GRANITE FALLS, North Carolina – You’ve got to evolve if you want to navigate changing business landscapes. And the evolution of the hardwood lumber industry led Associated Hardwoods into the pallet business eight years ago.
The company first started out focusing on specialty pallets and small runs with manual pallet production. But over the last several years, the company has sought to improve its efficiency through automation including the installation of a cant processing line from Pendu a few years ago and most recently the deployment of a Rayco Pallet Pro nailing machine.
Necessity led Associated Hardwoods into the pallet business as the company was looking to find additional markets for its industrial-grade material. While it is committed to selling lumber and cants to other pallet companies and industrial users, these markets weren’t reliable enough to consume all the volume its sawmill produced.
Initially, Associated Hardwoods produced pallets by hand. But this had limitations. Rick Jordan, the owner of Associated Hardwoods, said, “As we looked to grow our pallet production, Rayco took us to another level compared to what we could produce on hand tables. The Rayco has enabled us to go after some high-volume accounts.”
Rayco Is the Right Choice
Associated Hardwoods looked at a number of options in the market. This was its first foray into automated nailing, and they wanted to buy something that works with the type of lumber that they use.
Tye Jordan, the general manager of the pallet division, noted, “Rayco has a good reputation in the industry as a reliable machine. We toured a number of companies and even visited the Rayco factory. Rayco equipment is a machine of choice for many pallet companies in the Southeast.”
The Jordans also really clicked with the Rayco sales team. Tye said, “Devin McDaniel was really easy to talk to and was very customer service oriented. He wanted to make sure that I knew exactly what I was getting, make sure it worked with our product. He wanted us to come down and see them.”
The Rayco Pallet Pro is a pneumatically controlled pallet nailing machine that can produce up to 1,200 pallets per eight-hour shift. It uses a PLC interface for immediate operator feedback while allowing a Rayco technician to troubleshoot most issues over the phone. It can produce pallets up to 60″x60″ in size and can even build wing pallets. The outfeed roll table may be placed on either side of the stacker to work with your facility layout.
Rayco suggested, “Our pneumatically controlled machines are preferable to hydraulic nailers because they operate faster, cost less to maintain, are easier to run and lead to less downtime.” Rayco uses many standard parts that are easy to source from local suppliers.
The simple, open design of the machine provides easy access to adjust the pneumatic tools and trigger pressure. Also, quick air disconnects allow individuals to disconnect air lines using their hands instead of requiring tools.
Support after the sale was a major driver in their decision, Tye added, “The support with Rayco since day one has been really good. Whenever we had an issue, they were very responsive to walk us through troubleshooting and help us fix any issue that arose.”
The operator interface is also really easy to learn, which makes training new staff very easy. Tye stated, “On the two-man auto nailer like we’ve got, I don’t see how anybody can beat Rayco on the service, price and the quality of machine.”
Automation was all about production and efficiency as well as pallet quality. Tye explained, “Normally your best manual build scenario is 45 to 50 pallets an hour on a two-man table. So, you are getting considerably more pallets with an auto nailer as well as better consistency when it comes to placing deck boards and stringers and pallet standardization.”
Rick added, “With the right nailing equipment, the assembly time stays more consistent for costing. The Rayco nailing machine has been instrumental in the growth of our pallet business.”
This version of the Rayco Pallet Pro comes with the quick-change bars to facilitate faster changeovers. Beyond the Rayco, the company produces pallets on tables for larger sizes. Currently, the largest size built on the Rayco nailer by Associated Hardwoods is a 56×40 design.
Finding the Optimum Mill Efficiency
Before Associated Hardwoods moved to automated pallet manufacturing, the company improved its cant processing equipment. Rick recalled, “We were working hard six days per week processing pallet lumber in a plant that wasn’t really designed for that purpose.”
Previously, they had a Progressive dimension mill. Cants were always getting stuck because there was no planer to ensure cant thickness consistency. Turning cants into boards required multiple steps with a resaw, a package saw and other equipment. The old line couldn’t cut the thinner pieces for deck boards like the Pendu HD gang can.
The change has been incredible. Rick admitted, “With the Pendu line, we were able to do in one day what used to take a week to accomplish, and we were able to achieve this higher production with fewer people.”
Tye added, “The Pendu line has been a complete game changer.”
The Pendu line starts with packages of cants placed on an infeed chain. Cants are dropped into an unscrambler and fed to a servo-positioned Pendu trim saw that cuts cants to length. These cants are usually 4x6s that are 14-16′ long. The cants are then transferred to the Pendu HD gang saw that sizes the material to the accurate thickness and rips the cants into deck boards or stringers all in one pass. After the gang saw, an operator inspects the processed boards to ensure quality. Stringer boards then go to an inline Pendu notcher. Notched stringers and deck boards are accumulated and stacked in two Pendu stackers. The entire system requires five people, not counting the forklift operator. Rick commented, mented, “The Pendu line produces boards so fast that we have to have two stackers to keep up.”
