Forest Products Industry

The Bandit team has launched the HM6420 hammermill grinder to market. This highly productive 40” capacity grinder is designed and manufactured to be an alternative solution for those grinding applications that may contain contaminants. Source: Timberbiz A Caterpillar C32, 1,200 horsepower engine provides ample torque and horsepower for optimal machine performance and productivity. The heart of the HM6420 is a 50” diameter x 66” wide hammermill. The heavy-duty mill features a 1.75” drum skin custom formed from rolled plate. The mill is supported by a 7” main shaft constructed of alloy steel that has been ultrasonic tested. Each pocket within the mill is manufactured from high strength A-514 steel. These combinations create a structural sound mill for added durability and integrity. The mill is equipped with 20 carbide infused hammer inserts built to withstand the toughest material fed into the machine. Each holder is securely attached to the mill via a patent-pending quick change pocket system. Each holder recesses into the mill pocket, increasing durability. A top plate covers the pocket and holds in place by six hex bolts. The hammer insert is attached to each holder utilizing two bolts. With this set-up, the mill hardware is easier and quicker to replace. A heavy-duty slat-style infeed conveyor is directly driven generating over 18,000 pounds of pulling power. The large diameter feed wheel is also directly driven and provides an additional 17,000 pounds of pulling power and 8,650 to 17,300 pounds of down force when hydraulic pressure is applied. These combinations allow the HM6420 to grind massive quantities of material efficiently and effectively at one time. A proportional feed system is standard and regulates the feed system from 82 – 132 feet per minute. The HM6420 has one of the fastest feed rates on the market allowing it to quickly process material. The proportional feed system allows operators to adjust the feed based on material being processed ensuring maximum output and grinder efficiency, all while achieving a higher quality end-product. Three screens are located on the top side of the HM6420 mill. A variety of screen sizes are available up to 7” to produce various end-product sizes. The top feed wheel moves upward, and a removable screen cradle allows for quick screen set-up changes. All work for screen changing is performed outside of the machine. An impact detection system is standard and designed to limit damage if a contaminant is struck inside the grinding chamber. Once an impact event is detected, the grinder will idle down, open the gate, disengage the clutch, and reverse the feed. A 56” wide height adjustable discharge with a stacking height of 16’ 8” is standard. The height of the discharge can easily be adjusted accommodating various grinding scenarios and situations. The standard wireless remote controls all grinding and tracking functions and features an LCD screen that will display engine coolant temperature, engine oil pressure, engine load percentage, engine RPM, and battery voltage.

John Deere has announced it has entered into an agreement with SpaceX to provide cutting-edge satellite communications (SATCOM) service to farmers. Utilizing the industry-leading Starlink network, this solution will allow farmers facing rural connectivity challenges to fully leverage precision agriculture technologies. Source: Timberbiz This partnership, an industry first, will enable John Deere customers to be more productive, profitable, and sustainable in their operations as they continue to provide food, fuel, and fibre for their communities and a growing global population. “The value of connectivity to farmers is broader than any single task or action. Connectivity unlocks vast opportunities that were previously limited or unavailable,” said Aaron Wetzel, Vice President of Production and Precision Ag Production Systems at John Deere. “For example, throughout the year, farmers must complete tasks within extremely short windows of time. This requires executing incredibly precise production steps while coordinating between machines and managing machine performance. Each of these areas are enhanced through connectivity, making the entire operation more efficient, effective, and profitable.” The SATCOM solution will connect both new and existing machines through satellite internet service and ruggedized satellite terminals. This will fully enable technologies such as autonomy, real-time data sharing, remote diagnostics, enhanced self-repair solutions, and machine-to-machine communication, all of which help farmers work more efficiently while minimizing downtime. “John Deere has led the agriculture equipment industry for more than two decades with satellite-based precision guidance technology,” said Jahmy Hindman, Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer at John Deere. “Now, we are bringing satellite communications service to the farm at scale so farmers with cellular coverage challenges can maximize the value of connectivity to their operations. The SATCOM solution unlocks the John Deere tech stack so every farmer can fully utilize their current precision agriculture technology in addition to the new innovative solutions they will deploy in the future. We initiated this process with a fierce focus on delivering value to our customers, and this partnership ensures we have a solution that meets their needs today and in the future.” John Deere’s SATCOM solution will leverage SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet constellation. To activate this solution, John Deere dealers will install a ruggedized Starlink terminal on compatible machines, along with a 4G LTE JDLink modem to connect the machine to the John Deere Operations Center. The SATCOM solution will initially be available through a limited release in the United States and Brazil starting in the second half of 2024.  

