Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

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November 2016

NEW SCANNER EYES MILL IMPROVEMENTS at Teal-Jones mill SPECIAL INSERT: 2017 DK-Spec wall calendar

WITH THIS ISSUE… The Edge!

B.C.’S JEMI FIBRE takes on logging, manufacturing … and more SUTCO CONTRACTING’S PETERSON 5000H: A workhorse chipper SHOW REVIEWS: Timber Processing & Energy Expo/InterSaw

November 2016 Volume 47 • No. 7 Editor Paul MacDonald Contributing Editors Jim Stirling Tony Kryzanowski George Fullerton Tech Update Editor Tony Kryzanowski

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FEATURES On the Cover:

Jemi Fibre Corporation does just about a bit of everything in the forest industry, with its operations including stump-todump contract logging operations in Mackenzie and Cranbrook, B.C. and Saskatchewan, post and peeling facilities and two pressure treating plants, and, most recently a chipping operation. Read all about Jemi Fibre beginning on page 10 of this issue (Cover photo by Paul MacDonald).

4 Spotlight – First Nations forestry in Ontario

A local forest management corporation has been launched in northwestern Ontario to help provide economic development opportunities to First Nations and it’s now been followed by a new First Nations-owned logging enterprise, Mkwa Timber, that is supplying timber to local mills.

10 Logging, manufacturing …and more

B.C.’s Jemi Fibre Corporation does just about a bit of everything in the forest industry, from logging through to added value manufacturing—and it’s looking to do more, says company president, Mike Jenks.

18 Workhorse wood

chipper

Sutco Contracting is one of the leading trucking companies in B.C. , but it also has a chipping division—BC EcoChips— that does contract chipping with what the company describes as a “workhorse”: a Peterson 5000H chipper.

26 New scanner eyes mill

improvements

The Teal-Jones sawmill in Surrey, B.C. has seen a number of equipment additions over the years—the most recent one came earlier this year with a new Springer Microtec Goldeneye 900 MultiSensor Scanner that is reducing the mill’s trim loss and improving its on-grade accuracy.

DEPARTMENTS

Calendar.............................................. 8 Ad Index / Subscriptions.................... 61 Classifieds......................................... 61 Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

36 Field testing Cat’s new

538 forest machine

Veteran B.C. logger Alfred Poole was a clear choice for field testing a new piece of Cat equipment—the new Cat 538 forest machine, which came equipped with a SATCO 323T processing head—and he reports it offers good power, and is stingy when it comes to fuel consumption.

40

From carpenter... to logger

Nova Scotia’s Justin Thibault tried his hand as a carpenter and crewing on fish boats, but he found that logging suited him better—and has recently expanded his iron line-up with a new Tigercat/ LogMax harvester to work alongside another Tigercat/LogMax harvester, and his Ecolog and John Deere forwarders

50 Show Reviews

Logging and Sawmilling Journal takes a look at what was new at Portland’s Timber Processing & Energy Expo and the InterSaw show in Montreal.

58 The Edge

Included in this edition of The Edge, Canada’s leading publication on research in the forest industry, are stories from the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre and Alberta Innovates.

62 The Last Word

It’s time to clamp down on unrestricted ATV access to unprotected public lands, says Tony Kryzanowski.

3

spotlight

Mkwa Timber turned to Ponsse for their equipment needs, including Ergo and Scorpion King harvesters, which have been adapted to work in the harsh environments of the Canadian Shield.

First Nations forestry in Ontario

A local forest management corporation has been launched in northwestern Ontario to help provide economic development opportunities to First Nations and it’s now been followed by a new First Nations-owned logging enterprise, Mkwa Timber, that is supplying timber to local mills.

By Heather Hudson

T

Members of the community are excited about the establishment of Mkwa Timber, the new forest enterprise created to supply timber to local mills in Terrace Bay and White River, Ontario.

he Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation in Ontario are a hardy bunch. Like many First Nations communities, they have to be. Their remote location more than 350 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, means economic opportunities are few and far between. With a growing population of 500 on the 822-acre reserve, jobs are scarce.

More than anything, Pic River First Nation Chief Duncan Michano wants to see economic self-sufficiency for his people.

“We face the same types of issues that all other First Nations face with regard to underfunding,” Michano explains. “About 30 years ago when I started on council, we decided not to sit around and wait for the federal government to help us out. It’s been a long, long journey to economic development with a lot of obstacles—but mostly because of land tenure.”

Pic River’s traditional territory encompasses more than two million hectares when you factor in the exclusive and shared territory on the north shore of Lake Superior, but its isolation from markets of any kind makes it especially challenging to engage in economic development. The

4

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

one thing visible as far as the eye can see is a bounty of wood. But access hasn’t always been easy.

“Years ago, the forest companies owned all the wood through their directives through the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Nobody could access that wood unless they were cutting it for those companies,” said Michano.

Wanting to capitalize on an economic opportunity, the band bought a few skidders and employed members of the community to cut wood for the forest companies that owned the rights to the surrounding forest. “The profit margin in cutting wood was pretty narrow but at least it created jobs, plus a little bit of profit,” he says.

The positive upturn was not to last.

Michano says that when the Marathon Pulp Mill declared bankruptcy in 2009, it created a dismal dip in Pic River’s forestry efforts. “We went down with the ship.”

When many of the sawmills surrounding northern Ontario forests closed their doors in the late 2000s, local mayors and First Nations councils got together to

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spotlight from page 4 discuss the increasing downturn in the economy. One of their concerns was the existing tenure model, which they believed was strangling the forestry industry.

Because many of the mills closed in bankruptcy, rights to the timber were tied up in that process, which meant that no other companies could come in and set up a new forestry business in the communities.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) took notice of the urgent problem and formed a steering committee made up of representatives from each of the local and First Nations communities in the proposed management area, the existing SFL holders and the MNRF. The group made recommendations to the Ontario government to develop a new local forest management corporation that would re-establish governance and accountability rules and requirements.

As a result, in 2011, the Forest Tenure Modernization Act was passed. By May 2012, the Ontario government launched the Nawiinginokiima Forest Management Corporation (NFMC).

The local working group suggested

Nawiinginokiima, an Ojibway word meaning “working together.” It continued to provide support, working closely with an interim Board of Directors to establish financial and business arrangements. In October 2013, the Big Pic and Pic River Forests were handed over to NFMC to be managed.

“What makes NFMC unique is that the stumpage revenues that would normally go to southern Ontario to the general revenue fund, are retained by NFMC and are used to meet the objectives of the corporation,” said NFMC General Manager Carmelo Notarbartolo.

“We are taking those revenues and

investing that to provide economic development opportunities to aboriginal communities in the surrounding area.”

A Crown agency under the supervision of the MNRF, NFMC is governed by regulations a private corporation wouldn’t have to follow. A 12-person board of directors—which includes First Nations representatives—sets the direction and vision for the corporation. Procurement processes are similar to a government’s: transparent.

“We advertise all of our tenders and procurement practices. NFMC has to be an open and transparent corporation while balancing the sensitivities associated with a business,” said Notarbartolo.

As the first and only local forest management corporation, the NFMC is still regarded as a pilot project. Notarbartolo says its main objective is to provide economic development opportunities to aboriginals in the management and surrounding management area—while still being fiscally responsible.

As such, when they tender contracts, their scoring system allows extra points to companies located within the management area. Ultimately, the province would like this business model to get to the point where its wood is sold on an open market. Today, customers are companies like AV Terrace Bay, Lecours Lumber Ltd. and White River Forest Products.

“Most of the stakeholders have Crown commitments off our forest. We either give them access to the management area directly and they bring in their own loggers or we have loggers that work directly for NFMC and deliver it to the mill,” said Notarbartolo.

Which brings us back to Chief Michano and the Pic River First Nation.

In February 2016, a new forest enterprise created to supply timber to local mills in Terrace Bay and White River, officially went into business. Mkwa Timber to page 8

6

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

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spotlight

As the first and only local forest management corporation in Ontario, the Nawiinginokiima Forest Management Corporation is still regarded as a pilot project. Its main objective is to provide economic development opportunities to aboriginals in the management and surrounding management area—while still being fiscally responsible. from page 6 is wholly owned by the Pic River First Nation.

In the short time they’ve been in business, Joe Moses, the CEO of Pic River Energy and Forestry, says the small company is more than just a livelihood.

“It’s an extension of our community.

Our employees are also our owners as First Nation community members. There’s a sense of pride and collective ownership to our approach to going to work every day. Our workers know that a little part of this is theirs and their family’s. It’s a livelihood as well as a good step forward for our growing community.”

The business employs two crews of

CALENDAR January 10-13

Association of Equipment Distributors (AED) Summit, Chicago, IL 800-388-0650, www.aednet.org January 18-20

74th Annual Truck Loggers Association Convention, Vancouver, BC 604-684-4291, www.tla.ca January 26-27

Forest Products Assoc. of Nova Scotia 83rd AGM, Halifax, NS 902-895-1179, www.fpans.ca January 30-February 3

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8

four operators, two road builders, two mechanics and an office staff of three.

The company is expected to supply 100,000 cubic metres of fibre annually to the Terrace Bay mill.

While the PicRiver community isn’t a stranger to forestry operations, in many ways, running Mkwa Timber is like starting over. “We’ve had to ask ourselves, do we have the right tools and resources to run a company that’s profitable, efficient and meets the supply and demand the industry and our customers require?” said Moses.

The answer has been uncertain at times, but with the support of the community, partnerships with stakeholders like NFMC and even their competitors in northern Ontario, Moses says they’re working together to “reinvent forestry in Ontario.”

The land itself appears to be pushing back, at points. At the outset, Mkwa Timber invested in Finnish-based manufacturer Ponsse for their equipment needs, including Ergo and Scorpion King harvesters, which have been adapted to work in the harsh environments on the Canadian Shield.

“The environment is so diverse and harsh in Northern Ontario,” says Moses.

“We’ve got marshy wetlands and rocky, scaly hillsides mixed in with a bit of flat terrain. Throw in unpredictable weather patterns and you’ve got a real challenge.”

Moses says Mkwa Timber’s mechanics have made modifications to the equipment to improve performance in the rugged conditions of Northern Ontario. The latest technology has proven to be both an advantage and a challenge. “Everything is a learning curve. Our machinery is state-of-the-art, which contributes to our ability to plan.” But the advanced technology means there can be more to tackle, equipment-wise. “But everybody Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

is curious and interested and wants to troubleshoot,” says Moses.

The camaraderie in the bush and at boardroom tables is critical to help Mkwa Timber evolve. Moses credits the goodwill that Pic River First Nations has fostered with more than 40 companies in the area, along with positive working relationships with neighbouring municipalities, to ensure their social enterprise succeeds.

“We’re proud to say we’re at the table in a meaningful way,” says Moses. “We’re engaged with our partners, competitors, customers and community partners, exploring opportunities and planning the future together.”

The initial success of the Mkwa Timber agreement has led to the potential for a similar partnership between NFMC and Pic Mobert First Nation in the White River Forest. The NFMC has been negotiating with White River Forest Products for the transfer of the White River Forest licence and its responsibilities to the NFMC. They hope to take over the responsibilities in early 2017 and help Pic Mobert in a harvesting operation soon after.

“It’s so important that our First Nation communities are at the table as stewards of the land. For too long we’ve sat on sidelines and other stakeholders have reaped the benefits of natural resources in our land,” said Moses.

“Being actively engaged as an operator in the industry we care about means we now have a deeper level of understanding at all levels and can make more informed, balanced decisions to collectively look toward a sustainable future and not go back to issues that led to the demise of this industry in the first place.”

†

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industryprofile In addition to its stump-to-dump contract logging operations, Jemi Fibre Corporation also has post manufacturing and peeling facilities.

Logging, manufacturing… and more B.C.’s Jemi Fibre Corporation does just about a bit of everything in the forest industry, from logging through to added value manufacturing— and it’s looking to do more, says company president, Mike Jenks.

By Paul MacDonald

J

emi Fibre Corporation does just about a bit of everything in the forest industry, says company president Mike Jenks—and it’s looking to do more.

The company, based in Cranbrook, in B.C.’s East Kootenays region, does logging and added value wood products manufacturing in B.C. and Saskatchewan, and, most recently, has set up its own chipping operation.

