Smoothing the flow

Coastland Wood Industries

Smoothing the flow

SYNCHRONIZED VENEER SCANNING AND HANDLING EQUIPMENT INCREASES RECOVERY FOR COASTLAND’S VENEER MILL

By synchronizing the veneer production process and upgrading to the latest scanning andoptimizing equipment, Coastland Wood Industries was able to increase production while reducingdowntime and maintenance requirements.

We're seeing better uptime and an increase in recovery for sure. On a volume basis, we were able to speed up the line by 20%.

In late 2016 USNR acquired the Ventek Inc. business, bringing with it new, complementary technologies to add to the USNR portfolio. Ventek had recently completed, or was in the process of completing, several successful projects. Integral to the work Ventek has done for many years is its relationship with Elite Automation Ltd., based in Burnaby, British Columbia. Elite provides primarily the PLC controls segment for Ventek products and projects. This article relates a project by Ventek and Elite, that added much value to Coastland Wood Industries' veneer operation with improvements in recovery, capacity and uptime.

Canada’s rainy Vancouver Island is known for its lush stands of Douglas Fir, which yield very high-quality veneer. The first steps in processing the local fiber are performed by Coastland Wood Industries, which operates three veneer lathe lines at the company’s 10-acre Nanaimo BC mill. The mill handles about 900,000 m3 of logs per year to produce veneer in thicknesses ranging 1/8,” 1/7,” and 1/10,” amounting to the equivalent of approximately 450 million square feet of 3/8” veneer per year. Seventy percent of the product is dried and the rest is sold green. Coastland sells 95% of its veneer in North America, with the balance sold into Asia.

Because of space constraints in Nanaimo, drying and further processing of the veneer is done at the company’s Delta, BC plant on the mainland. This creates some transportation challenges which add to product cost. Hence, it is critical that the Nanaimo operation run as efficiently as possible. “In order to overcome our transport costs we’ve got to be that much better at what we do,” said Doug Pauze, General Manager for Coastland’s veneer manufacturing operation.

The Upgrade

Over the last couple of years, the drive to improve their production processes at Nanaimo caused Coastland’s management to invest in an equipment upgrade that included installation of:

• Ventek Multi-Point Diverter System (MPDS), replacing two older-technology vacuum diverters

• Ventek MPDS interface conveyors to strip trays

• Ventek NV4g Green Scanner & grading system to replace Coastland’s earlier version, New Vision 3000

• Ventek GEM moisture meter installed at the clipper, replacing an older moisture meter that was at the infeed of the stacker. This new GEM system allows Coastland to make clip size adjustments based on moisture content

• New lathe spindle, primary tray and strip tray controls, motors and drives

The NV4g scanner and GEM moisture meter were installed in the first phase in 2015. The spindle and primary tray controls were installed in the second phase in early summer 2016. The installation of the MPDS and strip tray controls were the last phase, completed in August of 2016.

We wanted the best technology to reduce downtime and increase efficiencies. It was natural that we check out Ventek's newest equipment, and it has proven to be the best available for our needs.

Why Ventek / Elite?

“We wanted the best technology to reduce downtime and increase efficiencies,” said Doug. “We have had good experiences with Ventek products in the past. We’ve always had a Ventek green scanning line, and we have Ventek equipment for dry veneer scanning at our Delta operation, so it was natural that we check out Ventek’s newest equipment, and it has proven to be the best available for our needs.”

The process

The veneer production process at Coastland starts with sorting, cutting and debarking the raw logs, followed by peeling the veneer to the desired thickness on one of three veneer lathes. The veneer is then clipped to produce sheets. Veneer destined for plywood is directed to stacker #1 (5 bins). Low grade sheets destined for post and beam construction are directed to stacker #2 (also 5 bins). Veneer quality decisions are made automatically on a sheet-by-sheet basis by scanning/grading systems that monitor the process.

The Multi-Point Diverter system downstream from the NV4g green scanning system, diverts scanned veneer to the appropriate destination - strip tray or clipper table.

Specific improvements

Ventek’s goal for the Coastland installation was for each veneer line, from the lathe to the clipper table, to act as one unit, much like a paper machine. This involves synchronizing the speed of the various system components to run in lock step, which in turn minimizes ribbon breaks due to mismatched peeling and tray control process speeds. Rather than running the lathe at full speed and then stopping it to wait on the clipper, the lathe is run just fast enough to keep the clipper full without stopping and starting as often. The smoother operation reduces downtime and maintenance requirements. It also eliminates ribbon breaks, which are common in systems that run asynchronously. Combined with a better-controlled and well-tuned catch-up tray system, the synchronized processing allows the lathe to send more veneer to the clipper. Gaps in the clipper operation are held to a minimum, while clipping decisions made by the Ventek NV4g lead to more recovery, compared to older systems that may cause salvageable veneer to be trashed prematurely.

The same principle goes for the strip tray controls, which are designed to operate just fast enough to maintain a constant flow of material. The new controls require less operator intervention and increase tray capacity by diverting the trash veneer at the MPDS, and by keeping tight positional control over veneer sheets as they pass through the system.

The new moisture-sensing equipment added to the line enables better and more consistent moisture sorting for drying gains at Coastland’s dry-end plant at Delta, BC.

The operator interface for each line is designed so that it is extremely simple to tune and dial in adjustments such as belt speed and veneer quality change. Because the design is highly modular and uses nonproprietary components, new technologies such as PLCs or motor drives can be incorporated easily into the system in the future without concern for the issues of dealing with proprietary elements.

The install

“The project went seamlessly from our perspective,” said Doug Pauze. “It’s probably one of the easiest projects we’ve ever done. The only real challenge was physically getting the diverters equipment into our space-constrained mill. We had to cut a hole in the middle of the mill roof and lower it in with a crane.”

The project went seamlessly. It's probably one of the easiest projects we've ever done.

“Then, once the MPDS was in place and the crane left the site, we discovered an alignment issue,” said Chris Van Ackeren, Ventek account manager. ”This had to be field modified and could have been a show stopper, causing delays to a very tight install and shut down schedule, but Jason Tracy of Ventek and the crew from Coastland corrected the problem overnight so that the startup took place right on schedule.”

Training on the system was handled by Ventek’s installation techs and engineers following start up, and the Coastland team took ownership very quickly.

Results

The operating results of the line upgrades have been impressive. “We’re seeing better uptime and an increase in recovery for sure,” said Doug. “On a volume basis, we were able to speed up the line by 20% and get higher capacity. We definitely met every goal that we were trying to achieve, and then some.”