What if you could scan low-grade lumber to get the most out of your wood with minimal labor so that you can continually feed your nailing operations? What if you can take technology designed for high-speed, grade lumber operations and make it work for pallet lumber?
Those are the challenges and questions that Berry Pallets is trying to answer. One of the first companies in the United States to pioneer the development of lumber scanning for low-grade pine, the challenge was never going to be easy. But Richard Berry, owner of Berry Pallets in Waseca, Minnesota, claims the journey is worth it.
Richard commented, “We knew this line wasn’t going to be ready to run very fast from the beginning. It would take some time to work out all of the kinks in the system.”
Today, they are running mainly SPF through the system. And it can process 225-275 lineal feet per minute.
“We know we can do better than that, but it is the downtime that kills us,” stated Curtis Berry, Richard’s son and the operations manager for the company. “When you run really fast, you have more problems and they happen faster…Everything is so fast, you have tight tolerances and it is easy to jam if running low-quality lumber.”
Despite all the effort to get things right, both Richard and Curtis insist they are on track and happy with the production. Key suppliers for this saw system include Pendu, Pallet Machinery Group and Ultimizers Inc.
Why Try Scanning?
The name of the game in pallets is to get the most out of your wood, produce quality lumber and do it as fast as possible with as few people as possible. And you have to continue to use low-grade material to be cost competitive on many orders.
Before installing the new line, Richard explained, “We were starving our nailers all the time. We had to stop our nailers to cut wood, and we wanted a faster way to do it with fewer people.”
The scanner also takes the human element out of the lumber grading process. Curtis said, “With the scanner we get a more consistent application of our lumber grading rules because if humans are grading a board every half a second or so, it gets pretty tiring after eight hours.”
Richard added, “We have more faith in our scanner than the human eye.” The new scanner and saw system enables the company to get the same production as before while only running it 60-70% of the time. This labor can then be used elsewhere, such as pallet recycling or hand nailing.
Curtis explained, “The original returnon-investment on the machine was three years purely based on labor savings, and we are right in line with that. And if we are behind at all on labor savings, we are more than making it up with precut sales.”
Labor efficiency is really important for Berry Pallets. Curtis said, “One of the driving forces behind this line is labor reduction. We have under a 3% unemployment rate in our area. Finding qualified workers is difficult.”
Getting the most out of each board while maintaining a high processing rate is important. Automated nailers work best when they have properly sorted boards.
In-depth Look at the System
Berry Pallets processes packs of 10- foot 2x4s and 10-foot 2x6s softwood lumber through this new line. This system can produce both stringers and deck boards. It all starts with a Pendu dealer deck and five-head trim saw where long 2x4s and 2x6s are cut into 40s. The system can process sizes ranging from 36s to 48s. After being trimmed, boards are dropped on edge before going through the Ultimizers Ulti-Vision automatic defect
scanner. Stringers can then be kicked out here and notched on a Pendu notcher and then stacked by an M2L
stacker.
Curtis said, “Pendu was great to work with. They helped us get everything running the way it should run. And we are glad that we selected the Pendu trim saw. Pendu and Ultimizers were very helpful when it came to laying out the plant with CAD drawing software.”
When producing deck boards, these boards travel to a HY400 resaw after the scanner. This high-speed, thin kerf industrial circular saw center splits the board. Sold by Pallet Machinery group, this HY resaw has a reputation for speed. Split boards are diverted to two different conveyor lines. Each line conveyor has up to six different sorts. Coming out of the HY resaw, boards travel down the line and are kicked out by the scanner/sortation system if they don’t meet the quality specifications set by the scanner. The system tracks the progress of each board down the line so that each board ends up in the right sort. Lower grade boards are kicked out and stacked by hand.
Richard said, “We would like to see more automation and technology development in stacking the low-grade material. But there isn’t a stacker that handles the waney lumber very well. It is too variable to be handled efficiently at high speeds.”
The high-grade boards proceed down the line and are automatically stacked by a TS300 stacker developed by Automated Industrial Technologies and sold by Pallet Machinery Group. It can stack over 300 board feet per minute, and it is ideal for a high-speed line situation.
Richard stated, “Choosing the HY400 saw and the TS300 stacker was an easy decision because Greg Wine means quality machinery that you know will do the job.”
