How can automation reduce waste in wood manufacturing?

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How can automation reduce waste in wood manufacturing?

How can automation reduce waste in wood manufacturing?

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Sep 11,25

Automation is enabling wood manufacturers to cut waste, improve consistency, and boost productivity by addressing material variability, enhancing finishing processes, and increasing precision in fabrication. This article by Emily Newton highlights real-world examples of how automation strengthens sustainability and competitiveness in the industry.

How can automation reduce waste in wood manufacturing?

Deploying automation in wood manufacturing can help producers achieve many goals, including improving sustainability through waste reduction. How have they relied on automated equipment and applications to enhance material utilization?

Accommodating production variability

Producers can curb unnecessary wastefulness by choosing automated equipment to handle the anticipated variation in wood used. That was the approach of the chief operating officer of Florida-based Phoenix Wood Products.

Despite his enduring automation interest and particular curiosity about nailing systems, he knew the company regularly purchased and cut a type of pine featuring frequent imperfections. Although the aspects add character, they also typically cause side-loading machines to jam. Those outcomes waste employees’ time, requiring them to address the blockages.

The executive eventually learned about and chose an automated nailing system with an unusually designed hopper and feeding mechanism. It holds boards from below to align them correctly, and the design makes the machine more tolerant of material variations. Before finalizing his decision, the leader visited sites to see the equipment. He also prioritized use cases similar to those in his plant, knowing they best represented the likely performance.

The installed machine impressed users with its quick changeovers, which can occur in less time than it takes to swap wood out. Additionally, leaders appreciated how this model has additional automation modules that could allow doing more despite a smaller workforce. Those benefits reduce waste by optimizing productivity.

Additionally, Phoenix Wood Products saw a measurable improvement in maximum output when Hurricane Helene required increased pallet production due to power outages affecting the area. Although its previous capacity was 65,000 per week, it made more than 100,000 in that time frame after investing in the automated nailing system.

Achieving better finish consistency

Wood manufacturers apply various finishes to improve material durability, enhance aesthetics or achieve other benefits. Employees tasked with these finishing steps have numerous specialized options to maximize their efforts. For example, airless spray gun pressures up to 3,000 pounds per square inch provide even applications. The lack of air also reduces bubbling, which can require rework to pass quality control checks.

Many wood manufacturers choose to automate time-consuming finishing steps, knowing such decisions can eliminate variations within human-performed duties. Even conscientious workers can become tired or distracted, which can cause them to make mistakes and waste material. Inexperience or low confidence can also result in errors that could erode overall quality depending on their extent and frequency.

Machines are imperfect but perform well when properly maintained, calibrated, and supervised. Leaders can consider retraining workers to fill some of those roles and gain valuable skills. Trusting them with new responsibilities can also lower turnover rates by keeping interest and motivation high.

Human resources departments consume time and money onboarding team members who leave after brief stays. Automated finishing systems get consistent results and address many factors that can make duties monotonous and less fulfilling, encouraging new hires to stay for the long term. Strategic process optimization also allows wood producers to lower contributions to the over 2 million metric tons of solid waste generated worldwide each year.

Reducing quantities of unusable materials

Most producers end up with pieces they cannot use but try to lower the overall amount. They realize that goal connects to sustainability goals and supports the bottom line by minimizing preventable resource depletion. Automation in wood manufacturing provides numerous options to explore.

Equipment such as automated cutting machines provides improved precision, allowing staff to manipulate materials into the desired sizes and shapes. Decision-makers can also unlock new waste-reduction possibilities by studying the best internal processes to automate.

Freres Engineered Wood is an Oregon-based, family-run business where leaders analyzed current fabrication steps to find enhancement opportunities. One of its proprietary products is a veneer-based panel. The production process involves peeling a log to create sheets of a specific thickness. Employees then form those into 1-inch-thick pieces to make larger panels. Some are up to 48 feet in length and 12 feet wide. Commercial clients purchase them for roofing and flooring projects.

Executives initially pursued automation several years ago, installing a production line in a new facility that allowed creating large panels out of numerous smaller pieces of wood by cutting scarf joints into them. However, the equipment for this step lacked the tolerances and consistency the leaders required. It often caused bowing and cupping in the products, and machine operators could not sufficiently limit panel vibration. These shortcomings restricted output, introduced quality control problems and increased waste.

Leaders addressed the problem by having an external enterprise design a cell with six-axis robots. Those machines feed the material into a cutting system, and a built-in measuring tool checks that each piece’s thickness falls within a target range. This upgrade significantly improved joint quality and gave employees more time for other tasks.

Succeeding with automation in wood manufacturing

Preventing wasted time and materials increases wood manufacturers’ competitiveness, resources, and agility in a demanding marketplace. Leaders hoping to get outcomes like these should carefully assess current challenges and find automated solutions to solve them. Whether they choose customized or off-the-shelf possibilities, they will get the best results by encouraging employees to become acquainted with new processes, ask questions and provide feedback.

About the author:

Emily Newton is a tech and industrial journalist and the Editor-in-Chief of Revolutionized magazine. Subscribe to the Revolutionized newsletter for more content from Emily.