General Manager – Forestry, available for exploratory interviews. Ref: 1157666 – Online Interview Questions

Current / most recent job title?

General Manager – Forestry

1. Primary purpose of current/most recent position:

Management of forest concessions including manufacturing of 212,000 ha in Northern Kalimantan, 60,000 ha in Central Sulawesi and 42,000 ha in Northern Kalimantan.
Log supply operations of 445,000 m3 of logs annually.
Plantation establishment, maintenance & tending of 10,000 ha per year.
Natural forest rehabilitation of 3,000 ha per year.
Forest management including forest research & development, resource planning, technical services, environmental conservation & forest community (CSR) departments.
Sawmilling activities producing 21,000 m3 of kiln dried sawn timber products annually.
Woodworking & moulding activities producing 10,000 m3 of decking, block board, garden fencing & other moulded products annually.

2. Core elements or functions that must operate effectively in order to achieve primary purpose:

Effective & efficient management of people, contractors, machinery, materials, logistics & resources.
Strategic, tactical & operational planning.
Production, cost & revenue control.

3. Description of self, along with greater purpose and passions:

General Manager with international experience and a proven ability of managing large natural & plantation forestry businesses towards economic, environmental & social sustainability. Effective in motivating and mentoring people ensuring development & succession. Seeking a new opportunity to contribute towards an organization which requires a self-driven & tenacious individual.

4. Ideal business title: 

General Manager
Forest Manager
Operations Manager
Unit Head

5. Key responsibilities and accountabilities of ideal position:

Strategic planning.
Operations management.
Sales & rate negotiation.
Cost control.
People development.

6. Skill area of competence:

Forester with 30 years of experience in the industry in temperate to tropical environments.
11 years at Senior Operations Management level working for large Forestry Enterprises.
Extensive silviculture experience of exotic acacia & eucalyptus plantations with pulpwood & saw log regimes and natural forest with enrichment regimes.
Expert in harvesting of natural & plantation forests using ground-based, cable-yarder and reduced impact logging techniques.
Experience in managing the supply chain from forest to mill including roading & transport.
Forest Resource planning on strategic, tactical and operational levels.
Experienced in developing Forest Management systems for effective business monitoring.
Extensive forest certification & compliance systems experience.
Significant exposure to solid wood, pulp & paper processing operations.
Operated in developing countries with diverse social and cultural environments.
Experienced in maintaining relationships with various forestry business stakeholders.
Fluent in English, speaks Afrikaans and limited isiZulu, Bahasa Melayu & Indonesia.

7. Career summary:

Silviculture Forester and promoted to Silviculture Manager – 6 years
Plantation Manager, promoted to Forest Manager and then Operations Manager, Harvesting Logistics – 8 years
Senior Forest Operations Manager, promoted to General Manager, Plantations & Forestry – 10 years
General Manager, Wood Business – current project

8. Achievements: 

An increase in the annual planting programme from 2,000 ha to 8,500 ha over a period of three years.
Head team to secure USD 250 million equity & investment funding from the International Finance Corporation including compliance to social & biodiversity standards and development of a strategic forestry development plan in an unprecedented period of 6 months.
Head an initiative to recruit own operations foreign workers including the procurement of resources including vehicles, machinery and mobile containerized camps. The development of local staff to supervise and manage the workforce. This has tripled the production capacity of the division.
Developed a plantation business management system to provide accurate information of productivity, budget to actual costs and other monitoring items for rapid informed decision making.
Implemented a harvesting solution for the salvage logging of MTH areas. This was conducted utilizing a shovel-yarding kit which was installed on existing excavators. This reduced the extraction impact on the steeper sites, increased the supply of previously discarded timber resource and reduced the subsequent cost of establishment.
Functionalized the legacy management organizational system to maximize the dissemination of available knowledge and experience and enhance the communication channels to the operations to improve plantation productivity through precision silviculture.
Developed and implemented standard operating procedures for all activities and processes. Facilitated a forester and contractor development programme utilizing international training institutions to build capacity in effective plantation management.
Planned and designed a reduced impact logging system for the cost effective extraction of NFM high-value timber utilizing heli-logging systems. When implemented it will achieve an acceptable delivered cost while reducing resources required for road construction & maintenance, timber transport and management.
Constructed a modern forestry nursery with a 20 million annual plant output.

9. What do you absolutely love doing?

Business modelling.
Strategic & tactical planning. Negotiating prices & rates.
Operations costings.
Controlling forest logistics & plantation operations and activities. Finding & testing new technology. Mentoring & coaching people.

10. African/International countries that you have worked in:

South Africa – 16 Years, Malaysia – 10 Years, Indonesia – 6 months

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