Automated Industrial Technologies (AIT) is rebranding the part of its business that manufactures automation for the pallet cut stock sector. AIT has built a strong reputation for developing high-throughput and labor-saving equipment, especially saws and stackers.
According to Gary Sill, company founder and CEO, the wood products machinery will now be part of AIT’s Max Board Feet division. This is a move that better communicates the division’s goal to help its customers optimize their cut stock operations.
“Our new brand clarifies what we strive to provide for the wood products industry,” Sill explained. “So, while we are one company (AIT), Max Board Feet provides a variety of products to the pallet cut stock business.” Additionally, he noted that Max Board Feet offers modifications to meet a wide variety of customer needs. For example, Max Board Feet can customize equipment or layouts to accommodate customers’ unique requirements that can’t be satisfied with off-the-shelf equipment. The company is well known for its automated stackers, high-speed saws, notchers and other equipment that has now become the heart of the MAX lineup.
“Safety, efficiency and the throughput…were our biggest considerations”
Why has Max Board Feet/AIT equipment become so popular? Just consider what a few customers have said about the results.
One longtime customer is Berry Pallets of Waseca, Minnesota. The company operates five days a week and produces up to 4,000 pallets per day. All three of its production lines have wood processing equipment from AIT –– high-speed rip saws with output to two M2L Series Board Stackers on each line.
“I’m an old-fashioned type of guy, but I check things out and listen to new ideas,” said Richard Berry, company owner. “I like to ‘kick the tires’ so when I saw the M2L Board Stacker running and talked with AIT and Pallet Machinery Group, I knew these machines were the next best thing to make our job easier, reduce labor and increase production.” Berry admitted he didn’t necessarily factor in when the machines would be paid off. “Safety, efficiency, and the throughput—more linear feet per hour—were our biggest considerations.”
Industrial Wood Products (IWP), another customer, has been especially pleased with its HY400 saw from MAX/AIT. The company has plants in Vicksburg, Mississippi and in central North Carolina, where they saw, stack, band, and ship high-demand and custom-cut lumber. IWP produces lumber for pallets, decks, timbers and scaffold planks. IWP has used AIT saws and board stackers in their plants for eight years. “We run a lot of components, typically out of low-grade lumber,” explained Bryan Cone, operations manager. “We have a high volume of a high product mix.”
At the Vicksburg plant, softwood is processed on an HY400 saw to M2L stackers up to two shifts per day. One employee manages the board stacker from the machine controls and a shared forklift driver moves the finished stacks to be prepared for shipment. Cone explained, “We’re saving one person per line per shift because we used to have two people grading and stacking.” He remarked, “It’s faster, more accurate, and safer. I’d estimate we have reduced our operating costs by about $50,000 per year for each line.”
Each board is unique
The company’s first project in the forest products sector took place in 1994. That experience still guides AIT’s approach almost 30 years later. Variability is one of the greatest challenges when it comes to automating operations in the lumber and pallet sector.
For that initial project, a scragg mill owner contacted Sill with a problem. The scragg was not accurately rotating the log 90 degrees for each cut, which resulted in unusable material. “I didn’t know anything about that sort of thing,” Sill recalled. But he went to see the line in person and developed a solution that smoothed out the previously jerky rotation process. The customer said that the scragg mill manufacturer had designed the system for “computer” trees – those that were perfectly cylindrical, yet he had never seen a perfectly round one in the forest. The reality is that each log is unique.
Sill used his engineering expertise to create a solution that enabled the scragg line to achieve accurate cuts. “He was pleased that we didn’t look at logs as computer logs but recognized that they were each different,” said Sill.
Max Board Feet’s best-selling, cut stock machinery
Awareness of raw material variability remains an important consideration in machinery design today. “Every board is different,” Sill said. “No two boards are the same, and that distinction makes dealing with lumber particularly unique and challenging. I think one of the things we’ve done is bring that capability to other industries.”
Max Board Feet’s most popular products relate to automated stacking, high-speed splitting and other cut stock processes. The M2L automated stacker and unscrambler, first brought to market in 1999, remains a best seller. It was named M2L to signify that it replaces two workers on the cut stock production line. Other leading items include the HY thin-kerf, center-cut industrial saw. The high-speed unit easily converts to handle multiple board sizes and lumber types for center-cut or line-bar cutting. Sill also listed the KA Notcher and the HR Rip Saw as other top selling machines in the MAX lineup. The company is developing an automated stacker for waney boards along with a variety of other equipment to complement their current offerings.
Labor shortages continue to drive demand for automation
Founded by Sill in 1991, AIT continues to grow. The company is led by Sill and Chip Lamb. Lamb joined the company in 2012. Today, AIT operates from three buildings, and as Sill stated, is “bursting at the seams.” The company is currently looking at properties with an eye on further expansion. Demand for machinery has increased. AIT would like to build machinery to stock, Sill said, but is currently producing to fill orders. In the wake of the pandemic, companies are having trouble finding workers and are increasingly looking to automation to fill the gap.
In addition to machinery for cutting stock, the company provides a wide array of production and testing equipment. It serves industries including clock manufacturing, candlemaking, vinyl siding, automotive assembly, leak testing, nuclear medicine processing and more.
Launching a business at 24 years of age – “I knew I was safe”
Sill has always been fascinated with machinery. “Even as a little kid, I was always working on go-karts, minibikes and bicycles – things like that,” he said. “From the time I was little, I already intended to go into business.” He began working in factories as a teenager, and at the ripe old age of 24, he launched the business. He began his enterprise in a spare bedroom, and initially outsourced production for the first three months, before setting up his first production shop.
Was it a risky venture for a young man? “I knew I was safe because I was so well capitalized,” Sill said, tongue firmly in cheek. “I had saved $3,000. So, I had all the money I could ever need.”
In those first few months, he received some powerful advice that remains relevant today. He encountered Steve, a salesperson he knew previously, and asked for a sales tip. “He told me never to try selling anything to anybody unless you already know they want what you got. So, it was really about understanding customer wants and selling them that equipment.”
Sill’s first order came from a clock manufacturing plant. The project involved automating part of the clock assembly process. He had made a prototype to show Helmut, the plant manager. The prototype worked so well that Helmut exclaimed that it was the best thing since peanut butter on bread. He asked Sill to remove the cover so he could see how it worked.
Sill said that before that could happen, he would need a purchase order. So, Helmut shot out commands to two of his employees. “You, go get a purchase order. And you, go get a screwdriver.” And so, AIT was born. He then hired his first employee, who remains with the company 33 years later. The prototype still sits in Sill’s desk drawer. And to bring the story full circle, Helmut’s son is now a salesperson for AIT.
Caring is not a list of things you do
Sill noted that the company has four primary goals. These include being profitable and sustainable, providing excellent customer service, providing excellent machines, and being the best place to work. “Our strategy for being the best place to work includes providing excellent customer service and building excellent machines as part of it,” he elaborated. He noted that while the company is proud of its achievements, it is mindful that there is always room for further improvement.
“One thing that sets us apart from other providers is that we sincerely care about our customers and our employees,” Sill reflected. “You can’t fake it. You really have to care – everything grows out of that attitude. It’s not a list of things you do. It’s the way you behave.”
As AIT introduces its Max Board Feet division brand, the company is seeking to better understand and address customer challenges. The rebranding reflects the company’s ongoing commitment to helping customers achieve greater efficiency in their lumber processing operations.
For more information, visit www.MaxBoardFeet.com, YouTube: https://youtube.com/@maxboardfeet or call (434) 525-2292.
