Three of 10 dry kilns at Havco Wood Products LLC, Scott City, MO, with the Danfoss ¡°Cold Steam¡± Water Mist System for humidity control.
The Equipment ¡°Doctors¡± At Sawmill MD Build Customer Relationships Offering State-Of-The-Art Solutions
By Gary Miller
Crestview, FL¡ªOptimization and operational consulting are only part of the services offered at Sawmill MD, headquartered here. Co-owners Mike Ballard and Duncan Ferguson established the company in 2002 after they discovered a need in the market for an optimizer savvy company that not only provides solutions, but also offers complete application consultation.
Sawmill MD distributes and installs SiCam Systems, Vancouver, BC; RealTime Size Control Systems and the SiCam LSIZE Caliper System, McDonough Manufacturing, Eau Claire, WI; Bandmills, Carriages, Optimized Linear Edgers, Transverse Edgers, Optimized Edger/Gang Combinations; and Danfoss, Denmark, Mist Systems that offer high pressure misting to control sawdust and improve sawing.
The company also provides financial and administrative services that include identification of capital requirements, insurance review, financial systems review and upgrades, forecasting, and risk and vendor management.
The Danfoss unit is utilized for humidity control in seven kilns and dust control in the sawdust silo.
Ferguson has a master¡¯s degree in forest products and Ballard holds a bachelor¡¯s degree in accounting. ¡°Duncan¡¯s experience at Harvey Electronics, Hemco, CSMI, USNR, Trident, Perceptron, and ASM enables him to identify large and small issues with the complicated electronics used in the sawmill industry,¡± Ballard explained. ¡°He can quantify the existing performance level of your optimization and control systems, and then suggest and implement changes needed to enhance the systems¡¯ performance.¡±
The time that Ballard spent in sawmill management positions at J.L. Sizemore Sons Lumber Co., and New South, Graham, NC, compliments the time that he and Ferguson had with Kockum¡¯s, Hemco, CSMI, USNR and ASM on the equipment manufacturing side of the sawmill industry. ¡°My background is in equipment manufacturing and finance,¡± said Ballard. ¡°I help operations that are looking for opportunities to enhance what they do and find ways to help them do that and benefit from a financial aspect at the same time.¡±
He continued, ¡°Duncan has been in the forest products industry for pretty much his entire life. I¡¯ve been in the industry for more than half of my life now. When we established Sawmill MD, we basically sought out forest products companies that needed to have better representation from an independent perspective. So we started with the larger sawmill equipment and we¡¯ve continued to move into other areas. We¡¯ve been a distributor for Danfoss for about 10 years and we have installed the Danfoss Mist System in about 200 dry kilns around the country. The Danfoss Mist System is one of our four primary product lines. Manufactured in Denmark, the system is designed to reduce the demand and the fuel usage in boilers and improve lumber quality by controlling the humidity in the dry kilns. We¡¯ve adapted that to the Hardwood world in the U.S., which has made a big difference for the Hardwood suppliers that have to spend time conditioning and equalizing their lumber.¡±
The Danfoss unit for additional three kilns at Havco¡¯s Scott City location.
Ballard explained some of the benefits of the Danfoss system. ¡°After installation of the Danfoss system, our customers find their overall quality improves significantly and there is a reduction in the overall demand on their boilers. Air Emission control quality is key to the operations and adding boiler capacity is very difficult. They want to add dry kilns but they can¡¯t add any more boiler capacity. So we¡¯re doing a lot of things that benefit the lumber by taking stress off of the boiler. There is much less water being added to the boiler daily, which reduces chemicals. A primary advantage of this system is that it is easy to maintain.¡±
Sawmill MD recently completed the installation of a second Danfoss high-pressure mist system for humidity control in three additional kilns at Havco Wood Products in Scott City, MO. Havco produces laminated Oak trailer flooring from their large woodworking plants located in both Scott City, MO, and Vonore, TN.
After running the Danfoss system supplied by Sawmill MD for less than four months in seven of their other kilns, Havco Wood Products decided to make the addition. ¡°The installation of the Danfoss System by Sawmill MD is one of the best projects we have ever done,¡± Ronnie Larentius, Havco¡¯s purchasing and lumberyard manager explained. ¡°The first Danfoss system Sawmill MD installed performed so well that within three months we were ready to order a second system.¡±
¡°The use of the Danfoss system to control the kiln¡¯s humidity significantly reduced demand on Havco¡¯s boiler and improved recovery, making the return on investment less than four months on the large dry kiln project,¡± Ballard added.
High pressure water mist from the 8-valve Danfoss unit, purchased for the seven kilns for humidity control is utilizing the eighth valve for dust control while loading trucks in the silo.
