COTTONTON, Ala.

Acommitment to team-based improvement pro-jects has produced im-pressive results at Mead-Westvaco’s Southern

Wood Products sawmill here in far eastcentral Alabama, almost on the banks ofthe Chattahoochee River. Combining theteam approach with several smaller butimportant capital improvements the pastfive years, mill personnel have been ableto increase production 16% to153MMBF while reducing cost per MBFa significant 12%.

“We’ve basically tried to figure outhow to get better with what we’ve got,”

says Plant Manager Jerone Nails. “Pro-ductivity initiatives have been a key as-pect to what we’ve done in-house.”

The 8-16 ft. mill produces seven prima-ry products through the planer, split aboutevenly between timbers and dimensionlumber, plus a small amount of roughgreen 5/4 to a local finishing operation.

Nails notes the mill’s team-based ap-proach, started several years beforetoday’s sagging lumber markets, hasproven even more valuable as operatingmargins have tightened. “It’s not thebest time to be in the sawmill business,but the ones who are going to survivewill be those that figure out how to con-trol costs. You can call it cost reduction,

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LOWCOSTHIGH VOLUME

By Dan Shell

MeadWestvacosawmill gains significant benefitsthrough in-houseprojects that haveboosted productionand operation efficiency.

MoCo Engineering Stacker System

productivity initiatives or better salestechniques, but (improvement) can’tcome from just one part of the opera-tion. It has to be some from all, butmostly in manufacturing.”

The two-line sawmill’s last major ren-ovation was in 2002, when a new USNRdouble-length infeed and Vertical ShapeSawing (VSS) system was installed asLine 2, replacing an old chip-n-saw line.Line 1 is a USNR sharp chain systemwith USNR arc-sawing gang.

Key equipment improvements sincethe DLI went in include a new MoCoEngineering & Fabrication green endstacker and stick placement system, anAutolog automatic grading system andaccompanying Huot grading line withcontrol console and four grading sta-tions, new vortex kiln burners from EdBahr Services, additional bays added toboth green-end and planer mill sorters, anew planer mill tilt hoist from BaxleyEquipment and restructuring and flatten-ing of the planer mill infeed, plus all-new USNR scanning and optimizationpackage and controls for the mill’sUSNR edger.

The MoCo equipment replaced an all-manual stacking system that was a majorlabor burden, with 1 in. and 5/4 materialdropping to a pull chain including atleast two stick placers, plus six manualpull chain stacking positions.

“Sticks were a big costs for us, pluseverything was done manually,” Nailssays, adding that the new MoCo systemeliminated 10 jobs over two shifts, main-ly through attrition and job changes.

The Autolog system came from thecompany’s Greenville, Ga. sawmill, whichclosed in 2004. The automatic grader wasinstalled at Cottonton and combined witha new Huot grading line that features Huotcontrols and board turners, four gradingstations and consoles.

Operating both the Autolog wane(size) and knot (aesthetic) scanning andgrading modules, the mill has improvedits No. 2 and better lumber grade-outfrom 70% to almost 76%, while boosting

full-length retention from 55% to 74%.Meanwhile, trim-loss downfall at theplaner mill trimmer has been halved,from 9% to 4.5%. Also aiding the im-provement is an infinite fence at the dryend trimmer, installed by Huot.

Though the grading system hasworked well, Nails says the mill andAutolog personnel are looking to fine-tune it even more, especially onmarginal boards where initial parame-ters may have pointed toward a lowergrade to “play it safe” and avoid off-grade worries. The mill is looking at ad-ditional software upgrades to make an

even finer distinction that allows thegrader to capture even more value fromthose pieces.

PRODUCTIVITYA major part of the sawmill’s produc-

tion and cost-cutting improvements is theSix Sigma process improvement pro-gram—a data-driven system for elimi-nating defects in any process. Six Sigmaidentifies a process and measures inputsand outputs at each step to determine theareas that most need improvement. Then,as changes are made at each step, the re-

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Two-line mill features USNR sharp chain system and DLI canter with VSS system.

A close-up look at Autolog grade scanning

sults are measured, and process controlsare established to maintain the improve-ments long-term.

At MeadWestvaco’s Cottonton sawmill,productivity teams have been establishedin a number of areas, coordinated byJames Castleberry, productivity team man-ager. “Basically, you look at your process,figure out what impacts it, make changes,then measure to see if you’ve improvedit,” Castleberry says. “Then, you have acontrol plan to follow up long-term andmake sure the changes stay in place.”

A good example is a log yard piececount and productivity team, which hasreduced cumulative wait time for logs atthe two production line infeeds from al-most an hour a day to less than 18 min-utes. Working with an outside consul-tant, the cutup line was better synchro-nized, with some chains and debarkerssped up.