The line has all the elements to run fast. But lumber doesn’t always cooperate. Richard explained, “The speed of the line varies based on the quality of the lumber. If we were to run #2 grade lumber, we could hit the 350-400 mark with no problem. If there are splits and cracks on the economy lumber, that causes jams on the line. With economy grade lumber (depending on the mill), we may get a lot of expendable grade lumber. We then have to slow the line down so we do not bury the hand stackers. This is where a stacker (that does not exist yet to handle this grade) for the low-grade lumber will be beneficial to many companies. If we had a stacker to handle the expendable, we could hit the higher numbers.”
Berry Pallets is one of the first companies in the country to take technology normally used with high grade lumber and apply it to pallet lumber. At first Berry Pallets struggled to find a scanning company that would work with them because the application was so different.
Richard recalled, “Ultimizers has been great to work with because they were committed to making this work. Initially, they even sent out a technician for 3.5 weeks to help us get everything working right since this is such a new concept.”
More than six months later, they are still making tweaks. The scanner will do a lot more than they use it for right now. Curtis commented, “Right now we are primarily looking for wane. The control screen shows the sorter on the left and the scanner on the right. Purple is wane.”
The system can look for knots, cracks, holes, etc. You have to define each characteristic and work to identify the exact parameters. Sometimes you have issues unique to the local climate and wood supply. Curtis pointed out, “In the winter, we have gotten some scanner faults because ice can build up on the board since lumber packs are stored outside. This causes the board to slip for a split second in the scanner, which can add another couple of inches to the board and register as a fault. We are still working out little glitches like this.”
“A big advantage with the automatic scanner besides speed is quality control. I can ensure that the sorts are done right and not left up to others,” said Curtis. “Getting the sort wrong is a costly decision over a year or so.”
The software also tracks yield and numbers to better analyze which lumber supplier offers better yield. Curtis added, “The scanning technology works in lumber buying decisions because it takes the guess work out of it.”
Scanning Lessons
The first thing you have to realize is that this new technology will take time to dial in and you have to stay patient. And almost equally important, you need to get the right equipment and learning how every aspect integrates with each other is critical.
Curtis warned, “Don’t rush your equipment decisions. Every piece on the line matters. Everything has to talk with each other and function as one line.” One saw, stacker, conveyor or trough can lead to bottlenecks if the pieces are not designed to work together.
Another lesson they learned is that you will need more conveyor space than you first realize. Curtis explained that the faster you go, the more conveyor space you need to handle the higher throughput. And while the scanning technology is not rocket science, Curtis did suggest, “You need somebody on your staff who is dedicated to the project and is tech savvy. This person should understand how to use a basic computer program, work with lumber dimensions and have technical aptitude.” The scanner is tied in with a computer, which can be accessed remotely via a smartphone. This allows Curtis or Richard to make adjustments and monitor issues even when they are away from the plant.
You may have to tinker with the speed of various aspects of the line to reduce jams. Curtis described, “One of the issues is that the lumber we buy: some of the mills the width of the board can vary 1/16th up to an 1/8th of an inch. When wood goes through the resaw it sometimes gets pinched and stops the line. You have to run the rollers at a certain height so that you get a good grip on the lumber.”
After months of work, they are able to get about 60% high grade on economy lumber and 70-75% high grade on #3 material. The new saw line was installed in June 2016. Richard commented, “We are taking technology that is designed for upper-grade market and adapting it to use with low-grade lumber, which is a huge challenge.”
Curtis said, “The reasons we have pushed for the scanner so hard is the need to boost production, save labor and control quality.”
Turn Sawdust into Energy
In addition to the saw line, Berry Pallets recently added a Unicomfort biomass boiler to turn sawdust into heat. Richard explained, “We are taking sawdust that people are having a hard time selling and using it for energy. And that is the no brainer about it.”
Designed to meet European emissions standards, the Unicomfort boiler exceeds all U.S. regulations. Curtis stated, “The emissions on there are virtually nothing – it is practically steam."
Besides heating the facility, it has helped eliminate moisture, high humidity and mold build up in the plant. Richard saw the boiler run at another facility in the Midwest and was immediately interested. Richard boasted, “We love the Unicomfort boiler.” Another key addition planned is a new storage shed for lumber and pallets. It will be installed this coming summer, and Richard believes this will help with finished pallet quality and alleviate some crowding in its main production building.
Taking big leaps in pushing new technology has been a key strategy for the Berry family in recent years. Richard admitted, “The scanner and saw line was a huge commitment, but you look at the labor pool that we have out there, and you had to do something. Either you are in the lumber business or you go buy precut. And I am not happy with the quality of the precut on the open market. Here, I can control quality.”
Richard and Curtis credited the hard work of the team at Ultimizers for taking a risk on pallet lumber. A number of other installations are already in development around the country.
