both companies in the region,” he said.

The arrangement gives Vecoplan end‑to‑end delivery capability in Australia, from single machines to full plant installations and large‑scale projects, backed by local service that preserves uptime and long‑term performance. Vecoplan currently employs about 580 staff across Europe, North America and Asia and positions itself as a full‑service partner for tailored recycling and material‑processing solutions. By combining proven European technology with rapid local commissioning and support, the partnership aims to help Australian operators reduce operating costs, raise throughput and meet tightening sustainability and regulatory expectations.

In an open letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the influential Association of the German Furniture Industry (Verband der Deutschen Möbelindustrie) is now urging the EU to enforce a 2018 agreement capping duties on European furniture at 15 per cent, a move it said would help prevent Washington from imposing much higher levies.

The letter comes after President Trump announced on Truth Social that “we will be imposing a 50 per cent tariff on all Kitchen Cabinets, Bathroom Vanities, and associated products, starting October 1st, 2025,” as well as “a 30 per cent tariff on Upholstered Furniture.” Those levies stem from a Commerce Department Section 232 investigation into national-security risks posed by timber and wood imports—measures, Trump wrote, are necessary to “bring the Furniture Business back to North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan and States all across the Union.”

German exporters, however, argue the duties far exceed the 15 per cent ceiling enshrined in the 2018 political declaration between Brussels and Washington, and warn they could spark retaliatory measures on both sides of the Atlantic. Industry data show that between January and July 2025, shipments of German kitchen furniture to the U.S. plunged 17.4 per cent to €26 million, reversing a 13 per cent gain in the same period a year earlier, while exports of upholstered furniture inched up just 2.5 per cent to €12 million.

An August survey of association members found that 80 per cent of German kitchen-furniture producers expect further export losses if the U.S. follows through with its announced tariffs. Many firms are already grappling with surging raw-material and energy costs that have eroded profit margins and led to slowdowns.

“We urge the Commission to enforce the EU-U.S. tariff agreement without delay,” Managing Director Jan Kurth wrote in the letter. “Failing to uphold this commitment would send the wrong signal to our industry and undermine years of constructive trade cooperation,” Kurth said, adding that the association is also calling on Brussels to explore dispute-settlement proceedings at the World Trade Organisation should Washington refuse to honour the tariff cap.

• To learn more about the S232 probe into lumber imports, click here for Wood Central’s special feature from April 2025.

Named as defendants are Caterpillar Inc., Caterpillar SARL, Caterpillar Distribution Services Europe and Solar Turbines International Company. The lawsuit targets the Russian LLCs Caterpillar Eurasia and Caterpillar Distribution International, which handle forestry equipment, as well as Solar Turbines CIS and Electro-Motiv Lokomotiv Technologies. In addition to demanding consent for share transfers, Sommariva is also asking the court to invalidate the arbitration clause in the master sales contract. It has also proposed a penalty of 5 million rubles per day for each day of non-compliance once the ruling takes effect.

Industry insiders say Solar Turbines CIS continues to service long-term contracts in Russia’s oil and gas sector and retains turbines on its balance sheet. At the same time, a Sommariva source told Russian media that engines, components, and spare parts are stored in a 17,500-square-metre warehouse in Khimki, awaiting a new owner. “We intend to resume maintenance operations and launch domestic production of equivalent equipment,” the source said.

Wood Central understands that Caterpillar suspended operations at its Tosno plant in spring 2022, months after Western sanctions were imposed in response to the war in Ukraine. In 2023, President Vladimir Putin authorised the sale of the facility and its leasing arm, opening the door to buyers such as Balchug Capital and now Sommariva. Corporate filings indicate that Alexander Migal’s Horizont JSC owns Tosno LLC, while the leasing business is managed by the Neon fund, which is overseen by Cosmos Capital.

