By Jennifer McCary
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There has been a lumber mill in Mansfield since the mid 1900's, although it has not always prospered. In fact, the sawmill was in the process of being permanently closed when Travis purchased it from Kansas City Railroad in 1988. Travis made a few modifications on the 50's vintage sawmill and reopened it three months later.
After nearly a year of operation and an in-depth study of the timber resource in the area, the new owner could see potential opportunities for the aging mill. Thus he embarked in a 10-year upgrade and expansion program incorporating the technology to capitalize on the region's short pine logs. As cash and bankers allowed over the next decade, he began to turn his dreams into reality. Through it all, the mill experienced no shutdowns due to upgrades, the owner proudly reports. The new mill structure was built around and over the existing mill facility. All machines were installed and tested off-line before being hooked into the production flow.
View from mill of log merchandising line.
The first upgrade in 1989 focused on processing systems. Travis installed a 6-foot Klamath twin band resaw, optimized HEMCO edger, optimized HEMCO trimmer, 37 bay sling sorter and stacker. A direct gas fired HEMCO kiln was added next. Then in 1990-91, Travis built a new planer mill capable of processing two different lengths and widths at the same time. Except for the Yates-American A-62 and A-63 planers, all equipment is HEMCO throughout. It includes HEMCO hydraulic crib tilt hoist, trimmer, 62 double bin sorter, stacker and package maker.
Kiln capacity was expanded with the installation of an 85-foot Wellons 24-zone steam kiln and conversion of the HEMCO unit to a Wellons computer controlled steam kiln. Two Hurst gasifier boilers were also installed to supply the sawdust-fired steam system.
In the mid-'90s, the fourth phase of the scheduled program centered on the primaries. The company installed an ASM sharp chain with Inovec optimizer and twin bands; and added a Cox three-knee carriage with Inovec optimization at the Salem headrig.
Outfeed (bottom) and infeed (top) at ASM sharp chain/twin band primary breakdown
Travis and ASM's David Seffens actually started looking at curve-sawing five years ago. "After he and I both dug into it and got the details, we both thought it was premature," Travis relates. "The technology was just not there yet to accomplish it successfully." Optimization systems were the missing link at that time. But as Seffens worked with Inovec, he became convinced that their programs could accomplish the curve sawing task.
While some might be leery of buying a prototype machine, Travis's long-standing relationship with ASM gave him confidence in the company's engineering and design capabilities. He reiterates, "David has yet to build me a piece of equipment that did not perform better than he and I set out to do."
Now that he's completed the final phase of the sawmill floor expansion, Travis is already making plans for the next decade. Future objectives will include the installation of turbines and a high-pressure boiler to generate the mill's own power supply.
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(c) 2000 Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc., used by permission.