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APPLICATIONS AND INITIATIVES

Improve the quality of the lumber manufactured by your mill

Short of investing in multimillion-dollar equipment or a brand-new mill, a viable alternative to increase earnings is to improve the quality of your lumber.

You can improve the quality of your lumber through a combination of the following measures

1. IMPLEMENT A QUALITY CONTROL PROGRAM

Establish a system to inspect and grade the lumber at various stages of production to ensure consistent quality.

2. IMPROVE SAWING ACCURACY

Use advanced sawing equipment and techniques to reduce waste and improve the accuracy and consistency of cuts.

3. PROPER KILN DRYING

Control the temperature and humidity of kiln-drying chambers to prevent defects and ensure proper drying.

4. USE PROPER STORAGE AND HANDLING PRACTICES

Minimize damage to lumber during storage and transportation with proper stacking techniques and covering materials.

5. TRAIN EMPLOYEES

Provide training and education to employees on quality control and best practices for production and handling of lumber.

6. PERFORM REGULAR MAINTENANCE

Regularly maintain and repair equipment to ensure optimal performance and reduce the risk of defects in the finished product.

7. IMPLEMENT A CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM

Continuously monitor and evaluate processes, and seek feedback from customers to identify areas for improvement and drive quality up.

Stacked lumber in a yard

This seems simple on the surface—and you know all this—but it may prove very hard to execute without the right information, especially since the measures must be synchronized to be effective. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and machine reports are widely pooled for insights, but they fall short for several reasons.

1. MOST ERPs LACK THE DEPTH SPECIFIC TO LUMBER MANUFACTURING

The lumber manufacturing process and the supply chain of lumber mills are very different from your usual discrete manufacturing, which is what most commercial-off-the-shelf ERPs are designed for. In fact, lumber manufacturing is closer to process manufacturing, but not quite. For example, sawmilling is a divergent process—there are various acceptable quality grades and it’s possible to accept “losing” some a of the raw matter to maximize value. This usually means that ERPs must be heavily customized to meet your needs.

2. MACHINE REPORTS ONLY TAKE THE MACHINE INTO ACCOUNT

This means that they isolate the machine from the rest of the system, overlooking outside elements that may influence its efficiency and effectiveness. These outside elements must be factored in and then analyzed, which can prove time consuming and complex, making actionable insights hard to get—thus, their impact on quality is limited.

Panoramic view of lumber on conveyor passing in front of mirror

mes TO THE RESCUE

Luckily, a manufacturing execution system (MES) can help supplement your ERP and machine reports, and—indeed—your quality improvement program in many ways:

1. REAL-TIME PRODUCTION TRACKING

An MES like PMP TeamMate provides real-time data on manufacturing operations, such as availability, product yields, and labor performance. This helps monitor manufacturing processes in real-time and make data-driven decisions directly on the plant floor, which has been shown to have a real impact on product quality.

2. QUALITY CONTROL

An MES can help monitor and control the quality of products being manufactured. It can also track and manage product defects, helping to reduce waste and improve overall product quality.

More specifically, PMP TeamMate pools data from all the equipment it’s integrated to and applies a layer of intelligence that takes the form of pre-analyzed reports from which you can easily derive actionable information regarding quality and more.

3. WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT

An MES can help streamline and optimize production workflows, reducing downtimes and improving overall equipment efficiency (OEE), resulting in higher quality products.

4. EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE

An MES can help manage and track equipment maintenance, ensuring that machines are kept in good working condition and reducing the risk of unplanned downtimes.

PMP TeamMate, in fact, offers tools to analyze the various causes of downtime, which can help you plan maintenance and predictive maintenance.

5. COMPLIANCE

An MES can help lumber mills to comply with industry regulations, such as the moisture content of lumber, which also yields higher quality lumber.

 

An MES (compared to an ERP) provides a more granular view of manufacturing operations, enabling better control and optimization of manufacturing processes, which not only help lumber mills improve quality, but also increase efficiency and reduce waste. Time has also shown that giving timely information to key employees on the plant floor prompts proactive behavior and a sense of pride in a job well done.

In over 15 years, we’ve worked with over 100 mills like yours across the United States and Canada. As such, PMP TeamMate is the only complete lumber-specific solution that addresses every aspect of lumber manufacturing, reliably and efficiently orchestrating your operations so they run more smoothly, efficiently, and profitably. We’re proud to see floor and management staff alike systematically adopt PMP TeamMate as their go-to tool to help them operate at peak efficiency.

Smiling plant manager in front of lumber line and PMP TeamMate dashboardTalk to sales

PMP TeamMate—go beyond conventional reporting. Put your data to work

PMP TeamMate is the operating system for your wood transformation business—whether it’s a single or multiple-mill operation. It's a complete operating system for your mill—each module PMP TeamMate can be used individually or in any combination, but they are all designed to offer you the information to get more out of your mill and the people who work in it, because our solution is your teammate.
Helps you know precisely what comes into your sawmill, if it’s optimal for your recipes, if what goes out is off-sized and why, and much more. Finding out before the wood is in the yard can be the difference between a successful run and one full of lower grades.
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Helps you monitor and analyze planing performance, kick starting effective bidirectional communication between management and operations to drive the best possible results, improve over time, and maximize the value of your products.
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Drying wood, especially in kilns, is an essential part of wood transformation and, after sawing, key to obtaining quality products. PMP WeDry helps you more effectively control moisture content, optimize kiln operations for wood that's more standard going into planing.
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PMP WeTrack offers you a clear, concise, and complete understanding of your inventory at all stages of manufacturing, which helps you seize opportunities as they crop up and is crucial to move your wood more profitably.
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With PMP WeSchedule you can bring it all together, streamlining operations according to current market needs, available supply, up-to-date production, and order backlogs. You’ll then be able to move the right wood at the right time.
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Start putting your data to work . BETTER MOVE THE WOOD

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