By Patricia Davis
Some things you have to see to believe. Just ask Reg and Jeff Messenger at family owned and operated Wood Products, Inc., based in Oakland, Maryland. In the summer of 1993, the Messengers took the first step in revolutionizing the way their company processed its Northern Appalachian Hardwoods.
"We wanted to improve our yield, and after looking at what was available, we decided to go with the Heavy Duty Linear Positioning Carriage from Salem Equipment and the Inovec YieldMaster system. We chose the Inovec YieldMaster because it gave us precise control over our opening faces, and allowed us to saw the grade from each log to get the maximum value, without slowing us down. "We budgeted a return on investment of 5 years," says Jeff Messenger, "however we ended up improving our yield and production much more than anticipated."
In late 1996, the Messengers then considered the potential uplift from an Edger Optimizer. Research indicated the results would justify the investment, so much so that the Messengers couldn't help but be a little skeptical. "Our initial tests showed a sizeable increase in recovery and even more in value was possible at our Edger, and we of course, were still skeptical. So in February 1997 we took a truckload of our flitches to a mill that had an Inovec hardwood Edger Optimizer in it and we performed an extensive test using our own lumber, our own lumber graders, and then we brought the flitches back and ran them through our existing mill."
What did the Messengers find? "The recovery was impressive. It was a sizeable investment, but we could not ignore the results. We ordered our Inovec WaneMaster Edger Optimizer and new Salem Edger in April of 1997. The actual results we have obtained are proprietary to our company, but I can say that it has proven to be an excellent investment and we are seeing benefits in excess of our initial test results. As soon as we got our system we were able to closely define how we wanted our lumber made, we started getting the maximum value from our Edger boards. Inovec's special hardwood software looks at the lumber just like our customers do, and that is the key."
The optimizers installed at Wood Products' mill feature software of Inovec's own design, which has been developed specifically for the optimization of hardwood. It allows the mill to specify value parameters following NHLA guidelines in terms of the number of clear face cutting units and surface measure. Moreover, it permits the mill management to carefully control the appearance of the lumber at the Edger.
Each board is fed one at a time, to the scanner. The Dynavision laser scanner measures the wane and shape of the typical flitch in more than 10,000 places and sends the information to the optimization computer, which accepts face grade information from the operator and begins looking for the highest value "board within the flitch." As the piece passes beneath the scanner, the Allen Bradley PLC5 control system tracks it and when it arrives at the infeed of the Edger, it automatically positions it to saw the optimum width as commanded by the optimization computer. Once the board is released from the scanner, the entire process is automatic and requires no further action by the operator, unless, of course, the operator wants to split the grade or manually define high grade strips or remove defects.
Piece count through the Edger averages 8 to 12 per minute; albeit, the Inovec optimizer is capable of handling in excess of 30 boards per minute. The optimizer improves production by smoothing out the Edger flow, as well as by recovering more surface measure from the boards that pass through the Edger.
"The need for optimization can not be ignored." Despite the fact that it required a considerable capital expenditure, the Messenger's say their investment in Inovec's technology was well worth it. "Basically, it takes human error out of the equation as far as edging for yield. However, it also adds the aspect of value calculation that is humanly impossible when operating at high production speeds."
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(c) 1999 Forest Products Equipment magazine, used by permission.