“We started in harvesting, trucking and road construction, got involved in manufacturing, and then took the company public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2013,” says Jenks, a veteran of the B.C. logging industry, both in the B.C. Interior and the Coast.

In 2015, Jemi Fibre was highlighted as a top company on the TSX Venture 50 List.

The company’s operations consist of stump-to-dump contract logging operations 10

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

industryprofile in Mackenzie and Cranbrook, B.C. and Saskatchewan, post and peeling facilities and two pressure treating plants, and, most recently a chipping operation in Cranbrook. The company also logs on its own private timberlands. In 2014, it purchased 49,500 hectares of land and timber rights in the East Kootenays, from Tembec, which used to have extensive mill and logging operations in the region.

Earlier this year, Jemi Fibre was acquired by CanWel Building Materials Group Ltd., and Jemi is now a division of the company. CanWel owns and operates 17 building material distribution treating centres and 10 treated wood plants in Canada and the U.S. and is one of the country’s premier vertically integrated building materials company.

It’s a good fit, says Jenks.

“Joining CanWel allows us to be part of a larger entity with deep and effective sales and distribution channels, operating expertise and a strong balance sheet,” he says.

“Amar Doman, the Chairman and CEO of CanWel, and I had an instant rapport and a shared vision of what the combined companies could do together. Amar’s background and family history in the forestry business is of tremendous value to me as well as his proven track record of acquiring companies through CanWel. “We’ve worked hard building a highly strategic, valuable and integrated collection of assets, and look forward to continuing our company’s vision as part of CanWel.”

Back in 2013, that vision included taking Jemi Fibre public on the TSX, so that it could seize opportunities in the forest industry, says Jenks.

“After the downturn, I saw some real opportunities in the industry—but we needed to go into the public marketplace on the stock exchange to get the capital,” he says.

“There were a lot of opportunities there, if I could figure out a way to access capital.”

Today, Jemi Fibre has major harvesting operations. In B.C., it does about 300,000 cubic metres a year, stump-to-dump, for one of the major forest companies operating in Mackenzie, and they do an additional 200,000 cubic metres for that company in the Kootenays. Jemi Fibre has a joint venture in Hazelton where they are doing 110,000 cubic metres a year, they do about another 200,000 cubic metres in BC Timber sales and about 400,000 cubic metres on their own private land.

In Saskatchewan, they harvest about 142,000 cubic metres, much of which is used for their wood treating plant there.

They also have a wood treating plant in Cranbrook.

This is a lot to cover off from their modest office in Cranbrook, but Jenks says it works well because the company is organized along divisional lines.

“Each division is treated at arm’s length, and is responsible for its own operations, and any profits or losses,” he says.

“We gather the information and ensure

we are documenting everything, from fuel costs to labor costs, for the divisions. That way, we can easily separate the different pieces of the company, and see how they are performing.”

They are continually doing comparables from division to division at Jemi Fibre, benchmarking the high performers, to see what they are doing right that might be transferred to another division.

“We look at why they are doing well— is it the terrain? Is it the timber they are working with? What are the reasons for the difference? This is a big focus for us, so we can make the right decisions for the individual pieces of the operation.”

Jemi Fibre has a different business model vs. a traditional logging operation or mill, in that it has both logging and sawmilling, and added value, under one company.

That diversity is intentional, and can be of benefit, says Jenks.

“With dimensional lumber, we don’t see the affect of the ups and downs in the lumber price as much, because we have the treated wood side of the business,” he explains.

“And we have our logging operations in different geographical areas, and markets, and species. If you are in one specific area for logging, you can have a weather or other risk. But if you are spread out, the chance of you getting that same weather risk in a number of areas is much less. to page 12

Company president Mike Jenks (left) and Jake Blackmore, Jemi Fibre’s vicepresident of Kootenay operations, at the company’s treating operation in Cranbrook, B.C.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

11

industryprofile from page 11 “For example, we may get a later spring break-up here in the Kootenays, but we could get an earlier break-up in Mackenzie or Saskatchewan. Things like that can reduce your risk. And then we can also operate on our own private land, so we have the ability to market log, and take advantage of good markets.” That’s something a traditional logging contractor can’t do.

“We’re always looking to get more diverse, and utilize more of the fibre,” Jenks adds. Hence, the company’s name is Jemi Fibre—not Jemi Logging or Jemi Milling.

“Our goal is to achieve full wood utilization, especially off our own lands.”

Their most recent venture is building a chipping plant in Lumberton, just outside of Cranbrook, where they also have a post manufacturing facility. That full wood utilization is readily evident at the post plant, where they turn out posts from 28” to 35 feet in length.

On the logging side, Jemi Fibre’s work for a major forest company has grown significantly over the years.

In 2012, Tembec, which had been made a major forest industry player in the Kootenays, sold its B.C. Southern Interior wood products assets to one of the majors. Tembec’s Elko and Canal Flats sawmills and the associated Crown tenures, consisting of approximately 1.1 million cubic meters of combined Crown, private land and contract annual allowable cut, were also purchased.

The major forest company that acquired the assets switched from tree length to cut-to-length wood, and were looking for a logging partner to help with that transition, says Jenks. “We needed to upgrade all our equipment for the shift to CTL, and we needed to grow because they were looking for us to take on more wood.”

Jemi Fibre’s size gives them leverage on the equipment side to log that wood.

On the harvesting side, they are heavily focused on using Southstar heads, which Jenks praises for their emphasis on service.”Their whole focus is on customer satisfaction—and as a logging contractor, that’s important.”

And on the equipment side itself, while they have Hitachi, Tigercat and John Deere iron, they have a strong emphasis on Cat equipment, through Cat dealer Finning, in both B.C. and Saskatchewan.

“Finning is the same way with service as Southstar,” says Jenks. “Their focus is on keeping their customers happy, providing us with the parts and service each of

our operations needs. Their product support is pretty exceptional.” He’s wary of equipment dealers just interested in getting their equipment out in the bush, with little in the way of follow-up service.

While Finning has been long established in B.C., it acquired the Cat dealership in Saskatchewan, Kramer Tractor, in 2015, and has since re-branded it.

There are definite benefits from being a large operation, says Jenks. “The guy that owns a couple of trucks buys tires from the local tire shop—we buy them by the containerload because we need that many tires—and we get a better price.”

They have also put in their own fuel cardlock in Cranbrook. “Buying so much fuel gives us a bit of an advantage—it all adds up,” says Jenks.

The equipment line-up for Jemi Fibre is massive: combined, the operations in B.C. and Saskatchewan have more 300 pieces of logging equipment, from bunchers to processors to loaders to excavators to dozers, forwarders and low beds … and more.

Their latest equipment acquisition is a ROB (Remote Operated Bulldozer) steep slope harvesting system, purchased from Canadian dealer, Island Pacific Logging, in Chemainus, B.C. ROB is a steep slope logging system which uses a winch-assisted,

12

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

In addition to contract logging, Jemi Fibre also logs on its own private timberlands.

In 2014, it purchased 49,500 hectares of land and timber rights in the East Kootenays from Tembec, which used to have extensive mill and logging operations in the region. dynamic rope system based around a bulldozer. Both Jenks and Jake Blackmore, the company’s vice-president of Kootenay operations, saw the ROB system at work on Vancouver Island, and were very impressed with its capabilities—and are confident it will work well in the steep slopes they are working with in the Kootenays.

“The ROB system stood out as the most efficient and safest way to harvest on steep slopes. We’re just learning it, but we’re super excited,” says Blackmore.

There’s reassurance in that there is plenty of expertise available from the New Zealand-based developers of the ROB system, in addition to Island Pacific’s experience with the system.

The Kootenays region has plenty of steep ground for such equipment as it takes in four mountain ranges: the Selkirks, Purcells, Monashees, and the Rockies.

And there is going to be a fair bit of steep slope wood in Jemi Fibre’s future.

“There is a lot of steep ground out there that got passed over for harvesting during the downturn, as a cost savings measure,” says Jenks.

For work in steep slopes, Jemi Fibre also to page 14

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TRACTION AID WINCH can be mounted on PONSSE machines* harvesting on extreme steep slopes. The winch is synchronized with the machine’s driving speed, and does not require any special actions while operating. Tethered PONSSE harvesters and forwarders provide unbeatable productivity with minimal ground disturbance even in the most demanding conditions.

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industryprofile from page 12 has two Tigercat 830 bunchers. “One has a hitch on it for bunching, and we built what we call a Ninja grapple on the other 830, to tether it. Both the 830 machines are exceptional in the really steep ground.”

Every piece of equipment is allocated to a specific company division, Jenks explained. “When we move something from Saskatchewan to Cranbrook, it will get taken out of the Saskatchewan equipment inventory and go in the Kootenays inventory, and all the costs are now allocated to the new division.

“Everything has a unit number, and everything is tracked. When a piece of equipment gets a part or the mechanics work on it, it gets allocated to that machine.”

Jenks notes that the company overall, regardless of the division, has a strong focus on preventative maintenance. “It’s a huge focus for us,” he says. “We have a shop here in Cranbrook, with field mechanics, we have a big shop in Mackenzie, and we have two shops in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, one for trucks and one for the logging equipment.” They also have a rebuild shop on Vancouver Island, where three or four pieces of equipment go a year, for complete rebuilds, from the frame up.

“We do a lot of the work in-house— fabricating, undercarriage work, engines, transmissions, to help keep control of costs,” explains Jenks. “We use the dealers to do the warranty work—but other than that, we do everything else.”

Jake Blackmore, who heads up the post manufacturing side, notes they also do a lot of their own equipment manufacturing for that division.

“With the equipment we use for manufacturing, you just can’t go out and buy it—so we make the equipment or we take components and add our touch to it. Buying fence post manufacturing equipment is not like buying sawmill equipment. A lot of our equipment is home-built or purpose built,” says Blackmore.

Having access to timber through their private lands is very beneficial for their manufacturing arm, says Blackmore. “We have the flexibility to select the right trees for our operations vs. just taking what might be available,” he says. “It’s really helped with the quality of our wood—our wood is sought after because we can select the right wood out of that much volume.”

Blackmore has experience on both the manufacturing side, and in logging—he used to log for Tembec. He bought Kootenay Wood Preservers in 2010, a company that was later merged into Jemi Fibre.

The people who work for Jemi Fibre, Mike Jenks notes, are very resourceful.

“We’ve had good luck with producing our own equipment on the wood treatment side, but then we have really good people. I think the success of the company— whether it is the manufacturing side or the logging side—lies in the people we’ve been able to attract to work with us.”

All divisions combined, Jemi Fibre has 550 employees—and, says Jenks, lots of opportunity.

“I think we’re pretty unique,” he says.

“We have a forestry department that does the road and logging layouts, we build the roads, we harvest and haul the wood, and manufacture and treat the wood, and sometimes take it right to the orchard that buys the posts we manufacture. So, we take it from the mountain side right to the orchard or vineyard.”

And with the company’s acquisition by CanWel, they now have a strategic advantage of being able to grow sales through coast to coast and U.S. distribution. They can also piggyback off CanWel’s national presence in treating wood in such areas as

14

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

Jemi Fibre does a lot of their own equipment manufacturing for the pole division.

Often they will manufacture their own equipment or take components and add their touch to it, to customize it for their operations. volume purchasing, production, access to materials and expertise.

“We also plant our own trees—we planted 1.2 million seedlings this year, and next year, we’re on track to do two million.”

Jenks says that the downturn in the oil patch has made it easier for them to get skilled people.

“The only thing that concerns me is that when the oil patch takes off again, some of them are going to be gone, because they are motivated by the big money. We can’t compete with that, but we can offer people the opportunity to be home every night.” And it offers the lifestyle of living in one of the most beautiful areas of B.C., nestled between the Purcell and Rocky Mountains.

Between the contract logging they do, on their own land, and BC Timber sales, the company works hard to keep its people in the woods busy—which is key to hanging on to them, says Jenks. to page 16

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industryprofile from page 14 “We have some flexibility to work in different areas of our private land, managing our contract cutting, and timber sales—it helps keep our guys employed, so we don’t have long break-ups here.

We’re able to offer that continuity of work, and have our people work 12 months of the year.”

He added that the company also has a good training program, which gives summer students the opportunity to get into the forest industry.

“We invest a lot of money training people, but it has paid off.” As have their efforts at safety, he says.

