August 2004        Volume 10, Number 08

RY Timber Adds Optimization at Mills
Company Continues to Improve Stud Mills with INOVEC Optimization Systems

By Diane Calabrese

LIVINGSTON, Montana -- Scott Stern, the sawmill supervisor for the Livingston division of RY Timber, is looking forward to some big changes at his mill come September. The mill will optimize its head rig system with the INOVEC LogMaster system with StereoScan^TM 3-D scanning. The company also plans to optimize its cant edger with the INOVEC CantMaster system.

When TimberLine talked with Scott in early July, he was working closely with INOVEC engineers on the planned improvements. Designers from INOVEC were spending time on-site at the Livingston division of RY Timber to get things ready for the installation of scanning and optimization equipment, a usual protocol. The head rig to be optimized is a Maxi Mill end-dogging quad mill.

R-Y Timber operates two high speed stud mills that cut pine, fir and spruce. The company runs about 60% Douglas fir logs and 40% lodgepole pine; it also processes some Engelmann spruce. The two softwood mills manufacture studs and other lumber products for the building industry, producing about 165 million board feet annually and employing about 200 workers.

"We manufacture framing lumber, two by fours and two by six, and studs, from four feet to nine feet," said Scott. The 4-foot to 7-foot 2x4s are used for web stock and fingerjointing, he explained, while the 8-foot to 9-foot 2x4s are used for wall studs in home construction.

Makers of wooden instruments, particularly violins and piano sounding boards, covet the Engelmann spruce for its resonant qualities. So there is competition for the species among buyers.

Livingston is just 35 miles from the northern edge of Yellowstone National Park while Townsend is located some 65 miles northwest of its companion mill. Besides the mills, RY Timber has offices in Boise, Idaho. Sales are made primarily through brokers. "We’ve sold studs to every state in the union except Alaska and Hawaii," said Scott.

Ron Yanke, who founded RY Timber in 1984, died in February. Today, a corporation representing members of the Yanke family holds the company in trust.

When RY Timber was started 20 years ago, it had a presence in California. Ron later liquidated the facilities in the Golden State, said Scott, because southwest Montana proved to be a better location for operations. For one thing, southwest Montana, where the Livingston and Townsend mills are located, contains large tracts of standing timber in the Rocky Mountains.

While Scott awaits the implementation of the scanning and optimizing equipment at the Livingston Division of RY Timber, he has already had ample opportunity to see its capabilities at the Townsend division of RY Timber. Thanks to his frequent interaction with the Townsend division, Scott has also has a good idea of the results he can expect to see with the INOVEC optimization and scanning technology.

At the Townsend mill, the INOVEC YieldMaster StereoScan has optimized the head rig, which consists of a Diamond bandmill with custom-made carriage. The mill’s Timber Machine Technologies (TMT) board edger is also optimized with the INOVEC WaneMaster system.

(The infeed to the TMT edger is optimized with a TMT system; TMT, which is headquartered in Tualatin, Ore., is known for its high-speed optimized edgers as well as its curve sawing gangs.)

Talking with the sawyers at the Townsend division of RY Timber, Scott has heard about the results obtained with the INOVEC YieldMaster and StereoScan. "We’re getting good cutting," he said.

Moreover, the INOVEC equipment is easy to use. "It’s very user-friendly," said Scott. "They just load the logs onto the machine."

The mills at Livingston and Townsend are quite similar, said Scott, although until September, the Townsend mill will be ahead in terms of technology. That is, of course, because of the INOVEC and TMT equipment already deployed there.

The Townsend mill added the INOVEC WaneMaster edger optimizer to its TMT edger in 2002. The high speed edger uses two moveable saws, fixed width solutions, trailing edge positioning, and scans wane up or down; it processes about 40 pieces per minute.

The edger is unique in that it uses a double fetcher infeed. In order to maximize speed, two sets of positioners on the top and bottom move back and forth to bring flitches to the table. As soon as one set of positioners has brought a flitch to the table, the other set has begun moving a new flitch. Commonly, infeeds have one set of positioners to bring the piece to the table, and they move back to pick up a new flitch. With dual positioners, there is less waiting time, which increases production speed.

The INOVEC WaneMaster uses LMI DynaVision transverse scanning to accurately measure each flitch. This was the first INOVEC WaneMaster installed with the new VisualPoint control system.  VisualPoint uses ControlLogix to communicate from the machine to the optimizer, comprehensively monitor the machine and to notify the operator of any problems. VisualPoint also uses a HMI interface with touch-screen monitor making it simple and user friendly for the operator.

At the head rig, the INOVEC StereoScan 3-D scanning system has significantly improved volume. The StereoScan system accurately measures the contour of a log with laser scanners from LMI DynaVision to produce a digital picture of the log. The laser beams projected on the log are viewed with digital cameras while the carriage travels toward the saw. The data is analyzed by the INOVEC YieldMaster optimizer to select the best opening face to recover maximum grade.

the story continues...

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