The Ultimate Goal is not "Drying", it is 100% Moisture Grade Yield
Relying on manual spot checks with hand held instruments that yield
high over and under dried results is no longer competitive in todays
challenging forest products environment. The industry needs
to move beyond mere drying to a new paradigm of integrated,
mill-wide, moisture measurement and control.
Historically,
mill moisture measurement data has been isolated in manual and digital
data islands. This data's rich potential for process
improvement and improved yield was simply hidden from view.
With the introduction of SCS
Forest Product's bar coding capability, the era
of data segmentation has ended.
The
company's bar coding system tracks each lumber package from the
sawmill, through the kilns, and to the planer with a unique
tag id.
Combining bar coding capability with our high performance suite of
moisture measurement products, offers customers a tightly integrated,
end-to-end moisture measurement solution.
| The opportunity for
significant yield improvement at the planer mill is
substantial. Integrated mill-wide moisture
control can result in a 4% or greater improvement in moisture grade.
Seamless integration of the sawmill, kiln, and planer mill moisture
measurement systems is the key to achieving these results. |
The company's bar coding system starts by enabling a mill to apply a unique tag id at the sawmill or kilns. Once this bar code is scanned, the product and production details associated with this package are stored in a database so that the data can be passed along and integrated as the package moves through the millThe company's bar coding system starts by enabling a mill to apply a unique tag id at the sawmill or kilns. Once this bar code is scanned, the product and production details associated with this package are stored in a database so that the data can be passed along and integrated as the package moves through the mill.
At the kiln(s), the package is scanned again and information such as date, time, kiln number, package location in the kiln, schedule number, etc., is added to the package data in the database. The final scan occurs at the planer mill when the package arrives for processing. All of the in-line planer moisture meter data is added so that operators can see the moisture measurement history of each piece in the package.
The benefits of a data integration software and bar coding system include:
- Automated Inventory Management
- Kiln Maintenance Tracking
- Improved Drying Efficiency
As mills tag each package at the sawmill, reports show basic inventory levels by package, dimension, product, etc in the yard. This reduces or eliminates the need to conduct monthly physical inventory.
Kiln maintenance reports are generated by re-creating kiln charges based on the physical location of each package in a kiln.
The drying results of each package reveal cold or wet spots in the kiln that can be tracked charge to charge and early detection of kiln mechanical problems reduces waste. In addition, kiln reports show drying efficiency by schedule, kiln, month, etc. This can reveal opportunities to adjust drying strategy to further increase productivity and yield.
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