2017 International Forest Industries Magazines October November 2017 | Page 20

Tropik Wood increases recovery to support Fiji building boom Determined to improve its recovery in its quest for sustainable harvesting, Tropik Wood set out to update its saw line with state-of-the-art technology. It selected a line from Söderhamn Eriksson / USNR, manufactured in Sweden. The result is gratifying, with increased recovery in excess of 50% and significantly higher throughput 3-saw Edger Sideboards FLOW 2500 Chipper canter To trimmer line Center boards Single arbor circular saw FLOW Cant feeder 435 FLOW A pproximately 2500 Fijians, including the country’s Prime Minister, celebrated the startup of a new Söderhamn Eriksson/USNR sawline at the Tropik Woods Drasa mill in Lautoka, Fiji. The new equipment replaces an old sawline and almost doubles the mill’s timber recovery. Founded in 1987, Tropik Wood Industries Limited (Tropik) is the largest producer of timber products in the country. Processing Caribbean pine, the 170-employee company produces more than 15 product types, both treated and untreated, ranging from profiled timber, construction material, and posts and poles for domestic customers, to wood chips for export markets. Waste material feeds a biomass power generating plant. Project goals The mill was using equipment purchased in 1987 that focused on volume rather than recovery. 18 International Forest Industries | OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2017 FLOW