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Tembec partners with Autolog for improvements at the sawmill & planer mill
AUTOLOG 3D Cant Optimizer Scanner
with no spare parts or service available . The machine lost some functionality when restarted with used spare parts , in addition to the line freezing and experiencing major downtime incidents .
In terms of risk management , this project installation required a stage gate approach since it was Autolog ’ s serial No . 1 . It was split in four stage gates where Tembec would pay only when a stage
FOREST PRODUCTS gate was successfully achieved INNOTECH based on measured INNOVATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY performance
PROGRAM indicators . The first stage gate was the installation of the new scanner and new optimizer and running sfpaexpo it offline to compare the solutions with
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the existing scanner and optimizer . Stage gate 2 meant transferring new solutions to the existing controls . The third gate was to
Tembec is a manufacturer of forest products – lumber , paper pulp , paper and specialty cellulose pulp – and a global leader in sustainable forest management practices , which has operations in North America and France with some 3,000 employees , including five sawmills in Ontario and two in Quebec . Tembec has reviewed and established a long-term capital plan with focus on the modernization of its sawmills with the ability to supply the Kapuskasing Newsprint and Temiskaming Speciality Cellulose mills . Investments are proposed to be completed in three phases with the objectives to move its sawmills into the first and second quartile .
As part of phase one , three projects were identified for the Hearst Ontario Operation to upgrade its optimization and control systems ; a canter-twin optimizer , a curve cant optimizer and a linear planer optimizer .
Tembec Hearst , at 16 ft random lengths , produces 110 million bf / year on two shifts . The mill has and continues to have a lot of “ good ” low costs – high payback projects . With the support of Autolog , the mill decided to explore vendor financing with the idea to maximize the cash flow situation . The idea was to structure the payments so that the monthly project benefit exceeds the monthly payment .
Autolog stepped up to the plate and decided to partner with Tembec . This article will focus on Autolog ’ s first curve cant sawing optimizer on an OEM equipment manufacturer . It was implemented in a stage fashion in order to reduce the risk to a minimum for both enterprises . They supplied new scanning , optimization & controls on an existing Newnes McGehee 10 in curve sawing “ wiggle box ” gang edger . Tembec ’ s scanning , optimization and controls were more than 15 years old
Cant Optimizer PLC Control
PLC Control Remote IOs Rack
38 International Forest Industries | JUNE / JULY 2017