Legal experts say Sommariva’s case hinges on forcing Caterpillar to hand over documents essential for the government’s review. “The buyer is seeking to advance the process on its own by obtaining these papers,” said Stanislav Danilov, partner at Pen & Paper Bar Association. Alexander Grebelsky of Grebelsky and Partners noted that Russian courts often render arbitration clauses unenforceable when fees or perceived bias block fair hearings abroad. “Sommariva has a strong shot if it can show clear contractual obligations,” added Ilya Sorokin of Novator Legal Group.

Still, hurdles remain. Russian law may bar domestic courts from handling disputes covered by arbitration clauses, and foreign affiliates may refuse to recognise or execute a Russian judgment, warned Dmitry Kletochkin of Rustam Kurmaev & Partners. With rivals including Balchug Capital circling the assets, Sommariva’s gambit comes amid a scramble to replace departing Western manufacturers.

Mr Parry was releasing the ATA submission to the government’s review of Australian Design Rule (ADR) harmonisation. The ADRs are technical standards that apply to new and used vehicles provided to the Australian market for the first time.

He said Australia must retain its own design rules for heavy vehicles.

“Australia is the world leader in allowing long and heavy vehicles onto the road network,” he said.

“We have specific ADRs for issues relating to mass and the design of vehicles used in B-doubles and road trains. Other ADRs include technical requirements based on the needs of multi-combination vehicle users.”

“In addition, Australia has a domestic truck and trailer manufacturing industry that provides an individual and customised product to the local market.

“Businesses that choose to purchase Australian-built trucks and trailers for the long-haul market, hostile environments or heavy haulage applications chose those vehicles because they suit their business needs.”

Mr Parry said while the heavy vehicle ADRs should be harmonised with the United Nations regulations wherever possible, their development needed to evolve at a pace that could be met by local manufacturers and international suppliers who developed specific Australian models.

Australia’s light vehicle ADRs should completely harmonise with the UN regulations to enable global vehicle manufacturers to release new vehicles into the market with the latest technologies in a shorter time frame at lower cost.

Mr Parry added: “Light vehicles approved for release into the market would meet the latest global safety and emission standards. Australia would continue to have input into these global standards through the international standards development process.”

Australia’s wood and wood product supply chain is dominated by road and is complex, with different processing steps depending on the type of wood and its end purpose.

Latest figures show about 86.6% of domestic freight for the forest and forest products industry is hauled by road, 12% by rail and 1.4% by coastal shipping.

Furthermore, Australia’s sawmills are considered small by international standards, increasing the number of unique contact points of the supply chain and reducing the potential economies of scale available.

“The initiative aims to accelerate the use of advanced truck technology across the natural resources sector, focusing on forestry and mining,” FPInnovation said. “The success of this tech will serve as a catalyst for introducing connected and autonomous vehicles to the forest sector.”

According to Kratos, who is competing with Elon Musk’s Tesla to bring self-driving trucking technology to market, the tests saw a series of class-8 tractor-trailers go about forestry activities (not under complete control of humans) equipped with the Leader-Follower Platooning system.

“The automated platooning technology performed exceptionally well in the challenging forestry environment and hauled unloaded and loaded timber trailers,” Kratos said in a media release yesterday. “Our system demonstrated precision navigation in automated platooning mode along complex off-pavement roadways with degraded access to GPS, steep grades, severe visibility-limiting dust, sub-freezing temperatures, rain, and under variable lighting conditions.”

Wood Central understands that the trial saw two class-8 tractor-trailers, with one human-driven ‘leader’ truck collecting navigation data and transmitting it to one self-driving ‘follower’ truck. Both trucks were then retrofitted with Kratos automated driving systems, allowing the ‘follower’ to follow the ‘leader’s’ navigation data with only a Safety Rider onboard.

In the trial, the human driver (in the Leader truck) played a crucial role in optimising the driverless ‘Follower’ performance – adjusting vehicle speeds, gaps, and maneuvers to adapt to rapidly changing environmental or operational conditions. As a result, this human-in-the-loop decision-maker provides added safety and deployment flexibility by enhancing the navigation performance of the driverless vehicle instead of relying solely on complex and often unpredictable AI and Machine Learning algorithms.

