October 2001 Volume 7, Number 10
October 2001 Volume 7, Number 10
Appearance wood is defined by the industry as high-grade solid wood products that are valued according to its appearance. It must conform not only to standard industry grades but in many cases to proprietary grade specifications or special requirements of a mill's customers.
Mills usually use ‘grade sawing’ methods to get the maximum appearance wood from each log. This generally requires trained operators and historically has not lent itself to automated high-speed equipment and optimization systems. For that reason, many optimized sawmill machinery companies pay little attention to this segment of the industry -- until traditional softwood markets experience a major decline.
 Inovec StereoScanTM 3D log scanner installed on a high-speed double-cut head rig |
One company specializes in appearance wood optimization: Inovec Inc. of Eugene, Oregon. TimberLine recently contacted Inovec to discuss new developments in the optimization of appearance wood.
Inovec was founded in 1979 to bring microprocessor-based control systems to sawmill machinery. The company found early that focusing on one thing and doing it well was a powerful strategy. Today, Inovec's 55-plus employees focus on building optimizers for sawmills, specializing in optimization of appearance wood. Inovec has over 650 systems installed in mills worldwide.
"We first developed optimization at the head rig carriage to help mills in grade sawing," said Jeff Franklin, Inovec's vice president of marketing. "In our experience, that is where grade sawing mills gain the quickest return on investment."
Inovec's experience in grade sawing led to further developments in optimization for getting more value from appearance grade logs. In 1990 Inovec introduced the "first true random width hardwood edger optimizer," said Jeff, followed by hardwood trimmer optimization. Building on those successes, Inovec developed special appearance grade optimizers for shop and molding grade pine and other optimizer systems for specialty products, including export squares and other wood products for export.
"Inovec's focus on appearance wood has paid off for hardwood mills and grade sawing softwood mills by providing mill management precise control of product quality and product mix," said Jeff. "Our customers have been able to directly address the needs of niche market opportunities and adjust their products to meet the needs of their changing markets. For the mill, this shows up in increased average sales price."
TimberLine reported in 1999 on an Inovec installation at Gilkey Lumber Co. in Rutherfordton, N.C. Gilkey invested in an Inovec WaneMasterTM edger optimizer, and Gilkey’s Mike Parton described how it improved control of product quality and increased value.
the story continues...
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