Top Timber Company Targets Production and Energy Improvement

James Jones & Sons, Scotland’s largest independent sawmilling company has taken delivery of a PlantRun production monitoring system to improve efficiency at their Lockerbie site.

The site has three mill areas of varying ages including one older sawline that didn’t have any automated production monitoring system or down time information collection. A PlantRun system has been installed that will collect both down time and production information, and automatically generate live OEE data.

The system monitors a Soderhamn Eriksson profile sawline, and two Kalfass handling and stacking systems to determine when they are running or stopped, the quantity of timber they are processing, and to provide Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) including the average log gap.

Compact rugged outstations fitted to the stackers monitor and interlock operation of the lines and provide an operator display and keypad for entry of operator ID, batch/grade details, reasons for stoppages, etc.
A similar outstation is fitted to the sawline to provide the same status monitoring and interlocking capabilities but the sawline operator uses a touch screen interface that allows access to additional functionality such as an overview of the Mill as a whole.

The PlantRun Server is located in a production office and acts as the main access point for the production data. Remote access is possible from PCs, tablets, smart phones and any modern web browser using the SmartView application.

The production data collected by the PlantRun system can also be presented through email reports and requests for attention from maintenance staff, saw doctors, team leaders etc. can be made via SMS text messages.

Large screen displays make the Mill’s current status visible to all staff and promote improvements in performance. These can be located in reception areas, on the Mill floor or in a production or planning office.

James Jones & Sons are also committed to UK Environment Agency energy reduction agreements for sawmills. Participating mills can make significant savings on their energy bills in return for investments in energy reduction.

The PlantRun energy monitoring enables proof of energy saving initiatives and clearly identifying areas to target. The system automatically polls measurements from energy meters and records the updating values, which are made available through status and historic trend displays, and printed reports.

PlantRun already has a proven track record in the timber industry with installations at BSW Timber and International Timber sawmills. The savings that PlantRun enables users to make means a fast return on investment with current users reporting a payback of less than 12 months typical.

James Jones & Sons produces more than half a million cubic metres of timber from its five saw lines strategically located across Scotland.