“We want to make the best use of the resource, but we want to do that safely— we want everyone going home safe at the end of the work day.”

There are almost certainly further business initiatives ahead for Jemi Fibre. “The way we operate is we’re always looking for something that is broken, where we have the ability to fix it and turn it into something that is profitable,” says Jenks.

“That’s what I’ve always focused on— not so much on acquiring something that

16

Jemi Fibre’s goals include being diverse, and utilizing as much of the fibre as possible. Their most recent venture was building a chipping plant in Lumberton, just outside of Cranbrook, B.C., where they also have a post manufacturing facility. is working well. You can’t really upside something that is running well. We want to add value.”

After decades in the forest industry, some might be choosing to be looking to take a step back, perhaps even consider retirement. That does not seem to be remotely on Mike Jenks’ radar—he has more work to do.

“We’re not the kind of company that sits back and says, ‘well, we’re done’.

We’re looking for new goals.”

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

And the company seems to thrive on challenges. “What drives the company is a problem—when a problem comes up, how do we deal with it,” he says.

The new chip plant is a case in point.

When pulp wood deliveries were rescheduled until 2017, they found a market for their pulp wood—and built the chipping plant.

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woodchipping

Workhorse wood chipper

Sutco Contracting is one of the leading trucking companies in B.C., but it also has a chipping division—BC EcoChips—that does contract chipping with what the company describes as a “workhorse”: a Peterson 5000H chipper.

By Paul MacDonald

S

utco Contracting is one of the leading trucking companies in B.C., but had humble beginnings.

Chris Sutherland, along with his father, Robert Sutherland, founded Sutco Contracting in 1995 with one logging truck—and a vision of maintaining a family oriented

business while becoming the transportation specialists for their customers. From those beginnings, and armed with determination, a strong work ethic, and an ability to foresee the future demands of a growing customer base, Sutco quickly expanded.

Wood residual hauling, general freight, heavy haul, and freight brokering are now the mainstays of Sutco, which is based

in the small town of Salmo, surrounded by the Selkirk Mountains, in B.C.’s West Kootenays region.

As the transportation needs of Sutco’s customers evolved, the company has continued to seek new and better ways to maintain their commitment to being transportation specialists.

Along the way, they have also ramped

to page 18

From the start, the BC EcoChips chipping operation of Sutco Contracting has been operating with a Peterson 5000H chipper, from Peterson dealer, Woodland Equipment.

18

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

woodchipping up meeting the needs of their forest industry customers, setting up a chipping division, BC EcoChips, managed by longtime employee, Rick Beaulieu.

These days, the chipping operation principally meets the needs of one customer in particular, the Zellstoff Celgar pulp mill in Castlegar, B.C. Sutco has set up a chipping operation in the region to supply the pulp mill, and transport the chips using Sutco trucks.

Sam Beaulieu, Rick’s son, who manages the chipping operation on a day-to-day basis, explained that although it is located in Midway, B.C. now, it has moved a few times, following the supply of Zellstoff Celgar’s fibre in B.C.’s southern interior.

They started out in Malakwa, then moved to Lumby, Okanagan Falls, and have been in Midway for about three years now.

“We would go to a yard, and they might have 1,000 truckloads of pulp wood there for us to chip,” says Beaulieu.

They’ve since set up the operation on a site, just on the outskirts of the town of Midway, which is both central to the pulp wood supply and a decent hauling

distance to the pulp mill. Castlegar is about 150 kilometres away. The location is convenient for hauling wood chips and logs, being just off Highway 3, the Crowsnest Highway, that runs through the B.C. Interior.

The chipping operation, and the transportation of the chips, seems like an excellent fit for Sutco, with their strength on trucking, and, now, chipping.

“As a general rule, all of the trucking is done with Sutco trucks,” says Sam Beaulieu.

From the start, the BC EcoChips chipping operation has been operating with a Peterson 5000H chipper, from Peterson dealer, Woodland Equipment, and Beaulieu says it has been an “incredible workhorse for us—and fast”.

“Watching the chipper right now, the loader operator is taking the pulp wood

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

off the truck, and I can pretty much guarantee that by the time the driver has his trailer loaded and is scaled out, the wood that he brought in will have gone through the Peterson—and will be wood chips on the ground.”

Depending on the operator, a load of logs goes through the chipper every 20 to 25 minutes.

BC EcoChips has made some changes to the chipper, but Beaulieu says running the Peterson efficiently often has more to do with a feel of its operations.

“It’s knowing what the chipper likes,” he says. “A lot of times we will go from the really small stems to the larger stems, and you’ve got to feed the machine differently.

It has three flails, and with the bigger to page 20

19

woodchipping wood, you might turn off one flail and lift the wood because that way, the bigger wood will feed in better. And with smaller wood, you might have all the flails on, and turn them up really high.”

They have made some minor changes, though, notes Beaulieu.

“We’ve changed the end of the chip chute,” he explained. “Wood chippers generally work in the bush, on a landing, and the chip trucks drive right under the chute, and you hot-load them.

“But we have two chutes: we have one for hot loading, and we have another chute that we use to shoot the chips, to make piles.”

Beaulieu says they have put on some belt shrouds, and made some alterations to radiator mounts. “But for the most part, the Peterson is original—they are good machines.”

It’s the operators who gauge how to run the chipper. Beaulieu says they have been hiring some younger guys of late, as operators. “They might have a little less experience but we train them—show them how to run the chipper, and fix it.

“Once they get the hang of it, they just run with it. These young guys just need an opportunity, and if you give that to them, they want to do the work.” One of their newer operators has taken a heavy equipment operator’s course.

They now have four guys that can run the chipper—and their Hitachi 200 log loader, the Link-Belt 290 butt ‘n top and the two Volvo wheel loaders. The Volvo machines came from Great West Equipment, and the Link-Belt from The Inland Group (formerly Parker Pacific).

“So everyone knows how to run every piece of equipment we have here,” says Beaulieu. “That way, they can go from machine to machine all day.” This gives the operation great flexibility if someone needs to take a day off, he added.

The chipping operation uses the services of the dealers on the mobile equipment and the chipper if necessary, but the emphasis is on doing their own repairs.

“We probably do 80 per cent of our maintenance—for example, if a pump goes on the chipper, and we have an extra one, we’ll change it out before we call a mechanic from the dealer.

“I’ve welded the boom on the chipper,

20

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

from page 19

refurbished a chip bucket or surfaced the tips on the grapples,” Beaulieu says.

“We also have a hose press, so we can make 95 per cent of the hoses we need for our operation. It’s not very often that we have a lot of downtime due to a hose or something like that. We can usually get the equipment going if we have the parts, and it’s not a major component failure.”

That said, Beaulieu says they have received solid service from Woodland Equipment for the Peterson chipper.

Woodland Equipment has branches in the area in Vernon and Kamloops. They’ll have a lot of the common parts that BC EcoChips regularly uses, like bearings and certain coils, says Beaulieu.

Peterson makes a variety of products including hog grinders, drum chippers and flails, and some of the parts are interchangeable, and well stocked.

Larger components may have to come from Peterson production facilities in Oregon or South Carolina. “If we’re doing major component repairs, we’ll try to schedule it and order the part in advance so there is no delay in getting it.”

All wood chippers work hard, and BC EcoChips’ Peterson 5000H is no exception, so maintenance is key to its efficiency.

“In a 12-hour day, we might have to stop three times to change knives, and we’ll grease it and fuel it up. In terms of oil changes and other maintenance, we try to keep all our machines on a similar schedule, so if the chipper is ready for an oil change, so are the loaders.” They track carefully whatever maintenance is done.

As with all forestry operations working in tough conditions, though, repairs are not always scheduled.

“The chipper is hard on itself, and things can break. The other day we had a bearing go on the back of the roll case, next to the wheel. That took about 45 minutes, taking the old bearing off,

woodchipping

One of the two BC EcoChips Volvo wheel loaders at work (above). The chipping operation, and the transportation of the chips, seems like an excellent fit for Sutco, with their strength on trucking, and, now, chipping. Virtually all of the trucking of chips is done with Sutco trucks. top for three months—and then something will happen.”

The Peterson chipper is now working on its second motor, with 2200 hours on it, so far. The first motor lasted 14,000 hours. “I was pretty happy with that,” says Beaulieu.

“You have to remember that the chipper runs wide open, all day, every day.”

putting the new one on, and some welding—and then checking it to make sure it works properly.”

Beaulieu says that as much as they monitor the chipper’s performance, it can sometimes go down quickly, without warning. “With some of it, there’s no way you can see it coming. It will run like a

This past summer, the BC EcoChips operation in Midway was also sorting the wood they received for both pulp logs and sawlogs.

“As a general rule, we’re just chipping. to page 22

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21

woodchipping from page 21 But we’ve been doing a few different sawlog sorts, as well,” says Beaulieu.

He noted the amount of mountain pine beetle wood they are dealing with has tapered off.

“We are still getting some dry beetle wood, but it’s definitely not the same amount as we used to get,” he says.

“Now, a lot of the stands that are close to us in Midway and Okanagan Falls are small, tight, dense trees.” These will be 25 to 30 feet, four-inch at the butt, two inches at the top. “They’re really small trees,” says Beaulieu, and very suited for pulp wood.

They like to have a small sea of wood at the chipping operation. “It’s ideal for us to have at least 500 to 600 loads of logs in inventory at break-up. When the trucks stop hauling, it’s amazing how fast the Peterson can go through that wood.

“When the trucks stop hauling, you sure notice it,” he added. “You don’t realize how much wood you are burning through.” An average day will seem them getting as many as 30 loads of logs.

The Peterson will go through a double-

22

In addition to running the Volvo wheel loaders, the four operators at BC EcoChips also run a Hitachi 200 log loader and a Link-Belt 290 butt ‘n top. The chipping operation uses the services of the dealers on the mobile equipment and the chipper if necessary, but the emphasis is on doing their own repairs. high row of timber, representing 75 loads of logs, in five 10-hour days. Generally, it takes about 40 loads of logs to make 35 loads of chips.

The pulp company Zellstoff Celgar

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

works directly with the loggers who are hauling the wood to the BC EcoChips yard. to page 24

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woodchipping from page 22 Zellstoff Celgar set wood chip standards from the start, and these have to be steadily maintained. “Whatever we produce for them, it has to be the right species, the right size and can’t have too much bark,” says Beaulieu.

“If they say our bark content is too high, we figure out a way to get the bark content down. That could mean changing the flail chains or changing the way we

feed logs—there are a lot of things we can do to get the quality they need.”

The work Eco Chips is doing reinforces the importance of an integrated forest industry, with pulp mills and saw mills and logging operations working together.

Much of the wood they are chipping, had it not been brought out of the bush, would have been burned as slash. In this sense, the chipping operation is adding value to the wood.

They are pretty much dealing with

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spruce, balsam and pine timber. “We get the occasional bit of fir and yellow pine— maybe a handful of logs in an occasional load.”

In the other locations where the chipping operation was set up, such as Okanagan Falls, most of their logs were tree length. The majority of their logs now are cut-to-length, 35 feet and shorter.

These days, BC Eco Chips is not involved in the bush, but a few years’ back it was the first outfit in B.C. to work with the Chambers Delimbinator—and it sure did the job, says Beaulieu.

“It rips branches and limbs off like crazy,” he says. “There is a bit of an art to making it work, but it works well. If you leave a log in there too long, it will chew it away to nothing. I watched it operating, and the logs would go in and they’d come out without a lick of bark on them. It was impressive.”

They had previously tried to use processing heads on this wood, but the wood was short, big and had limbs right up to the butts.

“The heads just could not get the momentum up because the butts were so close and limby—the motor would try and pull on it, and it couldn’t,” explained Beaulieu.

BC Eco Chips looked at using the delimbinator on a long term basis, but decided it would be best to focus on chipping, and to leave that work to the logging contractors, who were already out there in the bush with the necessary equipment. “It seems like a better fit to do it that way.” Westwood Fibre is the Canadian distributor for the Chambers Delimbinator.

As mentioned, Sam Beaulieu manages the day-to-day operations of the chipping operations, and his dad, Rick, is operations manager. And overseeing BC Eco Chips’ overall operation is Sutco president Chris Sutherland. “Chris is a real go-getter—he’s always looking to keep his operations busy,” says Sam Beaulieu. “It’s great—you always have work with the chipper,” he says.