“The successful deployment of our self-driving truck platooning technology in the Canadian forestry industry demonstrates the ability of the system to navigate complex situations in challenging environments,” according to Maynard Factor, Vice-President of Business Development for the Kratos Unmanned Systems Division. “This is a game-changing, effective, and viable solution for maintaining critical business continuity even under the current driver shortage situation.”

Why self-driving technology is critical for forestry

According to FPInnovations, forestry is often reported to be one of Canada’s most dangerous industries – with safety-related incidents occurring during hauling operations on resource roads. Aside from safety concerns, the truck driver labour shortage has plagued the transport industry. In Canada alone, there are 25,000 vacancies in trucking, with Trucking HR Canada predicting that number will increase to 40,400 by 2030. With the aging driver demographic, vacancies are expected to increase, further straining the labour market. The lack of drivers has led to mill shutdowns in the past, and as the shortage increases, this disruption to the supply chain could become a more frequent event.

Wood Central understands that the new 80-tonne vehicle has been rolled out after years of collaboration between Scania, one of the world’s leading truck and bus manufacturers, and SCA, Europe’s largest private logging company – which is now pushing to make the total supply chain for timber products fossil-free.

“This is an important project for us to continue contributing to a more sustainable society,” according to Ulf Larsson, the CEO of SCA. “By managing the forest and making renewable products that can replace those with a high carbon footprint, SCA creates about 13 million tons of positive climate benefits each year. That figure can improve as we transition the heavy road transports in our value chain.”

“We need price pressure on the vehicles, more charging infrastructure, a better power grid, and that working time regulations offer flexibility related to charging. Only then will heavy traffic gradually move towards more electrification.”

Ulf Larsson, the CEO of SCA Skog, on the challenges around fully electrifying the harvest and haulage process for forest products.

According to Anton Ahlinder, SCA Skog’s Head of Business Development, the new truck follows in the footsteps of an earlier model that has, for two years, successfully hauled logs between a terminal and SCA’s Obbola paper mill.

For Mr Ahlinder, the new truck is “a game changer.” Fully equipped with a crane and a tandem drive, it collects timber in the forest and transports it to terminals.

The push to electrify the logging process comes as global governments crack down on road freight-related transport emissions, which now account for up to 83% of all transport emissions and, in many instances, make timber transport (over water) greener than road-based transport.

A key cog in the TREE project, a Swedish-led initiative targeting 50% of the forestry industry’s new trucks to be fully electric by 2030, the new trucks could result in a 170-ton drop in emissions per truck.

“Our new electric timber truck has a better range and will drive to timber storage areas in the forest, where it loads the timber for further transport to one of our timber terminals.”

Mr Ahlinder said the TREE project is about much more than just a single truck—it’s about setting a new standard for sustainable forestry, adding that “support and enthusiasm from industry leaders and the general public, including Infrastructure Minister Andreas Carlson, underscore just how important this work is.”

The breakthrough came just months after Wood Central reported that Swedish scientists had designed the world’s first unmanned machine for autonomous forestry operations—a major breakthrough in the push towards a fully automated forest management and production process.

Facts and figures

• By running just one electric truck between Gimonäs and Obbola, SCA can reduce our carbon emissions by about 55,000 kg per year.
• The new truck can run six turns per day Gimonäs wood terminal- Obbola paper mill, Monday-Friday 07:00-17:00
• Distance: 30 km round-trip
• Time: 75 minutes per trip (both loading and  unloading)
• The truck is loaded with an ABB charger of 180 Kw at the Obbola paper mill.

Please Note: The project is part of a national initiative in which leading Swedish players have joined forces to accelerate the transition to electrified emission-free heavy transport on our roads. The initiative, led by CLOSER, receives co-financing from the Vehicle Strategic Research and Innovation (FFI) program through Vinnova, the Swedish Energy Agency, and the Swedish Transport Administration.