Case Study: Ponsse cuts harvester control development time by at least a year and eliminates coding errors with MathWorks Model‑Based Design

Ponsse Cuts Development Time for Harvester Control Software by at Least a Year with Model-Based Design

Ponsse, maker of the Scorpion eight‑wheeled wood harvester, faced a major engineering challenge when the machine’s novel three‑segment frame required entirely new mechanical, electrical, and control systems. To avoid long hand‑coding cycles and costly integration errors, Ponsse turned to MathWorks’ Model‑Based Design using MATLAB and Simulink to run extensive simulations, build real‑time prototypes, and shorten the interval between algorithm design and hardware verification.

Using MathWorks tools and nine days of onsite MathWorks training, Ponsse developed the leveling controller in Simulink and Stateflow, used Signal Processing and Control System toolboxes for filtering and control, and deployed real‑time prototypes with Simulink Coder and Simulink Real‑Time before generating production C with Embedded Coder for the ARM ECU. The result: initial development time cut by at least one year (about halved), generated code free of programming errors, roughly 80% model reuse across projects, and faster, higher‑quality, lower‑cost development.

Ponsse

Juha Inberg

Director, Technology and R&D