“We went from being able to supplyabout 90% of the logs needed at the millto more than 100%, so that really helpedour productivity,” Nails says.

Dovetailing with the log yard effortwas the wood cost reduction team, whichhas taken advantage of the higher piececounts available to bring in more 6 in.wood, a higher grade of larger pulpwoodthat yields mostly timbers material. Thislower-cost timber is sorted out in thewoods and processed through a wet stor-age area cutup line that takes 16 ft. buttcuts. The logs are then moved to the logyard cutup line and fed from the side,kicked onto the infeed conveyor anytime a photocell senses a log gap.

The move has not only boosted piececount, but also lowered overall woodcosts, making it a significant win-winstrategy for the mill.

Currently, “Uptime is our primary ini-tiative,” Nails says. “We have to be ableto run more minutes per hour.” He citesother teams covering areas such as theplaner mill, green trimmer, kilns and auto-grading line, and praises the involvementof the mill’s rank-and-file workers.

“Most team members are hourly work-ers,” Nails emphasizes, adding that thosewho participate are going above and be-yond their job description since teamwork is in addition to regular duties.“We’re asking people to participate insomething after they’ve worked a ninehour day and stay over for a meeting.But people don’t mind if they feel likeit’s important and making a difference.”

Another big positive developmentstemming from the team approach hasbeen the creation of teams that involveall segments of MeadWestvaco opera-tions, including woodlands, safety, engi-

neering, paper mill personnel and otherswho’ve come together to better see howeach segment impacts others and how allcan work together better to become moreprofitable. These groups meet quarterlyto report results.

In essence, these higher-level teamsseek to identify opportunities and chal-lenges for further improvements whileevaluating improvements and proceduresalready in place. Nails cites the vision ofMeadWestvaco Vice President ofSawmill Sales & Procurement ErmVenuto, who works out of the region’sPhenix City, Ala. headquarters, as criti-cal for bringing various business seg-ments together to boost efficiency andproductivity.

At the sawmill, meanwhile, a monthlymeeting encompasses all aspects of theoperation—woodlands and procurement,

manufacturing and sales—looking at themill’s strategies and plans for the upcom-ing 30 days, and how each segment canhelp others in productivity and efficiency.

The sawmill’s success with the team-based groups and Six Sigma program hasmade an impression on the rest of thecompany: The mill’s productivity and ef-ficiency-enhancing approach has beenincorporated at several other companyfacilities as well.

MILL FLOWMead/Westvaco’s extensive 500,000

acres of timberlands in the region sup-ply 35% of the mill’s logs, with the restprocured through stumpage and openmarket log purchases. Incoming logsare 25 ft. minimum, with 22 in. maxi-mum butt. The break diameter between

Key personnel include, from left, James Castleberry, productivity team manager and newdry kiln superintendent, Willie Thomas, dry end superintendent, Mike Williams, retiring drykiln superintendent with 25+ years on the job, Jerone Nails, plant manager, and DennisBiddy, green end superintendent.

Autolog system allows mill to capture more value out of the planer.

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large and small log cutup lines andtheir two respective production lines is12-14 in.

A Kockums 150 ft. radial crane un-loads trucks, decks logs and feeds themill, placing logs on one of two debark-ing/cutup lines, which feature 24 and 30in. Cambio debarkers, respectively,along with Rens metal detectors. Logsare bucked manually, using log stops.Maximum length is 16 ft.

Line 1 feeds straight to the mill to ashort landing table, where logs are posi-tioned onto a USNR sharp chain, opti-mized via USNR scanning and optimiza-tion software, then flow through a set oftwin bands that produces up to 10 in.cants. Sideboards fall and flow to aUSNR edger that was recently upgradedwith new-generation USNR optimizationsoftware. Cants are re-scanned, opti-mized (USNR) and then processedthrough a USNR canter and arc-sawinggang. The gang is equipped with a 10 in.saw bank and a 6 in. saw bank with tim-ber pockets.

Logs traveling on Line 2 flow to twoUSNR step feeders, which present logsto the USNR DLI system with log turnerand USNR scanning and optimization.

Logs flow through a set of chippingheads and twin bandmill that producecants up to 6 in. Sideboards are routedto the Line 2 USNR edger (USNR opti-mization), or can be transferred back tothe Line 1 edger if needed (mainly as adowntime procedure).

Cants are re-scanned (USNR opti-mization) before flowing to the VSSsystem, which produces the bulk of themill’s timbers output. Lumber leavingthe VSS flows to a collection chainand transfers to the trim line down-stream of the Line 1 transfer. The VSS

is equipped with profile chippingheads, eliminating the need for anyboard edging.

