News
Valutec supplies local Swedish sawmills with their TC continuous kilns
Following a year where Valutec grew on several international markets, 2018 is off to a flying start with three major deliveries to Västerbotten county in the norhern parts of Sweden. These were Martinsons, who invested in one TC continuous kiln and five batch kilns in Bygdsiljum, and Norra Skogsägarna who invested in TC continuous kilns for their sawmills in Kåge and Sävar. Both companies made investments as a key part of comprehensive increases in production.
“It's fantastic to see our regional sawmills developed, and also an honor that they chose us as their partner in major future investments. I’m also proud of us supplying facilities that not only increase their production capacity but also help to further optimize their production,” says Robert Larsson, CEO of Valutec.
Martinsons is first up, and will put its new TC continuous kiln, which primarily will be used to dry side boards, into operation after the summer. In addition to this, the company is investing in five batch kilns, which will be used both for planks and boards. The investments are one part of the production increase in Bygdsiljum, which as a first stage means an increase from 300,000 cubic meters (127,000 MBF) to 415,000 cubic meters (176,000 MBF) annually.
“Valutec is our skilled local supplier which could also satisfactorily meet our needs in terms of both delivery time and type of unit. It wasn’t a hard choice for us to continue working together with them,” says Olov Martinson, Production Manager at Martinsons.
Norra Skogsägarna’s new TC continuous kiln in Kåge will be ready in January 2019, and the one in Sävar is to be put into operation in October 2018. In Kåge, the capacity has almost doubled in eight years, from around 130,000 cubic meters (55,000 MBF) to 240,000 cubic meters (102,000 MBF). This includes previous investments in batch kilns from Valutec. Drying capacity has peaked, which has lead to the investment in a new TC continuous kiln.
“This gives us high capacity per SEK, and as we saw both pine and spruce, we also need to ensure significant flexibility. Purely from a design perspective, we’re also very happy with Valutec's kilns. The batch kilns from 2011 are dependable and look almost new after six years’ operation. Which clearly bodes well,” says Johan Oja, Technical Manager at Norra Skogsägarna.