H. G. Toler & Son takes on Sawmill grade scanning
USNR: Southern Strong
USNR is proud to be well known and respected in the southern US states, with a large installed base of equipment and systems for all facets of wood processing. The unfailing trust of our customers has led us to leave our mark, revolutionizing the process through technological advancement.
H. G. Toler & Son takes on Sawmill grade scanning
Sawmill BioVision scanning received its true value test with the first production installation on a transverse edger system. The H. G. Toler & Son team at Leola, Arkansas had been keeping an eye on developments in the industry for sawmill visual grading technology, so when it was time to update the edger optimizer the team chose to include vision scanning in the mix. Though they viewed competitive offerings, confidence in USNR and satisfaction in the MillExpert™ optimization suite swung the decision to USNR and the BioVision solution.
When asked about the selection of USNR for this project, John Grigsby commented,“ We like the MillExpert platform and we thought the greatest uplift would be through better geometric optimization. We’ ve also been thinking about grade optimization for a long time and just waiting for the right product. With BioVision we would also be able to pick out grades. We have lots of USNR equipment and we’ ve always received good support from sales to service.”
Phasing in
The project scope included a couple of phases; first was an upgrade to the latest MillExpert platform for geometric scanning, followed by the BioVision bolton option to add visual grading technology.
The MillExpert edger optimizer supports almost any machine type including traditional sideloading edgers to high-speed lineal systems with multiple scan zones. With the switch to MillExpert optimization, the existing Geo2 scan frame and scan heads remain and continue to be used. As a part of the project, the existing scanner hardware was thoroughly checked for proper operation.
USNR’ s MillExpert analyzes scanned flitch images in 3-D, accepting data from the Geo2 laser scanners. The optimizer evaluates all allowable products and combinations of those products that can be made from each flitch. Optimum recovery is calculated based on dollar value and volume recovery. The optimizer considers product fits based on the user’ s inputs( individual species, shape, grade, value, wane, priorities, and dimensional requirements) to find the most profitable solution. The software allows for board products manufactured downstream to be fit into the flitch in real time, proven on virtually every type of edger machine configuration including 2-saw and multi-saw edgers, chipping edgers with or without reman heads. No lookup tables, patterns, profiles or matrixes are used to assure the absolute highest value edger solutions possible.
The second phase saw the installation of the BioVision grade scanning system. USNR’ s BioVision solution is the only system on the market to offer the addition of sawmill visual grade scanning in one of two ways; it can be incorporated into a new
ISSUE 3- 2013 | Millwide INSIDER 13