Sam Beaulieu has worked at the chipping operation for eight years, so you might say that he knows the Peterson H5000 chipper, inside and out. “Some days, I feel like I do—and other days, less so,” he says with a laugh.

“I do know that there aren’t a lot of parts on that chipper that I haven’t changed over the years—some of them three or four times.”

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016 2016-11-21 10:42 AM

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NEW SCANNER

eyes mill improvements The Teal-Jones sawmill in Surrey, B.C. has seen a number of equipment additions over the years—the most recent one came earlier this year with a new Springer Microtec Goldeneye 900 MultiSensor Scanner that is reducing the mill’s trim loss and improving its on-grade accuracy.

By Paul MacDonald

W

hen it comes to upgrades, it’s said that the best operating sawmills are really never really finished—they are always a work in progress.

The Teal-Jones Group and its operations in B.C. are a textbook example of that. The company’s Surrey sawmill on the Fraser River, east of Vancouver, has made a number of improvements in recent years. The most recent is the installation of a new Springer Microtec Goldeneye 900 Multi-Sensor Scanner—an investment that is already paying off for the company.

“The new scanner has allowed us to achieve more flexibility in mill production,

The new Springer Microtec Goldeneye 900 Multi-Sensor Scanner in the Surrey, B.C. sawmill of the Teal-Jones Group.

26

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

as we provide a wide range of very diverse products to customers all over the world,” says Dick Jones, Chief Operating Officer of the Teal-Jones Group.

“Our company has a long history of commitment to international markets for our lumber products,” he explained. “The Goldeneye 900 Scanner has reduced our trim-loss, improved on-grade accuracy and allows us to produce multiple customer runs at the same time.”

The Teal-Jones Group produces a wide range of solid wood products including

BCsawmilling

high quality decorative products, structural lumber for housing and general construction, special sizes and grades for remanufacturing, as well as utility and lower grade products suitable for pallets, packaging and other industrial uses.

To say they turn out a huge multitude of wood products would be an extreme understatement—and now they can do that more efficiently.

The Goldeneye 900 Multi-Sensor Quality Scanner with transverse feeding is the first of its kind running in a North American sawmill, says Springer Microtec. The scanner was installed directly into the TealJones mill line without height modification or elevation changes, and fit with the special “occlusionless” conveyor chain by Springer, meaning only 0.2 inches of the bottom surface is hidden for each chain run. This enables full visual detection combined with 3D laser triangulation scans for defects on all four surfaces in a single scanner frame at the same time, which is carried out without board turning.

The scanner is said to be ideal for sawmills, scanning, grading and sorting rough lumber and to optimizing trimming. Dry sorting and optimization in planer mills before secondary wood processing and

remanufacturing is also possible. The optimizer is capable of evaluating re-edging, re-sawing and cut-in-two products.

The equipment utilizes next generation transverse lumber scanning. By detecting and localizing all types of knots as well as cracks, discoloration, pitch pockets, wanes, curvature and other dimensional defects, the scanner allows mills such as Teal-Jones to automate, streamline and optimize all further production steps. The value optimization software implements customer specific grading, trimming and sorting rules.

Dan Doyle, mill manager at the TealJones mill, and Allan Bose, electrical superintendent at the mill, explained that they had been looking for equipment to improve the mill’s optimization for some time.

“It emerged as our number one project,” says Doyle. “We talked with a number of vendors, and at the end of the day, the equipment had to deal with our requirements—and one of those requirements was the fact that we were changing Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

over cutting programs all the time.”

“In the end Springer Microtec’s system was the best fit with what we have,” Doyle added.

The previous optimization system had more than done its duty; it had been brought in from one of the other company mill operations. “Using that system was one of the ways we were able to keep the cost reasonable, when we built the mill years ago,” says Bose.

“But with the old system, we could not get as accurate a scan as we wanted—the scan density was too low.”

As a result, Bose explained, they were experiencing trim loss and falldown, especially with product they were drying and dressing. They were experiencing the

to page 28 27

BCsawmilling from page 27 same with the product that is shipped out green, too.

“It meant that the front end of the mill had to compensate for the lack of trimmer optimization accuracy by making sure the product we eventually produced was almost too good,” said Bose.

“We felt that with better scanner accuracy, we could reduce our trim loss and falldown numbers, and get a decent payback.”

Most of the work for the scanner installation was done inhouse by Teal-Jones’ own employees. Bose did the mechanical and electrical engineering for the project. They had a contractor, Gravelle Mill Construction, which they have used for numerous projects at the mill, also help out.

The start-up technicians from Springer Microtec were “phenomenal”, says Bose. “The installation really went flawlessly—everything was looked after.”

There was a great fit between the Springer Microtec tech people and the Teal-Jones employees.

“Our technicians were very impressed with the capabilities of the Teal- Jones team and consequent smoothness of the startup,” said Norvin Laudon, chief technical officer, Springer Microtec North America. “In terms of preparation, professionalism, and competence, the group’s personnel are right up there with the rest of the teams we’ve worked with around the world.”

Mill manager Dan Doyle said a good degree of the ultimate success of any mill project lies in the planning—and this project was no exception.

“We had a lot of communication back and forth with Springer Microtec before the project started, so there were no surprises.

We knew what was going to happen.”

The equipment calibration took a fair bit of time, but this was accounted for in the schedule, and the plan. They built in a couple of days’ time to do testing of the new scanner.

“There are literally dozens of cameras on the scanner equipment, so it really is not a surprise that it would take time to calibrate,” says Bose.

From the get-go, they planned to do the installation during a maintenance shutdown at the mill.

“It really fit well with the shutdown,” says Doyle. “In addition to the optimizer installation, we were able to do a bunch of different things that had been on the To-Do list for a long time.”

Safety is a high priority at the company, and there were some safety upgrades that they wanted to do.

All in, the shutdown was for 10 days.

Doyle talked about the very methodical way they planned the install and other associated tasks down during the shut.

“We got together as a group, and listed the tasks on a whiteboard, and put hours to each task—and we ran out of space, so we had to use another whiteboard, to list everything we wanted to do,” he says.

When they were finished talking—sometimes loudly, says Bose, with a smile—they took photos of the lists on the whiteboard.

“We held to that plan—but we gained time once we started into the project. The hours it took for each job went down because we were more efficient once we got going.

“Any successful venture like this comes down to good planning,” summarizes Doyle.

The planning included the mill’s quality control people, Kelly Murray and Leif Lynum, working on the optimization software weeks before installation. They did a lot of modifications to the to page 30 28

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

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BCsawmilling from page 28 software along the way, which was essential for the Teal-Jones mill.

In terms of the software, an off-the shelf system would not have worked for them, said Bose. “We really needed a custom system with capabilities for modifications, because of the large number of sorts and the upwards of 10 per cent of product that is returned to the mill for remanufacturing,” he explained.

“Springer Microtec had to greatly modify their system to work for us—but they were willing to do that. There was risk on their part in doing that, and our part, too.

But it worked out fine.”

The bar was set high, in effect, in terms of the custom changes for the Teal-Jones project—but it was reached.

“It gave us what we needed,” said Bose. “But by doing that, there will also be a marketing advantage to Springer Microtec, too, I think,” says Bose. “If they can make the system work for a demanding customer like us, well, they can make it work for anyone.”

The planning that went into the project was a worthwhile investment of time and people, says Doyle. “We planned the

heck out of it,” he says. “Everyone’s input was encouraged.”

And once they had the plan, it was communicated, from the mill office to the mill floor, to get people committed. “From the welders to the production people, we wanted to get people revved up about the project ahead of time,” says Doyle.

Employee training for the new system, Bose says, was done in two ways. “Because we were doing our own installation, employees got very familiar with the layout, the components and how it was all going to come together. And during the installation, Springer Microtec people also

did training of the Teal-Jones crews.

“There was very close co-ordination between Spring Microtec and Teal- Jones during the install—lots of back and forth.”

The end result: the mill is now seeing significant efficiencies and improvements in lumber recovery.

“Before the system went in, we had to account for the lack of optimization detail—and product sometimes had to go through our planer, which is off-site.

“With the new scanner, we no longer have to do that—the product coming off the line is exactly what the customer wants. The sizes are just bang on.”

With CLS lumber, for example, it had previously required trimming, and they were losing six to seven per cent on pieces. “That goes to chips,” says Dan Dewar, production manager at the mill. “But now we have that six per cent down to 2.5 per cent—saving that 3.5 per cent in lumber recovery is huge for us.”

“There is payback for us every day, too, with that lumber now not having to go through the planer,” says Dewar.

Doyle and Bose noted the mill is still working on the opportunities the new scanning equipment has created—and happily so. “It’s not a matter of clicking a switch to do all this—it means adding features, and were experimenting with the cuts we do,” says Bose.

“Once the scanner was in, it has had a ripple effect on the sawmill upstream and downstream, to make efficiencies and changes.” Machine centres can be finetuned to run better and more efficiently.

And they have continuing support from Springer-Microtec in doing that. The mill has access to a full-time technician that Springer Microtec has hired (brought from Italy), who is based in the Lower Mainland.

The scanner changes build on a mill that has been evolving in recent years.

to page 32 30

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

BCsawmilling from page 30 It goes back a ways, but Teal–Jones’s owners Dick and Tom Jones have to receive full credit for seeing the future of coastal sawmilling—and investing in the mill—big time. The result of that vision was a new $30 million sawmill built in 2003. The new mill was considered a watershed for the industry, in that it was the first new major sawmill to be built on the B.C. Coast in a very long time.

The mill is specifically designed to handle smaller second growth timber, rather than the large old growth wood that has been the mainstay of mills in this area of B.C. Illustrating the focus on smaller wood, the mill can handle as small as a four-inch top through to a 10-inch top.

The mill was designed with the overall goal that production should be extremely flexible. The idea is to get the broadest production and return from the investment in the mill and from the logs—they

did not want to be stuck producing for one particular situation or market. The mill was set up so they can move into or out of markets—sometimes in a matter of hours.

Even though the project cost $30 million, that budget figure could have easily doubled if the Jones brothers and their employees had not been resourceful.

Instead of buying all new equipment, and having to bump up the dollars, they elected to source most of the mill equipment through mill sales and auctions.

There was little in the way of new equipment on site, when it was initially built. At the front end, logs were run through a single 22-inch Nicholson debarker and an SKS Engineering designed cut-off saw system. SKS did the design of the mill, and worked closely with the TealJones people. “We had Steve Deakin from SKS working from our office in the mill, so if we had any questions or issues, he was right across the desk from me,” says Bose.

They can put up to a 24-inch log through the Optimil canter, with cants then sent through to a McGeehee vertical gang saw. The canter line is optimized with software from Porter Engineering, determining what the best cut is based on the wide markets the mill has.

The Flare International combination bull/gang edger, one of the few pieces of new equipment when the mill was built, can take up to a 12-inch cant. There is also USNR resaw equipment and further along the process are a Schurman/USNR optimized edger and Newnes trimming equipment.

Besides using expertise from the supplier side, the company relied mostly on in-house staff for building the mill, which was about a year in the works.

While the new mill used mainly used equipment, it relied upon the services of a number of core suppliers to help link the equipment together, and get it up to speed. These included Optimil which supplied PLC programming and mechanical set-up, Coe-Newnes which did trimmer optimizer programming, Lucidyne which did sorter control, USNR-Perceptron who handled optimized edger programming, and Porter Engineering which did the canter line programming. SKS Engineering handled the mechanical aspects of the project and were structural engineers.

Gravelle Mechanical Contracting did the main mill mechanical installation. ISM handled the building erection and log end steel fabrication. Kay-Son Steel Fabricators

to page 34 32

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

BCsawmilling from page 32 did the main building steel fabrication. A C Nelson and Forest Electric handled the electrical installations. Pottinger Gaherty were environmental consultants.

In addition to the Springer Mictotec scanning equipment, there have been other upgrades to the mill.

“We’ve been fine-tuning the operations at the mill,” says Allan Bose, who was involved with building the mill, in 2003.

“We’ve been busy upgrading equipment here and there throughout the mill.”

At the log end, they replaced their debarker with a twin-ring Nicholson A8 debarker. They have since upgraded the software canter optimization with Porter Engineering. They also upgraded the edger with equipment from Optimil and scanning from USNR, and added a 4 head, 8 axis profiler from Optimil, to the canter line.

