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Cooperative use of advanced scanning technology for low-volume hardwood processors

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Of the several hundreds of hardwood lumber sawmills across the country, the majority are small- to medium-sized facilities operated as small businesses in rural communities. Trends of increased log costs and limited availability are forcing wood processors to become more efficient in their operations. Still, small mills are less able to adopt new, more efficient technologies due to initial cost, payback period, and modifications to operations. Based on the current marketing structure in the hardwood industry, the prevalent links between small- to medium-sized landowners and similar sawmills are log concentration yards. This paper examines the utility and logistics of locating industrial CT scanners in log concentration yards. If installed, logs can be scanned, automatically graded, and potentially optimized for sawmill breakdown (processing decisions) at the yard. By knowing the correct grade of each log, a mill can properly manage its log inventory. In addition, by knowing the internal structure of each log, a mill can optimize the sawing of that log. The advantage of this proposed system for the small mill is that it is affordable and, with little or no infrastructure changes, they can buy and utilize value-added logs that have been CT-scanned upstream.

Citation

Occeña, Luis G.; Rayner, Timothy J.; Schmoldt, Daniel L.; Abbott, A. Lynn. 2001. Cooperative use of advanced scanning technology for low-volume hardwood processors. Proceedings, The First International Precision Forestry Cooperative Symposium. 83-91
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/4427