Due to the continued weak and uncertain market environment, Stora Enso plans to initiate a new profit improvement program which could lead to a potential reduction of approximately 1000 employees. Source: Timberbiz The profit improvement program is designed to improve Stora Enso’s long-term competitiveness by focusing on core business activities that can drive the Group’s strategy supported by a decentralised operating model. The profit improvement program would be implemented without any new production site closures. The majority of the savings would materialise during 2025, and the larger part of the employee reductions are planned to take place during the first half of 2024. The employee reductions, efficiency improvements and synergy opportunities would impact all divisions and Group functions and reflect the size of their respective organisations. “Although difficult, this plan is necessary to ensure our long-term success and competitiveness. Last year, we completed a restructuring program which led to the identification of synergy opportunities, which we plan to address with our new profit improvement initiative. “We are facing persistent weakness in the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment and need to focus on core business activities which align with our strategy. Through this programme we would strengthen our focus on profitability making us more competitive and resilient to market uncertainties,” Hans Sohlström, Stora Enso’s President and CEO said. No decisions regarding the planned employee reductions will be taken until the change negotiations have been concluded according to local regulations. At the end of last year Stora Enso completed a restructuring program which was initiated in June 2023 and resulted in 1150 employee reductions.  

Radial Timber is a Victorian based company that grows, mills and distributes a range of unique and standard products from durable and sustainable Victorian Hardwoods. Their latest innovative radial saw technology is unique and proudly developed in Gippsland Victoria. Source: Timberbiz The radial saw works by taking very small diameter hardwood sawlogs and cuts them up into wedges like a pizza. Once the saw has cut the log into wedges, it then cuts those wedges into boards whilst maximising the recovery of sawn timber from smaller logs. As such, radial sawing has a range of both environmental and technical benefits. Where conventional sawing methods require large diameter logs, the radial saw helps make small hardwood logs more viable by maximising the yield of high value timber products. Twenty years ago Radial Timber started with a prototype plant which was very manual labour intensive, and very low in productivity. Over the years the team at Radial kept refining and developing ideas and concepts. They realised if they were ever going move forward, they had to scale up to a fully commercial plant. As the demand for their radial sawn commercial timber increased, the team made plans to improve production as well as their processing methods. The team at Radial Timber started early discussions with engineering company AE Gibson & Sons, to discuss their concepts and ideas. They wanted to get a reputable engineering business in Australia to produce the sawmill equipment and help them to develop and improve on the sawmill machinery they already had on site. Once Radial Timber had the IP in place for the unique process, they knew they were onto a winner. The engineering team at AE Gibson & Sons took it in their stride to engineer a fully customised unique machine. The Gibson team understood the brief and came back with an implementation plan to engineer a suitable solution. Prior to the Gibson machine design, the initial radial saw was difficult to load and position the log accurately. It was also time consuming to extract the wedges from the cut zone. With the newly designed radial saw the log is positioned and dogged automatically, and the saw cut pattern is PLC controlled. As each saw cut is completed, the log rotates 45 degrees resulting in eight cuts per log. This greatly increases the machine production outputted and it’s all controlled by an operator located safely in a control cabin. The timber wedges move from the log saw to a transfer deck and then the resaw, where each wedge is cut into multiple boards. With eight timber wedges and up to five or six boards out of each wedge, this results in 35 or more long timber boards coming out of every small log. “It helps to predict exactly what you’re recovering from each log, if it’s a six metre timber log most of the boards are six metres long,” Radial Timber owner and managing director Chris McEvoy said. This was so important, since the company could see the log size coming from forests were getting smaller, and the increased need to recover more from the small logs. This helped them make the decision to invest in improving their overall process with Gibson machinery and technology. Radial Timber has also invested in plantation forests, with 1000 hectares of plantations that have been planted over the last 20 years with 1000 hectares more to go. The important thing about the latest radial technology is that it’s ideally suited to plantation timber. With plantation timber you can grow a tree to a certain size and a certain height. This enables Radial to plan and predict exactly what they are going to get out of every piece of timber. The more uniform the timber product, the higher the recovery with less wastage and the more profitability there will be.