SAWLINES / SCANNING & OPTIMISATION – USNR
LUMBER PROCESSING
The efficient layout affords ample room for the new technology in a very productive operation
Montrose Forest Products: Expanding fortunes The bottleneck at this Colorado plant is gone and in its place is an efficient operation focused on a new line of high-value production
M
ontrose Forest Products recently added a new planer mill to its operation in Colorado, to expand its product mix and align it with its sister mills. Through this investment the mill also planned to ease the bottleneck that was constraining production at the sawmill. Today the new line is hitting the targets Montrose set out, and several more that were unexpected. The Montrose operation comprises a sawmill, planer mill, and two lumber dry kilns, and prior to this latest project it was strictly processing Engelmann spruce and lodgepole pine into stud length lumber. The Neiman team wanted
to expand the scope of this mill’s products to more closely align with its other three operations that produce 1x4, 1x6, and 1x8 lumber products. The team contacted the US Forest Service and came to an agreement to include green ponderosa pine in the Montrose mill’s mix. This paved the way to add 1" products to the Montrose operation.
The vision The existing planer mill technology had long become outdated, and was causing bottlenecks that adversely impacted the sawmill’s production and the overall
efficiency of the operation. Mike Kusar, Montrose Mill Manager explained: “With newer technology at the sawmill we were making more lumber than the planer mill could keep up with, so we knew we were losing out on opportunity. We were also interested in what automated grading technology could do for us.” Another Neiman mill, Devils Tower Forest Products in Hulett, Wyoming, had recently invested in a USNR Transverse High Grader (THG) for its dry mill, so the team was familiar with the benefits of this technology. Mike said USNR was chosen to supply this project on a turn-key basis because of recent successful projects at the Neiman mills. In addition, his team traveled to
We had great communication and collaboration throughout the design and execution phases of the project John Jacques, USNR Turn-Key Project Manager several mills with USNR’s planer mill technology to see how it was benefiting those operations. Service and support was another big factor in the decision making process, and the many positive business dealings the Neiman mills had with USNR was a strong motivation to trust USNR for this latest major investment. Mike reiterated: “That’s one of the reasons we chose USNR. We know we can get in contact with USNR folks any day of the year for phone support, parts, and service scheduling.”
The new line
The low profile planer mill stacker is fitted with magazine lath placers, filled from above. This stacker operates at speeds in the range of 23 tiers/ minute 22 International Forest Industries | APRIL / MAY 2021
The new planer mill line is designed to run at speeds of 180 lpm and above, depending on product size. The supply begins with the planer infeed featuring a Continuous Tilt Hoist, stick and dunnage collection, planer, Quad Cam lug loader, Multi-Track Fence,
