“ We sent over several batches of our Shop boards to USNR ’ s facility at Eugene , Oregon , and they tested it . What they were showing me initially was pretty impressive .”
The edger operator reviews the edge solutions provided by the BioVision optimization system .
edger and the trimmer . Although Rodney has a lot of history with USNR and its products he did look at other sawmill grade scanning products available , but was most comfortable staying with USNR . “ I did look at other systems , but USNR was the most confident in their process , and they really tackled what I was looking to achieve for grade on Shop products .” He explained that grading for Shop products is a lot different from grading for dimension lumber . With Shop products the system is looking for all the clear spacing between the knots , with no consideration for the sizing of the knots . “ We sent over several batches of our Shop boards to USNR ’ s facility at
Eugene , Oregon , and they tested it . What they were showing me initially was pretty impressive .”
The new supply
The new supply consists of a scanner transfer and edger table feeding an existing 5-saw Schurman edger , and a close-coupled shifting picker outfeed . A new scan frame features the BioLuma 2900LV sensors with integrated HD laser profiling and HD color vision capabilities , with grade classification via the BioVision sawmill grade optimization system . The PLC system was upgraded to the ControlLogix platform with RMC150 motion control . A MillTrak camera controls the flow at the edger infeed .
Of the new supply , Rodney said , “ The new 42 ” feed table has 3 ” skew on both sides to be able to handle 48 ” pieces , which we get off the big pine logs . The MillTrak system at the infeed is working really , really well . The edger was short coupled on the outfeed and USNR came up with a great design there .”
While the new system hasn ’ t reduced labor , Rodney says that wasn ’ t what it was intended to do . “ We knew we weren ’ t going to reduce our labor cost ,
The new edger table precisely positions each piece ahead of the existing 5-saw edger .
but we were going to gain on grade , scale recovery and increase production .” In the process throughput has improved dramatically . “ The edger system was a bottleneck because it was a manual system ; it took the operator some time handling those big 48 ” pieces and positioning them to try to get the grade out . He would sometimes back up the two headrigs so they would have to slow down and wait for him to play catch up . Now the two double-cuts can run full speed and the edger line can handle additional production from the overhead .”
Optimization challenges
Don Reeder , USNR software engineer , did much of the programming work to meet the mill ’ s criteria based on the Western Wood Products Association ( WWPA ) grading agency rules . Don commented , “ This was the first time we have done a MillExpert random width edger with vision scanning . We knew
The MillExpert BioVision edger interface was customized for the Evergreen Forest Products ’ requirements based on WWPA Shop and Moulding criteria .
ISSUE 3 - 2013 | Millwide INSIDER 9