“We’re constantly looking at what’s out there, both in terms of new equipment and online, at the mill auctions. We try to approach it from a multipronged perspective—we look at the new equipment at

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34

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

the shows such as in Portland, and what is available for sale in used equipment.

And we also look at designing and making equipment in-house, too.”

The driving force is to make the operation more efficient. “The goals are always going to be getting higher production, number two is improved recovery, and the third goal is to better meet customer needs.”

Mill manager Dan Doyle explains that the mill, and Teal-Jones in general, is very “customer-centric”.

“Tom and Dick Jones are extremely customer focused, and so are the operations,” he explains. “Almost everything we do at the mill is based on what the customer wants and needs.

“There are sometimes products we turn out for customers that are not terribly profitable for us—but it helps build customer relationships. We face world-wide competition—and we need to keep our customer’s business.”

The mill is somewhat different in that it does not cut into stock—they cut to customer orders. “There are plenty of times when we are cutting for five different markets around the world—we market to a huge number of countries,” says Doyle.

As a result there are a lot of changeovers at the mill. “Our order list at the mill is kind of like a grocery list type order list.”

But cutting for these multiple markets earns them business—and repeat business. “There are some mills out there that can’t be bothered with doing this type of business, with smaller volumes.” They just want to churn out product from a limited cut list, he notes.

“It isn’t easy, but we are good at doing the changeovers quickly—and we’ve got good at doing a lot of different cuts,” says Doyle. A long production run for them might be eight days, and a short production run could be eight hours.

Just how wide is the variety of products? According to one of the mill’s quality control people, Kelly Murray, the mill produces a staggering 50,000 different types of products, for markets all over the world, offering huge diversity.

“We still watch what is going on with the U.S. regarding softwood lumber, but this approach insulates us a bit against the ups and downs in that market—we know we have other markets we can produce for.

“And this new investment in SpringerMicrotec scanning equipment will help us deal with the moves in the market going forward,” he added.

BClogging

FIELD TESTING

Cat’s new 538 forest machine Veteran B.C. logger Alfred Poole was a clear choice for field testing a new piece of Cat equipment—the new Cat 538 forest machine, which came equipped with a SATCO 323T processing head—and he reports it offers good power, and is stingy when it comes to fuel consumption.

A

lfred Poole was 19 when he began working in the forestry industry in north-central British Columbia.

He basically had a choice between two career paths: farming in a region known for raising beef cattle, and logging. Other family members worked in farming.

“I was allergic to the farming stuff,” he

quipped, “so I went into logging.”

Poole started out in the trucking segment of the business, beginning with a Cat wheel loader and a truck, hauling logs. He later added a second truck.

He ventured further into forestry operations in 1995 when he bought his first processor, although he continued to do

36

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

some trucking until 2012.

Today, his company, A&A Bulk Harvesting, has a fleet of Cat equipment to process trees under subcontract to other forestry contractors. A&A currently employs 11 people in its operations.

Poole has homes in Vanderhoof, almost 900 kilometres north of Vancouver, and

BClogging Alfred Poole and his fleet of Cat equipment. Poole’s company, A&A Bulk Harvesting, specializes in tree processing, doing all its work at the log deck. Logs are primarily supplied to Canfor and Dunkley Lumber mills in the B.C. Interior.

also Fort St. James, another 60 miles further north and located next to Stuart Lake. He has a company shop at his home in Vanderhoof and an office at his home in Fort St. James.

In this part of B.C., near the geographical centre of the province, the terrain in the region can be relatively flat or hilly.

“We do some steep ground,” said Poole, although it is not like the slopes of the coastal mountains.

A&A specializes in processing trees into logs for mills. Poole subcontracts to another contractor that fells the timber and skids the trees to a landing. A&A does all its work at the log deck. The logger he subcontracts to has trucks for hauling wood and also contracts for additional trucking.

The logs his company produces are supplied primarily to mills for Canfor and Dunkley Lumber; Canfor operates both pulp and lumber mills in the region.

Poole’s company processes trees per mill specifications. For example, some trees may be bucked to lengths ranging from just over 12 feet to almost 37 feet.

Diameter may range from about 10 to 15 inches. Pulp logs are generally 18 feet long, about 9 inches in diameter and no less than 4 inches diameter at the top.

About 80 per cent of the trees the company processes are lodgepole pine that have been killed by the mountain pine beetle, estimated Poole. About 15 per cent of the company’s production is

green spruce and about 5 per cent fir.

The beetle’s impact on timber in B.C. has been massive. The mountain pine beetle has killed an estimated 723 million cubic metres of timber since the infestation began about 20 years ago, according to an update by the B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. The wood-eating pest has impacted about 18.3 million hectares, which is more than five times the area of Vancouver Island.

However, the infestation has slowed considerably since it peaked in 2005, according to the government agency.

It’s not unusual for forestry contractors to specialize in a niche or one aspect of logging, noted Poole. Some specialize in felling, and others, like him, in processing. He has thought about venturing into timber harvesting, too, but so far has not taken his business in that direction.

Poole contracts by weight or volume, averaging about 30 loads of wood in the summer and up to about 40 during winter.

A&A has a fleet of Cat forestry equipment, mainly track forest machines set up for processing trees. The purpose-built forest machines can be configured for general forestry operations to work as a processor, stroke delimber carrier, or road builder, or in a log loader configuration for shovel logging, log loading, and other tasks.

A&A has six Cat 320D forest machines, a Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

Cat 320C forest machine, a Cat 324 forest machine, and a Komatsu 250 excavator, all set up and equipped to function as processors. One Cat forest machine is matched with a SATCO processor, and the other machines are paired with Waratah processor attachments. The company’s other equipment includes a Cat 279C track skid steer, and a John Deere skid steer.

The company participated in testing of the new Cat 538 forest machine. The new model came equipped with a SATCO 323T processor. It is the company’s second experience with a SATCO processor, the first being when Poole’s dealer—B.C. Cat dealer Finning—invited him to try the Cat 320D forest machine with the same attachment in 2014.

Poole was approached by a Finning representative and asked to help field test the Cat 538. “It’s worked out very well,” he said.

“I’m kind of impressed with it,” added Poole, who was testing a machine for Cat for the first time.

His company received the Cat 538 forest machine in the early summer of 2015.

It has mainly been operated by employee Alex Turcotte. “Alex is kind of enjoying it,” said Poole, who also has experience running the new machine and is now negotiating to purchase it. to page 38 37

BClogging from page 37 The Cat 538 is “very quiet,” said Poole, and also has good power. The new model also burns significantly less fuel. “It uses way less fuel,” he said.

Diesel fuel was about 80 cents per litre at the time he was interviewed. “It’s down quite a bit,” he said, from a high of over $1.

Equipment that is more fuel efficient helps hold down operating costs, he acknowledged, since diesel is a significant cost of operating. “Makes quite a difference in the fuel,” said Poole.

Cat introduced two new forest machines in September, the Cat 538 FM and the Cat 558 FM. The first models in the 500 series to meet U.S. EPA Tier 4 Final emission standards, they are now are available from dealers. Both models were exhibited at the Demo International show in Maple Ridge, B.C. in September.

The Cat 538 Forest Machine features improved fuel efficiency and optimized work tools. Horsepower and swing torque have increased, and wider track frames enhance stability.

The Cat 538 Forest Machine is equipped with a 164 hp Cat C7.1 ACERT Tier 4 Final engine. The larger displacement engine generates an 11 per cent increase in horsepower, providing the power for strong multi-functioning and improved implement performance—and more production. It features isochronous speed control to maintain a constant

38

engine speed of 1,500 rpm —regardless of load. The result is unprecedented fuel economy, according to Caterpillar.

The hydraulic system delivers a higher level of efficiency due to optimized components, machine layout, and work tool integration. Performance is boosted through an 18 per cent increase in swing

Cat introduced two new forest machines in September, the Cat 538 FM and the Cat 558 FM, and both models were exhibited at the Demo International show in Maple Ridge, B.C. torque and a 26 per cent increase in lift capacity. The increases mean improved implement performance, lifting bigger payloads with better control—and more production coupled with reduced fuel consumption, maximizing machine efficiency.

Poole makes it a point to keep updating his equipment. He has used other processing equipment in the past before settling on the Waratah and SATCO attachments.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

Poole has continued doing business with Finning since purchasing his first Cat machine over 30 years ago. Finning has about 20 dealer locations in British Columbia. The nearest Finning dealership for A&A is located in Prince George, about 100 kilometres east of Vanderhoof.

Poole has been pleased with Cat equipment. He cited their “reliability” and the service he receives through Finning.

A&A performs routine maintenance and service on the fleet of Cat equipment, but if they need assistance, they rely on Finning. “If I have a dilemma, they’re here,” said Poole.

The company downsized from about 15 employees four years ago when Poole transitioned from producing long logs to short logs. “It took more machines to do the short wood,” he said. “I have doubled my machines, so I just decided to cut back. We’re still doing a lot, but not as much as I would have been doing.

“Couldn’t find enough operators,” he added.

Business has held steady since then, according to Poole.

Poole and his wife have three children and six grandchildren. It’s not all business for Poole; his chief hobby is going to Kitimat on the northern coast, where he keeps a 46-foot boat. The boat is his “second home” in the late spring and early fall, he said. He also enjoys taking the crew out to fish.

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eastcoastlogging

From carpenter...

TO LOGGER Good machines require good operators to remain productive, and Justin Thibault (far, left) is well satisfied he has a good team.

Justin operates a harvester, and his brother, Dayne (left), operates the second harvester.

Cousin Ian Gillis operates the Ecolog forwarder, while Thibault’s father, Ricky, operates the John Deere 1510 forwarder.

Nova Scotia’s Justin Thibault tried his hand as a carpenter and crewing on fish boats, but he found that logging suited him better—and has recently expanded his iron line-up with a new Tigercat/Log Max harvester to work alongside another Tigercat/Log Max harvester, and his Ecolog and John Deere forwarders.

By George Fullerton ustin Thibault says that he enjoys the business—and the lifestyle—that his four machine contracting operation provides. And he came to logging after working at some other pursuits. Out of high school, Thibault studied to become a carpenter, and he also put in a good deal of time crewing on fishing boats on the Bay of Fundy.

While he gained good competency in both industries, he continued to think that working in the woods would suit him better. The opportunity to work full time in harvesting came when he heard that J. D. Irving was seeking operators in their Weymouth, Nova Scotia operations. The Weymouth operations were literally in the backyard of Thibault’s Doucetville home.

“I always liked mechanical things and machines, and when I heard that Irving

40

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

J

was hiring operators, I applied and got a job operating a forwarder,” he says. “I enjoyed the forwarder work and being in the woods. When I was invited to try out working a feller buncher, I jumped at it, and again, I really liked operating and the maintenance work, equally.”

After Irving shut down Weymouth and to page 42

eastcoastlogging

What’s Next?

RMC75 1 or 2-Axis

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Fresh off the Wajax float, shiny and new, the Tigercat 855 with Log Max 7000 head is ready to work for Justin Thibault, who operates throughout southwest Nova Scotia harvesting private, freehold and Crown land for sawmills.

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from page 40

Introducing the new RMC200

began selling off woodlands, Thibault was unemployed but he received a small severance. Undeterred, Thibault took his severance and went out and bought a forestry trailer and hooked it on a Tree Farmer skidder, which was in the family.

In 2008, with the forest industry just beginning its extended economic depression, Thibault decided it was time to invest and build a mechanical harvesting operation.

“I started with practically nothing,” he explained. “It was either I make the harvesting business work or crash out.” He took out a mortgage on his family home to finance the purchase of an older Timberjack 230 forwarder with an Inchworm processor mounted on the front of the rack.

The Inchworm was an early processing head, designed and developed in Miramichi, New Brunswick. The Inchworm relies on chainsaw felled trees picked up with the forwarder loader. They are fed into the processor, which delimbs and bucks the stems in eight foot bolts. The loader then picks up the bolts and loads them on the back of the forwarder to move to roadside.

Thibault eventually bought two more Inchworms, which was one-third of the total manufactured production of Inchworms. He affectionately recalls the Inchworm as the poor man’s processor.

Thibault’s next upgrade was to a used

Delta’s most capable electrohydraulic motion controller.

