How many times you have heard the phrase “safety first” or “everything starts with safety”? I’m pretty sure that we have all heard some variation of these phrases at one point or another. As a safety professional at a sawmill, it can be challenging at times to know which approach is the best for motivating employees and staff to be …
Robotic collaboration in new timber construction
Digitalisation has found its way into timber construction, with entire elements already being fabricated by computer-aided systems. The raw material is cut to size by the machines, but in most cases, it still has to be manually assembled to create a plane frame. In the past, this fabrication process came with many geometric restrictions. Under the auspices of the National …
A daily checklist for chipper and grinder maintenance
This checklist and pointers for inspections of your wood grinder or chippers recently appeared in the Wood Business publication. A full link to the original story is detailed below. As a business owner, you do not simply purchase a wood grinder or chipper, you invest hard earned money in an asset that over time is expected to produce revenue for …
New camera cuts sawmill maintenance by almost 60%
A self-cleaning camera created by ExcelSense Technologies, a UBC-based venture, has cut maintenance downtime at one of the log lines in a British Columbia sawmill by almost 60 per cent. By providing the ability to see a critical but previously invisible process on the worksite, the technology enabled millworkers to prevent a recurring clogging problem from developing on multiple occasions. …
Automation & robotics in the wood industry
There is a high potential for robotics and automation within the forestry sector. Actually, with a very low unemployment rate at the moment in North America, it is really difficult to attract and to retain qualified workers in the wood mill operations. Moreover, the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) predicted a shortage of 60,000 workers in the forestry sector …
What sawmills of the future will look like
Will the sawmills of the future be run entirely from an I-Phone or I-Pad? Logging and Sawmilling Journal has looked at what might be in store for future sawmills with UBC wood science assistant professor Julie Cool. It really is stunning to look at sawmills today, and compare them with sawmills— and the way lumber was produced—30 or 40 years …
WoodTECH 2018 – Early expressions of interest
After an absence of over eight years, the Forest Industry Engineering Association (FIEA) will this year be focussing the WoodTECH 2018 event on innovations and new technologies around dry-mill and wood manufacturing operations. The previous two WoodTECH events, 2017 and 2015 have both concentrated on sawmill scanning, sawing and green-mill optimisation technologies. WoodTECH 2017 was a SELL OUT. The WoodTECH …
Springer Group acquires FinScan
International technology supplier Springer Group has acquired a majority stake in Finnish company FinScan. FinScan is a specialist in scanners and software for automated optimization of lumber in sawmills, having installed more than 400 scanners in over 20 countries around the world. “With the majority stake in FinScan we extend our market product portfolio as an integrated technology provider for …
USNR acquires Mid-South Engineering
USNR announced that it has recently completed the acquisition of Mid-South Engineering Co., the leading consultant and provider of engineering services to the wood products industry in North America. USNR President George Van Hoomissen commented, “Mid-South is a great addition to USNR because it brings into the USNR family a large group of experienced professionals who know a great deal …
Band saw sharpening technology passes to ISELI
From 1 January 2019, ISELI, swiss producer of processing and sharpening machines for band saw, gang saw and circular saw blades, will support the product line “wood cutting band saws” from VOLLMER. Guarantees and warranty obligations, as well as maintenance contracts for machines that VOLLMER concluded with customers up to the acquisition date shall remain with VOLLMER. This means that …