 In spite of a tough economy, a new supplier of sawmill scanning and optimization has hung out its shingle in North America.
Microtec Industries North America Inc. is a new joint venture company based in Salmon Arm, BC Canada. The venture combines the strengths and intellectual property of the most successful European provider of sawmill equipment; Springer MaschinenFabrik of Austria and Microtec International of Italy, with an experienced North American management and engineering team. Combined, Microtec Industries North America has almost 250 years of industry expertise amongst the 15 staff.
Springer & Microtec EU are the largest supplier of scanning technology, Glulam mills, and lumber handling equipment in Europe. Springer’s goal is to build a supply network that spans the globe serving the wood processing community.
Microtec Industries North America made its debut at the recent IWF Show in Atlanta. Tim Gallant, executive director of international sales, said the company has positioned itself to be the major third player in scanning and optimization systems in the N.A. market.
“We know that North American sawmills operate differently from those in Europe,” he said. “The lumber is different and we need more robust scanners and sensor housings here. Our plans to “North Americanize” the European equipment for the planer mill market includes initiatives like converting components and shafting to imperial measurements.”
He added, “In our Salmon Arm facility we’ll be doing do board tests on lumber and logs to find ways to provide higher paybacks to our customers who want to replace older scanners, or put new installations into older mills.”
The Salmon Arm operation will take Springer and Microtec’s already proven technology and adapt it to the requirements of North American market. The facility will house sales staff and engineering and manufacturing of scanners and PLCs. Mechanical products will also be locally manufactured.
The 25,000 sq. ft. floor space will be used for customer testing on logs, lumber and reman applications, as well as pre-delivery testing of all scanning equipment.
“We’ll also offer complete controls software.” said Gallant. “We have the capacity to upgrade or replace anybody’s existing equipment or ageing control system with scanners for complete mill-through software, or for secondary manufacturing.”
Capability
Microtec has the expertise to design and manufacture software, controls and mechanical equipment for any reman, sawmill or engineered wood clients. The company’s skill set lies in the ability to design and implement custom applications to suit specific needs. We have the in- house capability to service controls and mechanical equipment for all of our solid wood processing clients.
Available Services and Products
• Mechanical and controls servicing of solid wood processing machinery • SR strength grading device – Viscan • MSR strength grading device with x-ray supplement – ViscanPlus
• Linear lumber scanner for the remanufacturing market - Golden Eye
• Lumber moisture meter – M3Scan • Growth ring scanner & turner – Optiside • Log scaling – Log Eye
Lumber Tally – Variosort
• Lumber handling controls systems - new and upgrades
Mechanical Unscramblers, Lugloaders, Stacker line, Auto hopper filler, Tilthoist, Stick Collection, Sorter bin additions, miscellaneous conveying of lumber.
Glue laminated beam processing systems
Products available in the near future:
Linear Planermill lumber grader for the dimension market - Golden Eye (under development-available for sale Q1 2009)
Products available for demonstration at the Salmon Arm facility in October: • Viscan & Viscan Plus
• Linear lumber scanner for the remanufacturing market - Golden Eye
• M3Scan
• OptiScan • Log Eye
Products available for demonstration at the Salmon Arm facility in December:
• Linear planermill lumber scanner for the dimension market - Golden Eye
• IDScan
* • Discan edger and trimmer optimizer
• Goldeneye 2006
Parts of this article were provided by Microtec Industries.
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