As the crowning achievement, a robot from ABB has now been put into operation in the new planing line.
The robot assists with block handling in connection with the banding of the planed timber produced by the new planing line.
Quiet and meticulous
Initially, there was some work involved in calibrating the robot. Since that was completed, our new and relatively quiet colleague has been performing its tasks with utmost precision, which you can see in the video here next to this text.
The decision to invest in a new planing line was made in May 2022 and our new Waco Gigant planer was delivered in September 2023. By then, work on the planing line had already been underway for some time.
Our CEO, Thomas Gustafsson, then received the planer from the supplier Mouldex, and was very pleased:
“This is a huge leap for us. With the new planing line, we can triple production compared to before, or even more. Previously, we needed to outsource much of our planing to an external supplier, but now we will be able to plane everything ourselves in our own facility,” he said then.
Now that the planing line has been crowned with the new robot, Thomas Gustafsson can breathe a sigh of relief after the sawmill’s largest investment ever. In total, about 30 million kronor have been invested in the planing line.
“It feels good that the final component is in place. The robot is a natural part of the efficiencies required for us to maintain our competitive edge in the market,” says Thomas Gustafsson.
Possible to plane others’ timber
When the new planing line operates on the day shift, it can now produce up to 40,000 cubic meters of planed timber per year.
The majority, about 90 percent, of what is produced at our sawmill in Tvärskog is exported. A large part is shipped to our subsidiary in the United Kingdom, and to the American market.
But the planing line, with the new robot, also offers capacity for additional production.
“There will also be capacity for further processing of others’ timber in the planer,” Thomas Gustafsson emphasizes.