¡°Improved, standard deviation across the kiln charge, and lumber appearance are also benefits of using the Danfoss system versus steam in the kilns,¡± he continued. ¡°Reduced cost, faster kiln turns and improved lumber quality are positive results that Havco has seen with the Danfoss system in their kilns.¡±
Havco¡¯s Team Leader Earle Stevens commented, ¡°We are using the Danfoss system to meet our set points on the relative humidity in our dry kilns. We also are able to use it for dust suppression while the trucks are being loaded.¡±
Ballard added, ¡°We¡¯re utilizing the same pump system that is operating in seven of their kilns. The larger unit has an eighth control point that¡¯s running to their loading area and we¡¯ve got about 40 nozzles installed so that when they load their byproducts, it provides them the ability to add moisture to the air while they¡¯re loading the trucks. It has made a significant improvement. The ability to atomize the water at 1500 psi and get a real fine mist with a variety of nozzle sizes puts us in a very unique position overall. There are 30 nozzles in each dry kiln that are spread one foot apart. We start five feet off the wall so we don¡¯t have condensation on the wall. Because of that we have even distribution of moisture across the kiln and that¡¯s one of the primary things that helps the equalization issue.¡±
With 10 dry kilns and two boilers in place Stevens said the new Danfoss systems at Havco have made an immediate impact on the company¡¯s operation as well as the bottom line.
According to Ballard, customers install the Danfoss system for three reasons. ¡°The reasons customers utilize this system include boiler capacity issues, equalizing and conditioning dry kilns, and an immediate improvement in the quality of their lumber,¡± he explained.
Mike Ballard (far left), co-owner, Sawmill MD with the Havco Wood Products team (left to right): Todd Honey, Earl Stevens and Ronnie Laurentius that championed the purchase of the Danfoss system and has made it a successful addition to the drying process at the Scott City operation.
Ballard said installation isn¡¯t difficult and the turn-around time is relatively quick. ¡°It takes about a day per kiln to make the installation. We spent about seven days on the Havco operation. The return on investment makes this an easy decision from a management prospective. From an operational prospective it doesn¡¯t add work for the employees. The system doesn¡¯t have belts and oil that need tending to all the time. Once it¡¯s set up and turned on it¡¯s fully automated and operates on its own.¡±
Ferguson and Ballard have more than a financial investment in their products and services. They¡¯re invested from a personal level of continual improvement. ¡°When I think back to when we started Sawmill MD, the ultimate reason is because we felt that there was a real ability to enhance the production of a facility without increasing their cost,¡± Ballard explained. ¡°We look for ways to make things operate better and faster and to overall improve costs. Repeat customers will tell you everything you need to know about the business you are in. The fact that several of our customers, including Havco, have bought two or more systems lets us know that the products are not only working for them from an application standpoint, but also from a monetary standpoint because the costs they are saving are affording them the ability to re-invest in another system.¡±
With customers such as J.D. Irving Ltd., Kapstone, Allegheny Wood Products, and Potlatch to name a few, Sawmill MD is making equipment modifications and overall processing efficiencies throughout the lumber and forest products industry.
Truckloads of lumber lined up delivering to the facility. This starts the process that ends with Havco¡¯s truck floors shipping all around the world.
The newest product addition to Sawmill MD¡¯s offerings is an automated tallying system from VisionTally, Bryn Mawr, PA. ¡°We became VisionTally¡¯s distributor on August 1 of this year,¡± Ballard explained. ¡°We¡¯re helping them develop an improved infrastructure. Duncan is working with them on start-ups. The relationship with VisionTally is really exciting because we know that the ability to get accurate tallies on lumber coming in and going out is key to overall profitability.¡±
Sawmill MD partners with companies such as A.W. Stiles, McMinnville, TN, and Alabama Fluid Systems Technologies, located in Pelham, AL. Ballard commented, ¡°A.W. Stiles and Alabama Fluid, along with the team from Danfoss, provide us unmatched quality and service that enables us the opportunity to continue to focus on what we need to do on our end. They allow us to provide the level of customer service and quality that we expect from ourselves for our customers. Our relationships with our vendors and our customers are in the forefront of everything that we do at Sawmill MD. Tommy and Lee Stiles at A.W. Stiles are great people to work with and they¡¯ve been working with us for a number of years. We¡¯ve given each other business opportunities because we¡¯ll see something the other can do or we¡¯ll partner on it if we can. It¡¯s good to work with real honest straightforward people. That¡¯s one of the reasons I love this industry. Because you know the people are honest people to work with and that¡¯s what makes it fun.¡±
