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Installations tested in Maine
Thomas Wamming, Valutec’s R&D Manager and Automation Manager John Karbin recently visited Maine in the USA, where TC continuous kilns recently has been commissioned at JD Irving’s sawmill in Ashland and Pleasant River’s sawmill in Enfield. The aim was to carry out quality- and capacity tests at the installations, both to ensure drying quality and to identify opportunities for improvement. This type of visit forms part of Valutec’s commitment in every project.
“A lot depends on the type of raw material dried in the kiln. There is often a need to adjust the process over time depending on what passes through the kiln. The ability to visit the sawmills provides a great opportunity to capture these types of issues,” says Thomas Wamming, who continues:
“But it's just as much about meeting the people working around the kilns. Meeting them gives us a better idea of what their challenges are, how the operators think and so on. This is very important as they will handle the operation on a daily basis. This can differ quite a lot between different sawmills, e.g. in terms of how responsibilities are distributed.
During the visit, Wamming and Karbin also had the opportunity to provide additional training to sawmill employees in Valmatics 4.0, the Valutec control system that allows sawmills to optimize their processes in terms of quality, capacity, and energy consumption.
The TC continuous kiln is a potent installation with great capacity. To use it to its full potential, it must also be regarded as forming an integral part of the overall sawmill flow.
“To benefit from the kiln’s full potential, sawmill personnel also need a picture of how the TC continuous kiln interacts with the rest of production. While it’s partly a matter of raw materials, it’s also about loading and package lengths. The sawmills that are best in these regards also tend to do really well in terms of both product quality and the bottom line.
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