APRIL 2022
Nick Korn of Rotochopper emphasized the importance of having a proactive purchasing manager to keep ahead of manufacturing requirements as well as replacement parts. “One of the most important people on our Rotochopper team right now is our purchasing manager and the relationships that he's formed with hydraulic suppliers and then engine providers to be able to cross-reference and find compatible hydraulic motors.”
Diesel engine availability has been more challenging than electric power options. As a result, Korn is seeing more customers choose electric over diesel based on more predictable availability.
Asked about where to begin with automation, Wenniger recommended working on an automation plan. Identify problems such as labor and lumber, and ask if things will be better or worse in five or ten years.
He urged pallet companies to get their maintenance staff and equipment operators involved in the process as early as possible. Don’t put an untrained operator on a $400,000 machine and expect good results, he cautioned. “That's one of the biggest mistakes that companies make,” he said. “Identify a good operator, train them well and pay them to stay and you'll get by far the best return on your investment for that automation equipment.”
Kirkaldy emphasized that prior to full automation, there are many more simple projects that companies can take to increase automation and throughput, such as the installation of roller conveyors.
One of the key pain points for pallet manufacturing is around communications
While much of the MLG focused on the automation of manufacturing and recycling, the automation of data capture and management was also discussed.”One of the key pain points for pallet manufacturing is around communications," noted Craig Bezuidenhout, Pallet Connect, an ERP software provider. Such software eliminates the labor, delay and potential errors involved with duplicate data entry.
“It's really more just about how efficient you can be and how software can help you with it,” he said. A good ERP system can automate activities such as order management, invoicing, order tracking, sales reporting, purchase orders, inventory reporting, employee monitoring, customizable stock categories, trailer tracking, and driver scheduling.
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Wenniger stated that his company is increasingly integrating its equipment with software to provide daily production reports. One of the things that his company has come to appreciate is that the most important measure isn’t pallets recycled, but optimum lumber yield. By taking humans out of the decision-making process for board trimming on its Urban Sawmill, customers have enjoyed board foot yield increases as high as 30%.