On the trim line, lumber flows througha Hi-Tech scanning and optimizationsystem and on to a Hi-Tech trimmer (Hi-Tech controls). Trimmed lumber goes toa 54 bay USNR sorter, primarily a slingunit, but which recently received 14 newmechanical bays.

Lumber leaving on the sorter haul-outchains flows to the new MoCo Engi-neering stacker and stick placer system.followed by a new Signode strappingstation.

Stacked lumber is moved via Taylorforklift to either the green storage area orto one of four USNR/Irvington-Moorekilns (three 84 ft. units, one 66 ft. unit),recently upgraded with Control Dynam-ics kiln controls from Ed Bahr Services.Total kiln capacity is 580MBF. Dryingtimes range from 17 hours to almost 40hours on larger timber products. Lumberleaving the kilns is taken to rough drylumber storage, and moved from there tothe planer mill.

Packs are loaded onto the new BaxleyEquipment tilt hoist at the planer mill,and lumber pieces flow across sevenvariable speed drive-equipped landingtables, which create a 150 ft. infeed line

that maintains a fast and consistent flowof lumber to the planer, a Newman 99016-knife unit.

Lumber exiting the planer hits a beltand flows 25 feet to the new Autologauto-grading system, where it’s gradedfor size and knot recognition, and theAutolog system marks each board witha grade code. Pieces hit a slowdownbelt, flow to a landing table and pass infront of the four Huot grading consolesand stations, crossing Huot board turn-ers that give graders a view of all fourboard faces.

The planer mill trimmer is a 2-16 ft.unit from USNR. Lumber lengths of 4and 6 ft. drop to a pull chain, and 2 ft.pieces fall to a roundtable where they’recollected.

Good lumber flows to a USNR 34 baysorter, followed by a USNR stacker andpackage maker. At the end of the sorterline, lumber packs can be diverted to oneof two Signode plastic strapping ma-chines.

The shipping area can store about10MMBF, almost half of it indoors, andthe rest in large T-sheds. An on-site railspur allows loading of two rail cars si-multaneously. Rail shipping accountsfor less than 15% of finished lumbertransport.

FILINGThe sawmill operates with three filers

per shift. Saws are supplied from South-ern Accusaw, with Simonds bands theonly saws used with regularity. Bandsaws run with swage tips; circle saws arecarbide-tipped, except for one edger,which runs with Stellite saw tips.

Newest piece of filing equipment is aWright round saw face/top grinder. Addi-tional circle saw machines are a Vollmerside grinder and Simonds round saw lev-eler. Band saw equipment includes threeArmstrong grinders with Digicam conver-sion kits, plus a Simonds Auto-Leveler.All tipping is done manually.

The mill has operated with variablepitch band saws the past five years, see-ing noted saw performance improve-ments immediately after it began run-ning them.

Twin band saws are run up to ninehours, depending on performance, whilequad bands are run nine hours regularly.Round saws are changed every half-shift,or 4.5 hours. The mill’s quality controlpersonnel make lumber size checks twicea shift using the L-size system. TP

Look for Bonus Photo Coverage ofMeadWestvaco’s Cottonton, Ala. Sawmillat www.timberprocessing.com!

Four-station Huot grading line follows Autolog system, smoothing the process.

Log cost reduction effort has paid off.

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T he number one goal at MoCo Engi-neering & Fabrication is to makeour customers more profitable. We

accomplish this by increasing mill effi-ciency and recovery and concentrating on“up time” or “run time.”

It’s no secret that stacking lumber by it-self is a fairly simple task. However, in-troducing the automatic placement of kilnsticks to the process makes it much morecomplex. Furthermore, this complexity issignificantly multiplied by the use of poorquality stickers to the process. With theever rising cost of kiln sticks, mills are fo-cusing more and more attention on stickeruse and consumption.

This is where MoCo Engineering &Fabrication is truly becoming the indus-try leader in manufacturing automatedstickering stackers. Here at MoCo, wehave not only designed our stackers toincrease productivity and product recov-ery, we also concentrate and pride our-selves on being able to handle a poorerquality stick than anyone else in the in-dustry. Many of our new customers havejustified their new MoCo stacker basedon stick savings alone.

Not only do we handle the poorestquality stick on the market, we also re-duce the risk of stick-related issues caus-

ing “downtime.” The stick entry on thenew MoCo stackers electronically moni-tors the stick position as it’s fed throughthe system and detects for missing ormisplaced sticks prior to a system jam-up. This allows the stacker operator tofocus on other issues.

