Sawmill Improvement Program (1973-1985) ƒ FPL’s Best Opening Face (BOF) program ƒ Improve sawmill conversion efficiency ƒ 2000 SIP studies conducted ƒ 4% national improvement ƒ BOF is the basis for today’s sawmill optimization

FPL’s Best Opening Face

Sawmill Improvement Program Findings 1) While larger diameter logs are expected to increase lumber recovery—poor mill efficiency, operation, and practices easily overshadow potential gain 2) Tighten Up!—tighter mills consistently have superior recovery over sloppy & poorly maintained mills 3) Reducing sawing variation (less thick & thin lumber) along with proper lumber target sizing (less lumber oversizing)—means higher recovery while maintaining grade yield potential

Sawmill Improvement Program Findings 4) Poor debarking (taking off too much fiber) can greatly reduce lumber recovery! 5) Poor edging practices result in loss of recovery & grade—this is REALLY important for small logs! 6) Poor trimming practices also result in loss of recovery & grade 7) Reducing saw kerf—improves lumber recovery 8) Log overlength results in lower recovery—and can reduce production capacity

Increase Lumber Recovery Sawmill Efficiency ƒ Sawing technology advances – – – –

Equipment—curve sawing Log & lumber scanning Thin-kerf saws Best Opening Face

Increase Lumber Recovery Sawmill Efficiency ƒ Log manufacturing practices ƒ Lumber recovery studies ƒ Edging & trimming practices ƒ Target set reduction ƒ Lumber size control

Measure of Lumber Recovery Overrun/Underrun ƒ Overrun—board footage recovered above log scale ƒ Underrun—board footage recovered short of log scale ƒ Overrun = lumber tally – log scale log scale ƒ 125% to 175% overrun—small logs

Better Measure of Lumber Recovery Lumber Recovery Factor (LRF) ƒ LRF is the nominal board foot lumber tally recovered per actual solid cubic foot of log ƒ LRF = nominal board foot lumber tally cubic foot of log scale ƒ Good measure of sawmill efficiency – Reflects the quality of sawmill equipment, design, operation, & maintenance – Influenced by log diameter to a lesser degree than overrun

Typical Softwood Lumber Recovery 60% Lumber

LRF = 8.2 Diameter = 11 in.

8% Sawdust

32% Chips USDA Forest Service

Relative Effect of Log Diameter on Softwood Lumber Recovery % Lumber Recovery

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 4

6 8 10 12 14 Log Diameter Class (in.)

16

To Improve Your Lumber Recovery ƒ

Log characteristics – – – – –

Properly log length plus sawmill trim Minimize sweep and crook Reduce severely tapered logs to shorter lengths Eliminate severely defective logs Control log mix—sort out and seek other markets for sub-marginal logs

To Improve Your Lumber Recovery ƒ

Log characteristics

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Mill type and condition – Use thinner kerf saws – Reduce sawing variation by “Tightening Up!”

To Improve Your Lumber Recovery ƒ

Log characteristics

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Mill type and condition

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Processing decisions—avoid – Heavy slabbing – Over edging & excessive trimming – Excessive fiber removal by during debarking

To Improve Your Lumber Recovery ƒ

Log characteristics

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Mill type and condition

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Processing decisions

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Product sizing – Eliminate dimensional oversizing – Salvage smaller lumber—recover shorts – Reduce excessive planning allowance

Why is improving recovery so critical? (So what—big deal!) ƒ Oversizing—15% loss in recovery ƒ Excessive sawing variation—12% loss in recovery ƒ Heavy slabbing or over-edging—20% loss…each! ƒ Poorly manufactured logs—2 to 8% loss in log volume ƒ Excessive saw kerf—6% lost recovery ƒ Debarker losses—10 to 15% in log volume ƒ Log overlength—2½ to 5 days of production per year

Why is improving recovery so critical? (in terms that everyone understand) ƒ Annual log use—5 MMBF logs annually ƒ Average log cost delivered to your mill—$500/MBF ƒ Suppose you have 0.084 in. oversizing—7½% loss ƒ How many more logs do you need to procure?

375,000 bd. ft. additional logs per year ƒ How much does this cost you per year?

$187,500 in additional log cost alone