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\u2019s sawmill site in Kawerau is now underway to help achieve that goal.\u00a0\u201cWe started this journey in December 2012.<\/p>\n
Our old equipment couldn\u2019t handle the amount of timber we were creating so we commissioned USNR \u2013 the world\u2019s leading supplier of timber handling equipment \u2013 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doubling Production Capacity<\/p>\n
USNR timber optimisation scanning equipment has also been installed on Sequal\u2019s bin sort line to increase recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has improved the amount of lumber we can recover from each log. We\u2019re now planning the next steps to improve our stacking process so we can stack the wood we create as fast as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the end of 2013, Sequal will commission a thin board line to handle the reprocessing of smaller board dimensions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe anticipate we\u2019ll be able to double our production capacity and substantially increase our recovery, making us more competitive across a range of markets.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mill\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis gives our timber boards a high-quality<\/strong> finish and the quality<\/em> of the mill\u2019s chip has also improved as a result of the new equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n A major new development planned for 2014 is the installation of a geothermally-powered kiln on site.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a very strong focus on renewability,\u201d Turner says. \u201cOur 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sequal Lumber has its sights set on becoming the most e…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1837,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-35"],"yoast_head":"\nSequal 100% Sustainable<\/h4>\n