March 2005        Volume 11, Number 03

Hardwood Mills Make Gain with INOVEC
INOVEC's New G3 Software Platform Enables Optimized Machine Centers to Communicate

By Diane Calabrese
Contributing Author

POMFRET CENTER, Connecticut -- It all lines up, lining it all up -- whichever form the adage takes, sawyers know it applies to the saw, the grain of the wood, and where the two meet.

In 2004, Oregon-based INOVEC Inc., a part of GE Infrastructure, launched its new G3 optimization software. INOVEC’s G3 software soon will enable every optimized sawmill machine to communicate using the same algorithm. And sawmills are taking notice.

When Hull Forest Products Inc. began a major renovation in 2003, a new edger system was on the list of improvements. The company decided to add an optimized edger system.

Hull Forest Products was founded in 1965. Ben Hull shares ownership of Hull Forest Products with siblings Sam and Mary and their father, Bill.

Laser lines are projected onto a flitch as it is readied to be fed to the edger at Hull Forest Products; the INOVEC LineMaster G3 optimization system uses a scanning system that scans wane up or wane down. Photo by Dollie Harvey.

Ben needed a solution tailored to space constraints. "Transverse systems in tight spaces like ours don’t work that well," he said. "You can never really seem to get them fully automated. The operator still does a lot of handling, and you have conveyors running all over the mill and back."

So Ben began looking for a lineal system. "We wanted a lineal system so we could feed from both sides, right off our two head rigs," said Ben. "But the necessary length was a problem." His concern was short-lived, however.

"I learned that INOVEC was developing a lineal system that was much shorter than conventional lineal systems -- for mills like ours," he said. The INOVEC optimization system fits within a 15-foot by 49-foot footprint and is directly downstream from two head rigs.

INOVEC also installed a PLC routing system for cants and optimization controls for a Crosby trimmer and tally system. "The system works great," said Ben.

Cants and boards now are routed two ways, eliminating the bottleneck that sometimes arose when all of them went to a single trimmer. One path goes to a resaw, tie trimmer and waste system that are located in a recent structural addition to the mill.

Having worked with INOVEC on the cant routing and the tallying systems first gave Ben confidence to turn to INOVEC for the edger optimization system before seeing it run.

"We purchased a three-saw, short-coupled lineal edger system from TMT (Timber Machine Technologies) with optimization and controls from INOVEC," said Ben. The edger uses the new INOVEC LineMaster G3 optimization system.

The TMT edger is a high-speed machine that uses ‘slew and skew’ technology with moveable saws and articulating saw arbor and incorporates fixed and random width solutions and trailing edge positioning. The INOVEC LineMaster G3 uses a scanning system that can scan wane up or wane down, although the system at Hull Forest Products scans wane up only.

The 46 employees at Hull Forest Products produce hardwood lumber products for domestic and foreign markets, with about half of its sales going to markets abroad. Customers range from custom cabinet makers to local pallet manufacturers. "We practice sustainable forestry to meet the investment needs of our landowning clients," said Ben.

the story continues...

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