Upgrades worth more than $10 million now underway at Sundre Forest Products mill west of town should help keep the massive facility competitive for years to come, says general manager Brian Balkwill.
“This will go a long way towards ensuring the future of the mill and its employees,” Balkwill said during a recent tour of the facility. “We are utilizing the latest technology and we are going to recover more lumber out of the logs than we did in the past, which should lower our costs and make us more competitive in the world market.”
The upgrades, which have been in the planning stages since early 2011, include the installation of a new $4.8 million SST canter line.
Weighing about 78,000 kilograms (170,000 pounds), the combined components of the new line were lifted into place using a 200-ton crane.
The components are so large that a portion of the roof had to be removed to bring the machinery in – and still there was less than an inch of clearance between the walls and the incoming equipment.
The Vancouver-built line uses a high-tech laser scanning system and a series of chipping heads and saws to cut round logs into square timbers called cants. The cants are then cut into various sizes and lengths of lumber before being dried, planed and shipped.
The new line, which replaces a line installed in 1996, can process 700 linear feet of lumber per minute or about 17,000 boards per 11-hour shift.
“That's a lot of logs,” said Balkwill. A second major upgrade being made elsewhere in the plant will see the installation of a second $6.8 million planer line.
The 240-foot building addition should be completed later this year or early in the new year.
“These are the biggest upgrades we've had since we installed the energy plant, at a cost of $11 million, in 2007,” said Balkwill. “We remain one of the most competitive mills as far as costs anywhere.”
The Sundre Forest Projects mill employs about 250 workers. About 120 logging trucks a day come into the mill, with about 110 trucks loaded with lumber, sawdust, shavings and other products leaving during the same period.
(See more photos at sundreroundup.com)