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42

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

Timberjack 608 processor. “It was a good move,” he says. “It provided me with a good deal of experience producing wood, and working very hard to keep it running.

I eventually got a second 608 and another burned 608 for the head, and upgraded to a used John Deere 1510 forwarder.”

While the tail end of the first decade of the 2000’s was a challenging time to build a harvest contracting business, the dark period offered a tenuous opportunity for a start-up.

“An awful lot of harvest operators and contractors left Nova Scotia for work in the west and the oil boom,” says Thibault.

“That actually opened an opportunity for people who wanted to work in forestry.

The industry still needed wood—woodlot owners and mills still needed wood cut.”

He says that if a contractor had the right equipment, good operators and watched the business closely, there was an opportunity to make a go of it.

“I figured if I had better machines, and was able to produce more consistently— as opposed to running old equipment and sacrificing production to repair time and costs—my business would benefit.”

Thibault decided to upgrade his equipment, to be able to generate better cash flow, which in turn would allow him to make payments on new gear. This theory to page 44

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eastcoastlogging from page 42 led to purchasing a Tigercat 845 with Log Max 7000, from the Wajax Dartmouth shop in 2015.

“I had operated Tigercat feller bunchers and I knew their capacity and performance,” he says. “I knew they would produce. The Tigercat is a big carrier, and the Log Max is a big capable head, so we are able to handle big wood when we find it, and it still performs great in small diameter wood.

“I really like operating harvesters on tracks,” he adds. “I started on tracks and I know what to expect from them and how they work. When I get on tires, I am not as comfortable, I am not in my own element. I also really like the Tigercat cab.

It is lean and relatively simple as far as gauges and switch arrays go. They just feel right.”

Working in rocky ground in a harvester with tracks is much different than operating a buncher in rock, he says. The harvesting allows the operator to build a brush mat that allows better travel, resulting in a lot less wear on tracks and undercarriage.

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

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The Tigercat 845/Log Max combo continues to prove its stuff, on a woodlot near the town of Annapolis Royal, in Nova Scotia.

With the new harvester, Thibault was generating a lot more wood and realized he needed more consistent performance on the forwarder side—and he went shopping for more forwarder capacity.

“I like machine consistency,” he says.

“I looked at a lot of the popular offerings, and came home with a new EcoLog 574C. I had a good hard look at Tigercat forwarders, but the EcoLog won out in the end. The EcoLog has some important similarities with Tigercat such as the Mercedes engines and Rexforth pumps.”

The first Tigercat harvester achieved Thibault’s expectations for increased production. He felt the industry had recovered to the point that even more harvesting capacity would generate more cash flow, and result in a better bottom line. When he decided on investing further, Wajax was able to set him up with a new Tigercat 855 and 7000 Log Max head, which arrived on the job site, this past June.

Thibault explained that he did not expect delivery quite so soon, but Wajax brought it out to the current operation

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eastcoastlogging from page 45 overlooking the Bay of Fundy, near Annapolis Royal, and the old 608 went back to Wajax on the same float.

“I see contractors hanging on to their old harvesters when new ones come out because they think the trade offering is not sufficient,” he says. “Then they park the old machine, saying they will have a spare when they need it. But when they jump in it in a year or so, it won’t start and things are seized. I figure it’s best to make the deal on the new machine and move the old one—then I am further ahead.”

Dealers are just as important as the quality of machines and equipment, commented Thibault, about the Log Max 7000. “I know and I am secure that any part on that head is on a shelf in Moncton. I can make a phone call and know that the parts will arrive, and I can pick them up the next day.

“And Tigercat is made in Canada—and I know that with any part we need, I can to page 48

46

Continuing the family connection, Justin Thibault’s cousin, Johnny Mahar, is the dedicated trucker for the logging operation, along with a handful of regional truckers who also haul on an as-needed basis.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

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eastcoastlogging

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With the new harvester, Justin Thibault was generating a lot more wood and realized he needed more consistent performance on the forwarder side, and he went shopping for more forwarder capacity. He opted for a new EcoLog 574C (above). from page 46

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have it within two days out of Ontario.

But most parts come in just one day from Wajax’s Maritime shops.

“With the Ecolog, well, I am confident Log Max in Moncton will have the important parts on their shelf, same as they do for their head. On occasion, there might be a part that would have to come from Sweden.”

Good machines require good operators to remain productive, and Thibault is well satisfied he has a good team. He operates a harvester and his brother, Dayne, operates the second harvester. Cousin Ian Gillis operates the Ecolog forwarder, while Thibault’s father, Ricky, operates the John Deere 1510 forwarder. The harvesting team operates on a ten-hour day shift.

As his Thibault Timberlands Ltd. business has grown, Thibault found keeping the books and other administration chores, after a ten hour shift in the machine, was just too much. He said he had a hard look at the business figures and turned around and made a deal with his wife, Amy, to leave her daycare job and look after the books and other chores for the business. “It took a lot of pressure off me and she likes the work—it made a better quality life for both of us” said Thibault.

Thibault has brought more family along on his business venture. His uncle, Russell Melanson, has become the dedicated chain sharpener and bar straightener, along with taking on welding chores, cylinder packing and other mechanical work.

Cousin Johnny Mahar is the dedicated Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

trucker, along with a handful of regional truckers who also haul on an as-needed basis.

Thibault aims to produce in excess of 1000 tonnes per week, operating throughout southwest Nova Scotia harvesting private, freehold and Crown land for sawmills. Logs and studwood ship to Harry Freeman and Sons, studwood (on Crown land) goes to Ledwidge Lumber.

Thibault also contracts with H. C. Haynes Limited to harvest their holdings and stumpage deals.

The continued depressed market for pulpwood in the province has led Justin to decline to produce any pulpwood on his operations.

“I have a good deal of pulpwood roadside that I have been sitting on for a long period,” he says. “It has dried out to the point that truckers don’t want to haul it because their revenue would be so low, if we could get in a market.

“I hope I might get that wood into a biomasss market. We can produce studwood down to a 3.5 inch top, while the spec for pulpwood is 3.0 inch. With the current pulpwood market conditions, we have decided we are better off not to produce pulpwood, and concentrate on getting as much in studwood as possible.

Currently producing pulpwood generates negative revenue.”

While contracting provides challenges every day, Thibault is convinced that it is his place. He says with good gear, good operators and a good business strategy, he can remain successful and have a good quality of life.

REVIEW I

nterSaw, the International Sawmilling Expo, recently returned to Montreal’s renowned Olympic Stadium, and the event attracted a wide audience, including sawmill owners, mill workers, and those supporting the sawmilling industry.

The 2016 edition of InterSaw featured some of the latest and most innovative equipment and services, focusing on the full spectrum of technology from the log yard through primary and secondary breakdown, to the final shipping of the product. Here are a few examples of some of the newest advances in technology displayed at InterSaw.

HewSaw

HewSaw brought its new ‘dx’ sawing technology to InterSaw. The company is aiming to revolutionize the primary breakdown sector of the sawmill industry with this technology.

Aimed at maximizing speed, recovery, efficiency and through-

put, HewSaw says that dx sawing will be a game changer for many sawmills.

“When we equip our HewSaw sawing machines and sawlines with this patent pending technology, we can provide our customers with the ability to run larger diameter logs at faster speeds for longer periods of time, and we can reduce our saw kerf, increasing recovery and yield from each log,” says Raimo Karjalainen, HewSaw’s chief engineer.

The basic principle behind dx sawing is to replace the standard double arbor sawing technique currently used by HewSaw with a four arbor system. The first set of arbors will house the saws for an initial or pilot cut into the cant, while the second set of arbors will house a set of saws that will finish the cut, just as it is in existing HewSaw sawing technology. This works well with HewSaw’s philosophy of centre line sawing, where all processing is calculated and aligned to the centre line of the HewSaw machine.

This technology will work with most types of HewSaw machines 50

from the company’s newer model smaller machines with optimized edging through to the company’s state-of-the-art multi-unit sawlines that can take multiple edged sideboards at each machine centre. www.hewsaw.com

EBI Electric

Canadian-based, EBI Electric is well known in Canadian sawmilling circles and was well represented at InterSaw. It manufactures dry kiln motors and has supplied about 20,000 motors to more than 400 different sawmills around the world.

The motors are purpose-built, designed for the harsh conditions imposed by dry kilns and recognized for dependable operation up to 120 degrees Celsius.

EBI Electric manufactures motors anywhere from 1 to 40 horsepower, in speeds from 900, 1200 and 1800 rpm.

They are built with Class H insulation and inverter duty magnet wire for resisting transient voltage variation, totally enclosed air over (TEAO) heavy duty cast iron frames, and oversized regreasable bearings. The high efficiency unibody cast iron construction provides superior strength.

EBI Electric uses up to 20 per cent more iron in the stator than competitive motors, says the company, for better heat dissipation. Their dry kiln motors have a high-temperature seal (200°C/392°F) on the motor drive end. Extra winding tropicalization provides resistance against humidity and condensation. The motors are available in Nema and IEC (metric) frames. www.ebielectric.com

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

benefits from continued industry investments

By Tony Kryzanowski

T

he Timber Processing and Energy Expo recently held at the Exposition Center in Portland, Oregon was another success, featuring industry-leading manufacturers and service suppliers.

The success of the show underlines the continuing growth of the industry, and the focus on efficiency improvements by wood products producers, through investments in new and updated equipment.

Logging and Sawmilling Journal reviews some of the highlighted equipment from the Portland Show below:

Burton Saw and Supply

Burton Saw and Supply is a distributor of Wright Machine welder and annealer saw tipping equipment, with the new TW-3 automatic DC tip welder/induction annealer now available.

An advanced computer PLC handles machine control. The DC weld head reduces sensitivity to incoming voltage fluctuations and allows welding on plate

Delta Computer Systems

Delta Computer Systems has expanded its family of machine motion controllers with the new RMC200 electro-hydraulic motion controller, with capability of controlling up to 32 axes simultaneously.

It extends the company’s high performance motion control product line, which

also includes the RMC75 two-axis and RMC150 eight-axis controllers.

The Delta controllers provide precise closed-loop position, velocity, pressure, and force control for electric, hydraulic, and pneumatic applications. Controller design is supported by extensive “help” information on the company’s website and a powerful, free development software suite called RMCtools, which includes automated wizards for application tuning, motion programming, and plotting of motion results. www.deltamotion.com 52

thickness down to 0.030” with tips down to 0.050” wide. The annealing unit is a compact device that is manufactured using solid-state technology. Each has an embedded microprocessor that guarantees stable power output as well as optimum operating frequency. The microprocessor also performs monitoring and diagnostic functions to keep the user informed of device status.

The Talon TW-3 tipper makes use of innovative, preformed Stellite tipping technology, making the tipping process easier and more affordable. The unit’s unique weld system turns slag into an advantage by keeping it in the weld zone.

This not only strengthens the weld but allows for full annealing of the slag material. Burton Saw and Supply says that in addition to being the fastest tipping and annealing machine on the market, the

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

TW-3 cuts grinding times significantly. The triangular design of the tip has the top and face angles already in place. With the TW-3’s ability to accurately place the tips centered on the saw, side-grinding time is also reduced. All of this adds up to added Stellite tip life, lower abrasive wheel use, and time savings, says the company. www.burtonsaw.com

USNR

Is it possible to debark and reduce log flare in one machine? USNR thinks so with its CamShift system, which was on display in Portland.

USNR’s CamShift combines debarking and flare reducing in a single machine, with pull out sections designed for easy set-up and tool changes.

The module-designed CamShift system can be delivered with or without flare reducing, and with one or two debarking rotors. It comes with three rotor size options for feed speeds of up to 130 metres per minute (425 ft/min) with one debarking rotor, and up to 150 metres per minute (490 ft/min) with two debarking rotors.

The CamShift 600 offers both log-releasing tools and tool pressure adjustment during operation. The manually adjusted flare reducer rotor is infinitely adjustable for reduced diameters up to 560 millimeters (22”). The modular, pull-out design

makes set-up and tool changes easy.

Variations are available to accommodate minimum log length and top or butt-end feeding. www.usnr.com

Z-Tec Automation Systems

In the fast-paced, lumber production line environment, wouldn’t it be great to eliminate the chance of a tag on lumber stacks going missing? Z-Tec Automation Systems offers a solution to that problem with its Z-MARK system.

