WoodTECH News | Issue 52

Welcome to the latest issue of WoodTECH.News.

The timber industry is continuing to evolve as new technologies are being integrated into the sector. Metsa Fibre has just announced that one of the most advanced sawmills in the world has officially started operating. Based in Rauma, Finland, this sawmill is controlled from a single control room and makes use of machine vision, self-learning AI and integrated information system technologies.

Closer to home, Mt Gambier’s Fennell Forestry is currently converting one of its prime movers to the region’s first electric logging truck. One of the key drivers for the move to electric heavy vehicles is carbon reduction, where a diesel logging truck produces over 500 tonnes of carbon each year. With swap-and-go battery systems, plenty of power and less noisy engines, electric heavy vehicles are the future around the mill and on the road.

In New Zealand, IWT-Moldrup and Tunnicliffe Timber have collaborated on a new treatment for Radiata pine that hardens the wood by 300 to 500%. It’s an exciting innovation building on thermal modification that aims to expand the markets available to pine.

And finally, last month we covered Timber Framing Collective that has been set up to promote timber framing to the Australian consumer along with a new suite of easy-to-use resources. They have now loaded more material onto the website and we encourage wood producers and timber manufacturers to utilise the extensive resources supplied.

Check out these stories and much more below. Enjoy this month’s issue.