Rick added, “In our travels and study we looked at a number of possibilities. We were very impressed with the automation and production facilities of Pendu.” Another big plus for Pendu was the company’s broad line of equipment and capability to produce the entire line and integrate everything together. Rick explained, “We were looking for a full system. We didn’t want to buy just a great gang or saw component. We wanted the entire system produced by one company. We believe that so much efficiency is driven by handling and integration of various processes. We felt that Pendu’s automation in lumber cant handling is top notch.”
The Pendu line can process about 28,000 board feet in a shift. This material is used for the company’s own pallet accounts and sold to other pallet companies as cut stock. The Pendu line processes mostly oak and poplar into pallet boards.
Rick described their lumber management philosophy. He said, “The cant is the lowest end part of the log. We give every board a chance to have value. But not every board will meet our quality criteria. That’s why we have a board inspection process.”
Sawmill Optimized for Efficiency
The sawmill is located near the forests in Gaffney, South Carolina. It processes hardwood logs into lumber and cants. It features a Corley headrig with a 17-degree carriage and a McDonough horizontal resaw band mill as well as a McDonough Computerized edger with a wiggle box. A TS Manufacturing optimizer scanner, trim saw and grading system ends the process. Associated Hardwoods will soon add four Kuka robots to unload, sort and stack boards and cants coming off the green chain. The system tracks the grade, board, footage, width and length so that the robots know where to stack each component.
Lumber and cants are then trucked using the company’s own trucking fleet to the facility in Granite Falls. The company strives to limit waste and use as much of the log as possible. Tye stated, “All of our wood waste from the sawmill and pallet lumber processing get ground up and turned into dust. It’s sold for valued-added products. We are nearly a zero-waste facility.” Associated uses exclusively Vecoplan grinders at its Granite Falls production facility. Rick explained, “We use VecopPlan grinders because they are the best. They are very well built and do a great job processing wood waste into the exact specification that our customer requires.”
Quality Control Requires Proper Moisture Management
A key aspect of the process involves accurate drying and storage of the lumber. Associated Hardwoods relies exclusively on SII Dry Kilns for its 28 dry kilns at the Granite Falls location. It has 2,100,000 board feet of kiln capacity.
Rick said, “When it comes to dry kilns and technology for drying hardwood lumber, we consider SII to be world class.” The company does use a Nyle pallet chamber for smaller loads or heat-treating pallets.
The entire process focuses on eliminating moisture concerns. Boards are never stored outside. Rick said, “We process lumber immediately through the dry kilns to produce the best quality possible. Lumber is stored in heated warehouses because if you have moisture issues that affects the quality of the lumber.”
A key benefit of working with Associated Hardwoods is exact lumber sizing. Rick explained, “We don’t just send you a pack of rough lumber and say, ‘Good Luck.’ We produce dimensional lumber manufactured to the exact size that customers need.” He added, “We value our customers and strive to provide quality lumber whether dimensional hardwoods or pallet lumber.”
While Associated Hardwood may be able to make more money by selling the processed logs to export markets, the company got into the sawmill business to control quality, so it focuses on using the logs to produce the best lumber possible. And the team at Associated Hardwoods works to give customers exactly what they want. Rick noted, “We run our company to focus on our customers’ needs and providing them the service they deserve. Not to see how we can squeeze every last ounce of profit out of every sale.”
Longstanding Tradition of Family Ownership and Control
Dick Jordan, Jr. founded Associated Hardwoods in 1978 after a successful career in the lumber industry working for Georgia Pacific. Associated Hardwoods started its physical lumber yard with dry kilns in 1982. Rick joined the business in 1982.
Rick reviewed the company’s history, “We evolved. We started out selling lumber into the furniture industry, and then this industry left the United States. We migrated to the millwork and molding industries.”
Following the Great Recession of 2008 and the resulting contraction of our supplier base, we initiated the design and construction of our own sawmill. This strategic move ensured continued and reliable access to the lumber products essential to our operations.
Tye added, “We’re big on quality and service. We do whatever we can for both lumber and pallet customers to ensure that we have plenty of supply and our customers never run out.”
Associated Hardwoods keeps about 17 million+ board feet in stock at any given time. Vertically integrated from the log to the finished product, Associated Hardwoods works hard to ensure quality and service from its company-owned trucking fleet to its warehouses and storage facilities.
Quality is at the heart of everything that Associated Hardwoods does. Rick said, “We have access to the raw material directly. So, we are in a good position to control quality.” He added, “We are always looking for the optimal configuration to eliminate wood waste.”
Even though the company has only been producing pallets for about eight years, deploying the Rayco nailer has positioned the company for greater levels of success.
For more information on Associated Hardwoods, call (828)-396-3321 or visit www.associatedhardwoods.com.
See a video of the Rayco Pallet Pro in action. https://tinyurl.com/5n6jrevy
For more information, visit www.raycoindustries.com or call (804) 321-7111.