If a stick were to be misfed from thestick feeder mechanism, the stackerwould come to a controlled stop, and thepanel view would direct the operator tothe problem and allow him to correct itwithout the fear of a costly equipmentjam. The stick entry system can be re-versed if needed, and sticks can bequickly returned to the operator and au-tomatically re-fed without ever needingto lock out the stacker to clear a problem.

Top TechnologyMoCo Engineering and Fabrication is

very proactive about utilizing the latesttechnology to optimize the stacking pro-cess. MoCo’s stacking equipment electri-cal control systems have progressedtremendously the last few years, and thenew stackers are designed to cater to eachmill’s specific needs and requirements.

MoCo has standardized the controlsystems on Allen-Bradley’s Logics plat-form and utilizes multiple VFDs withEtherNet, DeviceNet or ControlNet com-munication. This allows for speed adjust-ments to easily be done from the touchscreen at the operators’ console. Using

devices such as encoders, VFDs, linearpositioning cylinders, remote I/O and ahigh resolution touch screen HMI, MoCostacking systems allow for an almost un-limited amount of customization. We areable to set up the stacker to perform dif-ferently for each product and/or operator.

MoCo also offers a wide variety of op-tions for its stacking systems, including:precision course gapping, custom stickplacement, multiple package sizes, skew-ing systems, box piling and more.

Contact us for more information aboutthis or any other questions concerningthe MoCo product line. Videos and refer-ence lists are available upon request. Ad-ditional information about MoCo Engi-neering & Fabrication can be found inthe November 2006 Timber Processingarticle “High Quality Stackup.” Call509-226-0199; visit mocoeng.com. TP

LUMBERSTACKERS (Material supplied by MoCo Engineering & Fabrication)

MoCo Focuses On What’s Important

MoCo utilizes a high resolution touch screen HMI to allow for an almost unlimited customiza-tion, and the system can be set to perform differently for each product and/or operator.

Mills running new MoCo stackers are able toreuse discarded stickers that their olderstackers were unable to use.

Recent Installations

MeadWestvaco, Cottonton, ALColumbus Lumber, Brookhaven, MSTemple Inland, Pineland, TXCurt Bean Lumber Co., Glenwood, ARInternational Paper, Augusta, GAJP Price Lumber Co., Monticello, ARHartzell Hardwoods, Piqua, OHMiles Lumber, Bogalusa, LA Coastal Treated Products, Oxford, PAElliot Sawmilling, Estill, SCMcShan Lumber, McShan, ALEdwards Lumber, Liberty, NC Deltic Timber, Ola, ARBearden Lumber, Bearden, AR

24 � MARCH 2007 � WWW.TIMBERPROCESSING.COM

MoCo STICKERING STACKER SYSTEMS…MoCo

ENGINEERING & FABRICATION INC.3212 N. Eden Road ✦ Spokane Valley, WA 99216Ph: (509) 226-0199 ✦ Fax: (509) 226-0299Toll Free: (877) 533-9181e-mail: mail@mocoeng.com

www.mocoeng.com

MoCoMoCo

✦ New patented sticker shuttle system design has greater ability to handle bent or bowed sticks – and unloads sticks back out of the fork pans if needed.

✦ Stickering Stacker has a heavier design than other stackers – has fewer wear parts for increased repeatability and unmatched stacking efficiency.

✦ Optional course gapping feature allows controlled gaps between each board in each course of lumber, a major aid to drying lumber 4” thick or more.

✦ Ideal for hardwood as well as softwood applications.

✦ Sticker lengths from 48” to 120”.

“THE STACKER PEOPLE”“THE STACKER PEOPLE”

WHERE CUSTOMER SERVICE IS PRIORITY #1WHERE CUSTOMER SERVICE IS PRIORITY #1“… the best lumber stacker on the market…”Randell L. Robinson, General Manager – Rocky Creek Lumber

“It has been almost two years now that we’ve been running your stackerand I am happy to say that it is, and can do everything that you promisedand more. Many days we have stacked 55,000 ft/hr for 11 continuous hours with no problems…”Micky Scott, President – Collum’s Sawmill, LLC

“Your company has met and exceeded all our expectations. We will be happy to show anyone interested in buying your equipment what you have done here…”Bill C. Howard, CEO – Claude Howard Lumber Company

“Both machines were installed in the summer of 2003, and after eightmonths of operation, we are absolutely convinced we made the right decision. The stacker is extremely rugged,easy to operate, and the packages it creates look perfect…”Tom Plaugher, Operations Manager – Allegheny Wood Products

“Thanks for a successful on time/budget project that will pay back very quickly. We set an all time production record for the week – the first week it ran after the conversion…”David L. Richbourg, Plant Manager – H.W. Culp Lumber Company

FEATURING:

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