Goldeneye 800: The End of Fear Sorting

"Fear sorting" is what Josef Schwaiger calls the phenomenon when employees sort out sawn timber and planed goods too generously in order to be on the safe side. That is only one of many reasons why the company relies on scanner solutions from MiCROTEC in its sawmill and planing mill.

"Especially with our export markets, guaranteed quality is essential," informs Managing Director Josef Schwaiger, and Authorized Officer Johann Niedermeier adds that quality checks used to always be associated with stress, because you could never be sure whether you were actually achieving the quality demanded by the customer. "In case of doubt, there was fear sorting, whereby our employees sorted out significantly more than what would have been necessary," Schwaiger looks back.

With this in mind, Schwaiger installed a MiCROTEC scanner back in 2016. More specifically, a Goldeneye 900 multisensor quality scanner that assesses the sawn timber in cross transport for presorting. Looking back, Johann Niedermeier reports on a very challenging but also enriching time: "When you work with a scanner for the first time, it takes some time to get to grips with everything. We had to learn the ropes first, but thanks to the good cooperation, we - and MiCROTEC - learned quickly and completed the project successfully."

The safest sign of customer satisfaction is probably a joint follow-up project. When Schwaiger completely renewed its planing mill two years ago, it once again relied on a scanner solution from MiCROTEC. A Goldeneye 800 multi-sensor quality scanner with three X-ray sources was installed directly behind the planing line. These capture three different images in a longitudinal pass for the detection of pith and enable better detection of knot accumulations for knot reconstruction and their internal course in the board. Furthermore, this enables a display of the density profile in 3D. In addition to the main machine, the Goldeneye 800, we supplied numerous other scanner solutions for the new planing mill. In front of the planer, we implemented a Warpscan for curvature measurement, a moisture measurement of the M3 Scan type, and a Viscan for determining the dynamic modulus of elasticity. In addition, an ID Scan system was installed in the Goldeneye 800 for board tracking and another ID Scan in the sorting area for board recognition. With the help of an ID printer, each board is then uniquely marked for possible quality controls. "Thanks to the ID scan and printer, we can see what the scanner is looking for during the assessment. This means we can check the scanner's work at any time and further optimize the settings if necessary," reports Schwaiger, who also had the system retrofitted on the Goldeneye 900 in the sawmill. In addition, MiCROTEC implemented another Curvescan in the sorting plant in order to be able to check the curvature of the end product again.

Normally, Schwaiger uses the Goldeneye 800, according to the planer feed, with a throughput speed of around 700m/min. "That's often 160 lamellas per minute - an employee can no longer keep up with this speed, which is why we often used to run slower," reports the Authorized Officer. For the Goldeneye 800, however, this speed is no problem. On the contrary: via the planer bypass at Schwaiger, we have extended the strength grading approval up to 850m/ min. This is the fastest strength grading system approved for longitudinal transport in Europe. The Goldeneye 800 is approved for output-controlled mechanical strength grading in accordance with MSR and NGR guidelines. In addition, both scanners are equipped with artificial intelligence for optimal quality analysis. The Goldeneye 800 also includes optimization in cut-off mode. If the planer splits a board lengthwise, this is taken into account by the software, whereupon the Goldeneye optimization computer independently optimizes and sorts the two halves of the board.

What Schwaiger appreciates most about the MiCROTEC scanner solutions is the reliable and constant quality assessment: "We are no longer dependent on the state of individual employees, who now only have to focus on a few characteristics. In addition, we see a clear shift towards more better qualities without fear of overlooking defects."

The full article from Holzkurier can be found here
(in German language only).