Sequal Lumber has its sights set on becoming the most efficient timber producer in New Zealand. CEO David Turner says a multi-million dollar upgrade to Sequal Lumber’s sawmill site in Kawerau is now underway to help achieve that goal. “We started this journey in December 2012.
Our old equipment couldn’t handle the amount of timber we were creating so we commissioned USNR – the world’s leading supplier of timber handling equipment – to upgrade our technology in this area. Since then we have almost doubled our throughput per hour which has made a huge difference to our overall productivity.”
Doubling Production Capacity
USNR timber optimisation scanning equipment has also been installed on Sequal’s bin sort line to increase recovery.
“This has improved the amount of lumber we can recover from each log. We’re now planning the next steps to improve our stacking process so we can stack the wood we create as fast as possible.”
By the end of 2013, Sequal will commission a thin board line to handle the reprocessing of smaller board dimensions.
“We anticipate we’ll be able to double our production capacity and substantially increase our recovery, making us more competitive across a range of markets.”
Higher Quality Finish
The mill’s chipper canter heads have also been completely replaced with Iggesund Heads installed on the four chipper canters. The result is a smooth, almost plane-like finish, on each and every timber board Sequal Lumber produces.
“This gives our timber boards a high-quality finish and the quality of the mill’s chip has also improved as a result of the new equipment.”
Sequal 100% Sustainable
A major new development planned for 2014 is the installation of a geothermally-powered kiln on site.
“We have a very strong focus on renewability,” Turner says. “Our logs are all Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified as a renewable resource and we will be using renewable geothermal energy to dry them. People who receive products from Sequal can rest assured they are 100 percent sustainable.”