Z-MARK eliminates the manual application of tags on lumber stacks by printing directly on to the side of a pack, with high resolution printing of barcodes, QR codes and pack details.

It is a stand-alone product that includes the hardware, software and display screen for quick installation. Also, it uses many of the same parts as the Z-Tec WinJet II

proven reliability of the JS-25 platform,” says Joey Nelson, president and founder of JoeScan.

The JS-25 X6B requires only 24V DC

and an Ethernet connection for operation. The scanner’s Ethernet interface allows the optimizer to communicate directly with the scanner without special hardware.

“The JS-25 X6B’s built-in profile processing eliminates the need for large numbers of PCs to process the image data, resulting in a simpler, more reliable system,” says Nelson. www.JoeScan.com to page 54

Lumber Marking System, allowing for interchangeable parts.

Features include pre-assembly and pre-wiring for quick and easy installation, customizable printing data for such information as shift number and date and time. The system also includes reporting software to assist with inventory and production performance. www.ztec.com

JoeScan

JoeScan, Inc., a leading manufacturer of 3-D laser scan heads for sawmills, has released the newest scan head in its JS-25 X-Series, the JS-25 X6B. The JS-25 X6B is a high-performance, six-laser scanner, specifically designed for high-density, snapshot-scanning of logs on carriage headrigs.

Each JS-25 X6B scan head can be mounted end-to-end to scan any length of log on 6” spacing. The JS-25 X6B was designed to make it easy for optimizers and sawmills to upgrade obsolete carriage scanning systems, often reusing the existing scan frame.

“The JS-25 X6B is an easy upgrade that provides higher scan rates, double the scan density, and is based on the sawmillLogging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

53

from page 53

Autolog

Optimizing scanner manufacturer Autolog presented some of its most recent technological advances for both the sawmill and planer mill in Portland, highlighting its transverse optimizer and ProGrader scanner module.

Autolog demonstrated its split and shake and obvious unsound wood detection feature using only 3D sensors in a fully operational transverse optimizer, as well as knot detection on green/rough lumber using only tracheid data, including blond knots.

Expo participants were also introduced to the new color camera with higher resolution and better color sensitivity in the ProGrader scanner module as well as the new TBS-2 tracheid sensor to detect

knots, including light colored knots such as blond knots, and unsound wood.

Also featured was a complete ProGSP Grade Stamp Printer. www.autolog.com

Signode

Signode Canada, a Division of Signode Packaging Group Canada ULC, and International Bar Coding (IBC) have entered into a strategic partnership that enhances Signode’s position in wood products printing and bar coding while significantly expanding IBC’s reach into North American wood products mills.

The partnership is expected to increase Signode’s position in being a one vendor solution, while growing their market share in wood products, using IBC’s label applicators and printer applicators.

The new partnership also broadens the tools that Signode offers wood products

54

customers and acts as a catalyst for further advanced research and development at IBC, while driving scale and efficiency in both partners’ respective supply chains. www.signode.com

DK SPEC

For Expo attendees looking for a better knife grinding solution, DK SPEC displayed its Filex MK 2, multifunctional knife grinder.

quick intervention and repairs.

“In the competitive planer market, several factors came into play in our decision for going with the Miller planer,” says Jim Anderson from Charles Ingram Lumber Company. “Here at Charles Ingram, we have a large range of products and we felt that the robust design of the Miller planer would give us a high-quality product from a reliable machine for many years.”

Miller Manufacturing is a member of the BID Group of Companies. www.millarmfginc.com

Carbotech

Carbotech brought its Accu-Gate high speed lug positioning hardware to Portland.

DK SPEC describes this grinder as one of the easiest grinding solutions on today’s market, making repetitive tasks much easier and with very little handling.

This knife grinder can handle a cutting head diameter of up to 20” up to 15” long. It has sharpening capabilities of up to 0.001” precision, with a direct drive, 5 hp motor on the grinding wheel, capable of running at various speeds from 900 to 3500 rpm. It is possible to program the system for up to 50 knives.

The ground footprint for the unit is only 9’ X 7’. www.dkspec.com

Miller Manufacturing

Miller Manufacturing introduced its new high-speed planer in Portland, describing it as being able to achieve the

Capable of operating at 300 lugs per minute (LPM), it can execute up to 24” positioning with a precision of less than 1/16th”.

The company says that it offers the only system that is not limited by reaction time, because even at speeds of 240 LPM, each board has 1.5 seconds to be positioned.

Positioning works smoothly, as each piece is delicately located with no bounce back, and positioning is not affected by the shape or condition of each board.

Carbotech says that its Accu-Gate high speed positioning system can easily replace existing systems without major modifications to the line. www.carbotech-intl.com

Utility Composites Inc same production as competitors, but at slower speed. The company says operating at slower speed delivers high quality lumber and less downtime.

“We don’t dress air; we dress boards,” says the company.

Powered by Comact PLC and controls, it consists of modular components for Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

Forest companies are becoming more and more interested with being able to track trees from the forest to the yard and beyond, especially in this age of sustainable forest harvesting certification and verification. Utility Composites presented a solution to that challenge in Portland.

GRIZZLY RFID are inventory tracking to page 56

ADVERTORIAL

E

LTEC is a manufacturer of Canadian-made, purpose-built, forestry carriers. It has already sold two of its heavy-duty, FH277 carriers in Alberta to the Lydell Group, with the promise of many more to come through its Alberta dealer headquartered in Edmonton’s Winterburn industrial area, Motion Machinery.

Established in 1990, the Lydell Group is owned and operated by Dwayne Lyda. It has become one of the largest logging and hauling contractors in Alberta. Through its forestry division, it provides logging services to Weyerhaeuser in Drayton Valley and Edson, Sundance Forest Products in Edson, and West Fraser Timber in Sundre, Alberta.

Major operations in the Alberta oil and gas industry include: oilfield logging and hauling services, road construction, lease building, reclamation, pipeline and lease clearing, mulching services and salvage hauling.

The partnership of ELTEC and Motion Machinery brings a family-owned equipment manufacturer with four generations of logging experience together with a parts and service support provider with decades of experience servicing all makes and models of forestry equipment.

“ELTEC forestry carriers are built by loggers for loggers, and who knows Canadian forestry better than Canadians,” says ELTEC representative, Karl Element. “We would like to thank the Lydell Group for purchasing two FH277 carriers. Eltec is there to support you.”

Headquartered in Val D’Or, Quebec, and manufacturing forestry carriers for the past five years, ELTEC offers three sizes of tracked feller buncher/harvesters suited either as processor carriers or as feller bunchers, with a variety of boom and stick options available.

Customers can also request installation of any attachment brand with the carrier. The two units recently sold in Alberta to one of the province’s largest logging contractors were configured to work as roadside processors with Southstar heads.

ELTEC is owned by members of the Element family, with Patrick Element as President, and Stephane Element as General Manager. The owners took all of the family’s experience as both loggers and equipment manufacturers, and have developed robust, easy-to-use, reliable, powerful, and extremely stable forestry carriers that can withstand the workload, whether it is in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, or Chicoutimi, Quebec.

Loggers will notice some important differences about ELTEC carriers right away, like the longer track with the nine roller option for greater stability, 8” more ground clearance, a 55” swing bearing, 100,000 lb tractive effort, 85,000 lb swing effort, powerful engine, highly responsive hydraulics, large operator cab, and easily accessible components for servicing.

ELTEC has allied itself in Alberta with a well-respected dealer. Motion Machinery has built its business and reputation providing parts and service support for all makes and models of forestry equipment, construction equipment and highway trucks and trailers.

JB Colbourne owns Motion Machinery, and prior to establishing his business nine years ago, he worked in the service departments for every make of forestry equipment offered in Canada. He has also worked in the logging industry, so he knows forestry equipment.

The ELTEC line of forestry equipment is the only line of equipment he has seen fit to attach himself to and stake his reputation on, adding that what he appreciates about ELTEC forestry carriers is that they are purpose-built with excellent manufacturer Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

support to respond to customer needs.

Motion Machinery offers both in-house and mobile service support for the ELTEC equipment line, and can also service other equipment brands.

“I’ve always said that the product you are carrying is only as good as the service support you have backing it up,” says Colbourne.

After the successful introduction of the Eltec machines into Alberta, Technologies Element is now looking for a dealer to handle their feller bunchers and processor carriers in British Columbia.

(819) 825-1117 www.technologieselement.com Motion Machinery • (780) 452-7747 1

from page 54 polymer composite staples. They are for log tagging and tracking from forest to finished product.

Manufactured by Utility Composites, they eliminate labor for reading tags—users can instantly read multiple tags, track real time inventory, and reduce inventory losses.

GRIZZLY RFID staples will not trip metal detectors, are rugged and flexible, attach to rough wood, and are inserted with a proprietary hammer tacker tool. The tool can apply 25 tags before needing to be reloaded.

Made from aerospace grade polymer composite, the tags are equipped with a UHF radio frequency ID, with both a high distance and angle read range. www.raptornails.com

56

Cortex

Wema Probst

by up to 50 per cent, the Cortex knife is designed for these tough conditions.

The knife fits existing bases and conical heads. www.cortex.la

The line is designed for production of sawn timber from pre-sorted wood in the diameter range from 10 centimetres to 25 centimetres. Two versions are available, processing logs from 1 metre to 3 metres or from 1.2 metres to 6 metres.

Easier logs like spruce or more difficult logs like maritime pine, birch or oak can be processed through this system.

Depending on log diameter, this profiling line can process 20,000 to 60,000 board feet per shift.

The profiling line has a small footprint, and products manufactured from it can be used for pallets, parquet, and elements for laminated beams. www.wemaprobst.de

The patent pending Cortex knife was developed to revolutionize the reversible chipper knife market.

Cortex is the first reversible chipper knife to use perpendicular grinding, which eliminates the deep grinding marks associated with traditional reversible chipper knives. This smooth, friction-reducing knife edge is the optimal edge for harsh wood chipping conditions, such as frozen wood as well as hardwood.

Where traditional reversible knives have deep parallel grinding marks, which cause knife life in frozen wood to be reduced

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

Wema Probst brought its profiling line for small timber processing to Portland.

DON’T MISS OUT, RESERVE YOUR SPACE TODAY! For more information about this premier event, please contact: MARK CUSACK National Show Manager • mcusack@mpltd.ca Toll-Free: 1.888.454.7469

November 2016

The Edge BioCleantech Forum shines national spotlight on huge biomass conversion potential

BY TONY KRYZANOWSKI anada has more biomass per capita than any other country on the planet.

And there is great potential to convert that biomass into sustainable, biomass-based products that can substitute for fossil fuel-based products in heating, power generation and transportation, while contributing to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction.

The recent BioCleantech Forum held in Ottawa—hosted by BioFuelNet in partnership with Alberta Innovates (formerly Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions) and Emissions Reduction Alberta (formerly the Climate Change and Emissions Management (CCEMC) Corporation)—provided a national stage to explore how biomass conversion could play an important role to help Canada achieve its GHG reduction targets, as well as spur economic growth.

Bio cleantech is the sustainable use of forestry, agriculture, and municipal biomass resources for energy, fuels, and products that build upon Canada’s economic and human resource strengths, while addressing the country’s global commitments to tackle climate change.

Dr. Susan Wood-Bohm is Executive Director of the Biological Greenhouse Gas Management Program, which is a partnership between Alberta Innovates and Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA). She played a lead role in organizing this inaugural BioCleantech Forum.

Dr. Wood-Bohm says that Alberta Innovates and ERA were eager to co-sponsor the BioCleantech Forum because their priorities include supporting technological development aimed at GHG reduction, while spurring innovation.

The three-day BioCleantech Forum featured more than100 speakers and moderators from industry, government,

NGOs, and academia. Many participants represented large emitters who are seeking GHG-reduction solutions. Overall, the goal was to better inform all stakeholders involved in the GHG-reduction discussion about the many opportunities offered by biomass conversion. Organizations like Alberta Innovates, ERA and BioFuelNet want to ensure that biological solutions are part of the overall discussion on the role of renewables in achieving GHG reductions.

“We’ve heard a lot about opportunities with wind and solar,” says Wood-Bohm.

“They are great renewables and we need them, for sure. But there are some situations, like producing process heat, where biomass makes better sense.”

