January 2021

Sawmill Assessment Brings Big ROI

At Crow Engineering, relationships with customers last for years. One company – a long-term customer – recently engaged us to review ways to increase the productivity of its lumber manufacturing process. To assess and identify improvement opportunities, we conducted an efficiency study of the company’s log infeed and breakdown systems.

Over the course of a two-day onsite review, Crow engineers studied the production line – interviewing operators, observing critical equipment, and generating a video for quick multi-engineering collaboration. Within seven business days, the team submitted a final assessment report that identified the main culprit standing in the way of improved productivity: overlooked maintenance practices.

The assessment recommended several fast, low-cost remediation actions that were implemented immediately and have helped improve process efficiency dramatically. The company also blessed the design of two additional pieces of equipment expected to be installed in 2021.

Does your company want to improve productivity as well?

Critical areas to continuously review include:

• Log quality (potential gains by minimizing log flair)
• Automation to avoid manual decisions
• Slab recovery
• Controls programming at each station
• Proactive equipment maintenance to avoid unscheduled downtime
• Grading process
• Saw-doctoring (filing)
• Calibration of measuring instruments and equipment

We would love the opportunity to meet you and discuss how we can help you lower your cost while increasing your productivity. Please contact us to assess your operation and identify opportunities for improvement.