Hello
from the 'Chief' HITMAN
Peter
Carter
We
have all been affected by the difficult times the industry has been
experiencing, but we are seeing 'green shoots' of change which are very
encouraging. Consents for building, and building starts are on the
increase, and many mills have full order books again. While confidence
grows that these changes will continue to build, this is a good time to
consider opportunities for improving productivity and reducing waste.
Every operation has many opportunities, and ranking of benefit is always
a difficult task. While making more high value product from the same
resource using HITMAN is easy to see, the benefit of reduced further
processing cost is often overlooked.
HITMAN
technology creates the opportunity for waste to be substantially reduced
in the structural wood product processing stream - for example
10-20% of the timber drying kilns operating in New Zealand, and 10% of
the kilns in UK today are drying lumber that will not meet structural
grade specification, and need not be dried nor graded. This involves
energy waste with direct cost of $20/m3 in NZ and £12/m3 in UK which
this technology provides a means to eliminate, and the energy used in
drying is 60-70% of the total energy used to manufacture timber.
Consider the 10 August 2009 NZ Government statement;
"NZ
Climate Change Ministers Nick Smith and Tim Groser today announced an
emissions reduction target range of 10% to 20% below 1990 levels by
2020. ... Dr Smith said New Zealand would meet its 2020 target through a
mixture of domestic emission reductions, the storage of carbon in
forests, and the purchase of emission reductions from other countries."
HITMAN
technology will bring direct benefit to your operations, and can make a
significant contribution towards meeting emissions reduction targets.
HITMAN
used in burnt forests
from
TimberBiz Daily Timber News, 16 September 2009
Financial
returns and productivity from fire-damaged pine plantations at Pinjar
and Yanchep in West Australia have been maximised, and an extra 10,000m3
of sustainable timber have been delivered to Wesbeam in the past few
months thanks to new acoustic tools now in use by the Forest
Products Commission (FPC).
Around
the world acoustics are now being used to achieve increased
environmental and economic benefits by maximising the amount of timber
that plantations can produce and by segregating the timber on the basis
of quality.
By
efficiently fulfilling the demand for timber, the area of plantation
harvested is minimised. At the same time, early segregation of timber in
the forest to meet the quality requirements of a processor not only
saves money in processing but also minimises the carbon footprint of
transportation.
Since
severe bushfires hit the FPC's Pinjar and Yanchep plantations in January
the newly available acoustic tools have been trialled to identify trees
most at risk of degradation using non-destructive, in-field testing
techniques.
Research
being carried out in WA by the FPC has shown that the technology also
enables the rate of post-fire degradation in timber to be measured.
Research
Scientist Andrew Lyon said the FPC had been using the new acoustic
technology in cooperation with Neerabup-based company Wesbeam, a
manufacturer of engineered timber products (Laminated Veneer Lumber -
LVL) from Western Australia's sustainably grown and managed pinaster and
radiata pine plantations.
"The
acoustic testing we've undertaken has not only minimised the loss of
timber through degradation before harvesting occurs, but also maximised
the recovery of timber from fire damaged plantations. This work has led
to an extra 10,000m3 of sustainable timber being delivered to Wesbeam in
the past few months" Lyon said.
For
the full article go to:
http://www.timberbiz.com.au/dtn/details.asp?ID=328
HITMAN
in use around the world
Follow-up
research from Oregon: 'Estimating breakeven prices for Douglas-fir
veneer logs using acoustic tools'
from
Dzhamal Amishev and Glen Murphy in Forest Products Journal Vol 59, No.
4, pp45-52
In
a follow-up to the article highlighted in our last 'User Forum' Amishev
and Murphy went on to see how acoustic tools could be used to estimate
prices or price premiums for veneer logs in Oregon. The study showed
total gross revenue, veneer manufacturing costs, and net revenue across
seven study sites, and concluded that "stand stiffness grading based on
acoustic velocity measurements on Douglas-fir peeler logs at the time of
harvest could be used as a surrogate measure for potential net returns
from that harvested forest stand and hence for a premium price to be
afforded on such stands. The sample with the greatest net revenue
($1,145 per thousand board feet) was 3% higher than the next one and
more than 16% higher than the lowest one."
You
can read the full article in the Forest Products Journal Vol 59, No. 4,
pp45-52, or contact
us for a copy.
Published
research from Scotland: 'Acoustic assessment of Timber Quality in Scots
Pine'
from
Dave Auty and Alexis Achim in Forestry, Volume 81, No. 4, 2008
pp475-487
This
paper concluded that acoustic speeds measured in standing Scots pine
trees using the time-of-flight technique are a reliable surrogate
indicator of static timber properties such as MoE and MoR. The study
describes studies showing that acoustic tools could provide reliable
non-destructive predictions of mechanical properties of Scots pine
(Pinus sylvestris L.). The HITMAN ST300 hand tool and the PH330
both use the time-of-flight technique to measure acoustic speeds in
standing trees. You can read the full article in Forestry Volume 81, No.
4, 2008 pp475-487, or contact us for a copy.
HITMAN
ST300 tools upgraded
With
ongoing upgrades the latest version HITMAN ST300 standing tree tools are
now further improved in performance. Ideal for ranking stands for
stiffness, new tools have been recently shipped to Finland, Canada, USA
and New Zealand, and are finding a place in pre-harvest inventory and
harvest planning, as well as tree breeding programs and wood quality
research. They work equally well and are being used by researchers and
operational planners across a wide range of species.
New
tools are available now, and a rebate is on offer for orders confirmed
by the end of October 2009. If you are considering a new standing tree
tool contact us
and we will be happy to provide you with more detail.
Feedback
- Share your story
It
would be great if you can send us a story about what you are achieving
with your HITMAN tools, and some pictures of them
in use. We would like to include this in future editions for others to
share! If we all share how we are using the tools for
better results and benefits, everyone's returns will be
improved. We look forward to hearing from you and welcome your
feedback...