According to a report entitled, “Biomass Innovation: Canada’s Leading Cleantech Opportunity for Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Economic Prosperity,” domestic biomass wastes alone could provide 20 per cent of Canada’s yearly energy supply. It was the overwhelming response to this report, co-authored by Dr. Wood-Bohm and Dr. Jamie Stephen of Torchlight BioResources, that sparked the idea for the BioCleantech Forum.

The BioCleantech Forum attracted strong forest industry support and participation. Joerg Goetsch, General Manager of Corporate Affairs at pulp producer Daishowa-Marubeni International (DMI) shared information on why partnerships— particularly on feedstock supply—are so essential to bio cleantech project success and risk management. Investors should understand that in terms of the feedstock, forest companies bring tremendous value to the table because of their extensive knowledge related to feedstock procurement and transportation logistics.

“When you start playing in the wrong sandbox, meaning when you start getting out of your area of expertise, I tend

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

C

to see more failures in the marketplace than wins,” says Goetsch. “I think that is the value of partnering with the forest industry, not only from a feedstock supply aspect, but also gathering, processing and transporting the feedstock. It’s a skill that we have and it is something that the forest industry can leverage.”

One example of how bio cleantech could play an important role in reducing the carbon footprint of oil-sands bitumen upgrading into synthetic crude oil was presented by Dr. Amit Kumar, University of Alberta professor and Associate Industrial Research Chair in Energy and Environmental Systems Engineering. Today, about 95 per cent of the hydrogen used to upgrade bitumen comes from natural gas. However, technology has been developed to manufacture hydrogen from biomass, which could be used as a substitute for hydrogen derived from natural gas.

“When we talk about reducing the GHG footprint from the fossil fuel industry, hydrogen is a big component,” says Dr. Kumar. “Our research fits in well in helping to de-carbonize or reduce the GHG footprint of the fossil fuel industry, by substituting hydrogen from renewal sources for fossil-fuel-based hydrogen.”

University of Alberta researchers gasified woody biomass to produce syngas, which was then used to produce hydrogen. The cost of producing hydrogen from biomass was still considerably more than from natural gas at its current price. The difference was between $3.00 to $4.00 per gigajoule for hydrogen derived from biomass versus about $1.00 per gigajoule from natural gas.

“But if you are looking at a world where you are trying to reduce GHG’s, these are attractive options,” says Dr. Kumar.

For more information about the BioCleantech Forum, contact Dr. Susan Wood-Bohm at Susan.Wood-Bohm @ albertainnovates.ca or Julia Necheff at julia.necheff@albertainnovates.ca.

The Edge

CWFC demonstrates harvest methods at North America's largest, contiguous willow plantation

BY TONY KRYZANOWSKI

O

ver the past decade, Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Wood Fibre Centre (CWFC), has laid the groundwork through its research and development program for the establishment of North America’s largest, contiguous, commercial willow plantation located in southern Alberta.

Just a few days after Thanksgiving, the partners involved in this project hosted a tour and demonstration of potential harvest methods on the momentous occasion of the site’s first commercial harvest.

CWFC was able to organize three commercial harvest demonstrations.

The first involved a tractor pulling the Canadian-developed, Anderson Biobaler WB-55, which produces a biomass bale similar in appearance to a straw bale. The second was the Claas wood header v1.0 attached to a self-propelled 800 Claas Jaguar harvester. This method produces bulk biomass blown into a bin pulled by a tractor travelling adjacent to the harvester.

The third was the Ny Vraa - JF 192 willow

harvester, which also produces bulk biomass. In this case, both the harvester and bin are pulled by a single tractor.

The willow plantation is located on 498 hectares on agricultural land leased from the Mountain View Hutterite Colony east of Calgary. A total of 6.9 million willow cuttings of various genetic types have been planted on the site, and after only three years, the first crop was ready for harvest.

The Alberta Rural Organic Waste to Resources Network (AROWRN), of which CWFC and the site partners are members, recognized the site’s first commercial harvest as a unique opportunity to host a Willow Harvesting Field Day. Participants gathered from throughout Alberta to learn how the project came about and what has been achieved to date.

The City of Calgary is a key participant in the Mountain View project, supplying about 25 percent of its biosolid waste in dry form as the organic fertilizer catalyst feeding the willow. The biomass harvested at this site will eventually be used by the City in its composting program. In addition to demonstrating a large-scale, Short Rotation Woody Crop (SRWC) willow plantation, the site also demonstrates safe, successful, and cheaper treatment of municipal biosolids, an opportunity for carbon sequestration, as well as the potential to improve the agriculture productivity of marginal soils.

As a demonstration site, the Mountain View willow plantation serves multiple purposes.

For CWFC, it represents the commercial uptake of its research.

The site’s first harvest was particularly gratifying to Richard Krygier, Intensive Fibre Management Specialist with CWFC,

The Anderson Biobaler (top photo) represents technology developed in Canada for harvesting short rotation wood crops. Almost like harvesting grain, the Claas wood header v1.0 attached to the 800 Claas Jaguar harvester (bottom photo) creates bulk biomass from short rotation willows.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - November 2016

and Martin Blank, Wood Fibre Production Technologist, who have been working for the past decade in the specialized area of how short rotation woody crops can be used successfully as part of an overall biosolids treatment method for smaller communities.

On smaller SRWC plantation projects established by the CWFC in Whitecourt and Camrose County at Ohaton, where local municipalities have worked with CWFC to apply treated municipal sewage wastewater to short rotation willows or aspen, Krygier says that, “we’ve shown that we can treat wastewater at a cost of 20 to 30 per cent of building another treatment cell. I think this is a viable alternative for smaller communities.”

In Alberta, this would typically be communities populated in the range of about 500 people, which explains the Hutterite Colony’s interest in the Mountain View demonstration project.

The Camrose County Ohaton demonstration site also showed that a short rotation woody crop works effectively to rehabilitate Solonetzic soil types over time, and as a further benefit, the woody biomass harvested from that site is used by the County as biofuel to heat its buildings.

On the Whitecourt site, application of the wastewater increased biomass yield by as much as 20 to 30 percent. A similar response was achieved on the Mountain View plantation site with some willow clones.

CWFC is now taking what it has learned from its municipal biosolids treatment and Solonetzic soil rehabilitation research using short rotation woody crops, and sharing it with those involved in oil sands mining site reclamation.

For more information about the Mountain View SRWC demonstration site, contact Mark Teshima at mteshima@sylvis.com. For general information on SRWC contact Richard Krygier at richard.krygier@canada.ca, Martin Blank at martin.blank@canada.ca, or Derek Sidders at derek.sidders@canada.ca.

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classified

INDEX PAGE

Allied Blower.................... 22 Andritz Iggesund Tools......... 7 Brandt Tractor................... 43 Brunette Machinery........... 48 Cloverdale Industrial......... 16 CNRE .............................. 57 Cyber-Tech........................ 45 Delta Computer................ 42 DK Spec Calendar Insert Eltec Element.................... 55 Finning .............................. 39 Ford Super Duty.................. 9 Globalstar........................... 5 HewSaw........................... 21

Interior Logging Conf......... 56 John Deere....................... 25 L-M Equipment.................. 33 Lico Machinery................. 32 Linck .............................. 35 Log Max............................ 46 Madison's Directory........... 60 Nokian Tyres....................... 2 Olofsfors Iggesund............. 44 Peterson............................ 41 Ponsse .............................. 13 Quadco............................ 49 Remote Operated Bulldozer.. 51 Rockshield Engineered....... 30 Sennebogen...................... 17

Sennebogen Movember..... 24 SKS Engineering................. 28 Smithco Mfg...................... 45 Southstar Equipment......... 49 Springer Microtec.............. 34 Tigercat............................. 64 Tsubaki............................. 29 USNR .............................. 31 Vacutherm Lumber Drying.53 Valutec.............................. 15 Volvo Truck....................... 23 Wajax Equipment.............. 47 Waratah............................ 63 Western Silviculture........... 56 Wood-Mizer........................ 6

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ADVERTISER

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thelastword

It's time to clamp down on unrestricted ATV access to unprotected public lands

By Tony Kryzanowski

M

ore and more, logging contractors and forestry companies are complaining about swarms of all-terrain vehicle (ATV) enthusiasts—also known as ‘quadders’—invading active logging areas.

Given the narrow roads, lack of radio communication by the public using resource roads, the risk of forest fires, and damage to the environment that quads can create, it’s time for the forest industry to raise this issue of unrestricted access and use on unprotected public lands with transportation authorities.

I realize that many Canadians view access to unprotected public lands as a divine right, and I generally agree with that principle. However, like the Fathers of the American Constitution who included the right to bear arms without anticipating the invention of the submachine gun, I don’t think that Canadian politicians anticipated the quad when they voted to maintain access to public land. When these rights were drafted, most people were still riding horses.

There is a definite dividing line when it comes to quadding—people either love them or they hate them, with no lack of quadding enthusiasts in the forestry community. However, given the number of close calls with both quadders and with vehicles towing quad trailers on radio-controlled resource roads, it’s about time to put some controls on the freefor-all currently guiding ATV use in most jurisdictions.

It is amazing how many environmental regulations we place on industry, yet a group of quadders can drive down a fish-bearing creek for miles or along a lakeshore during nesting season, and no one does anything about it. Yes, this practice is illegal in many jurisdictions. But there is no enforcement and the quadders know it.

Recently, I was riding along with a logging contractor and commented on how quiet it was around an out-of-the-way creek that looked promising for fly fishing.

His response caught me off guard. He said it was quiet now, but on weekends, the small area near the creek where some brush has been removed was absolutely choking with people, campers, and their quads, so much so, that the number of parked vehicles with quad trailers extended back along the narrow resource road for nearly a kilometre. It should be noted that this was not a designated campground.

At the time of our conversation, there was also an active log haul on the road.

A little further up, I noted a camper in the bush. I asked the logger if that was a campground. He looked at me and answered, “well, it is now.”

For too long, transportation authorities have turned a blind eye to this toxic combination of greater public access because of resource industry activity, complicated by the rise of ATV use. Municipal authorities and the police are the ones who hear the biggest complaints about irresponsible ATV use. They usually shrug their shoulders and respond that the problem is too big for them to handle.

It’s important to point out here that my suggestion of greater controls on ATV access does not refer to quad use on private property by the owner or for ATV users who have permission to use the property, although given the potential liability issues, I’m surprised how many landowners actually agree to allow access. But that’s their legal headache.

It seems that the authorities are starting to think the same way, that there needs to be more responsible ATV use.

B.C. adopted its new Off-Road Vehicle Act last year and the Alberta government recently authorized fines and the ability

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for enforcement personnel to issue fines on the spot for illegal activity.

But it has to go farther, starting with an age and operator license requirement for ATV operation, a review of general ATV use on unprotected public land, a permitting system for work-related ATV use during authorized resource activities, and designating areas off-limits to ATVs for safety and environmental protection.

Although some jurisdictions already allow this, logging and forestry companies across Canada should be allowed to post signs restricting non-authorized vehicular access on resource roads at least during active logging and log hauling within a defined distance from those activities.

Some logging contractors may complain that it will be more difficult to hire employees if they don’t have an ATV license. An ATV is a valuable tool for many industries like logging, oil and gas and mining. However, that’s the price we must pay for the irresponsible actions of some. Acquiring a license includes education about responsible use, which seems to be lacking in this whole issue of ATVs and public access.

In terms of restricting access to unprotected public land, we already do it. Hunting requires a license. We can’t hunt anywhere, whenever we want. Fishing also requires a license. We can’t fish anywhere, whenever we want. And quad owners should be licensed and should not be allowed to rip through public lands anywhere, whenever they want. Like fishing and hunting, recreational ATV users will have to adapt.

It’s time to shut down the party and realize what a safety and environmental menace that irresponsible ATV use has become, by at least putting more money into proper enforcement of the existing laws, and letting the forest sector restrict access when an area is active.

CONFIDENCE BY DESIGN. Compact and powerful, the LX830D is built to tackle steep terrain with ease.

The Tigercat FPT C87 engine packs 330 hp into a compact upper assembly for real confidence in tight thinning or tough final felling. The rock solid leveling base provides poise and stability on tough terrain and Tigercat’s closed loop drive system enhances speed, performance and efficiency on the steepest slopes.

Contact your Tigercat dealer today to learn more about the benefits of owning a Tigercat LX830D.

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