West Fraser 100 Mile Lumber general manager Sandor Buchi says the facility rebuild is now in its key construction stage.
The mill is essentially shut down for a month to install all the remaining components in the major upgrade, he explains.
“The last production shift was Sept.12, and we plan on being down for about four weeks, so the first shift will run on Oct. 14, after the long weekend.”
The first stage was completed when the mill was down for a couple of weeks in June, as planned, when the barker was installed. Back then, the final stage was slated to happen during the month of August.
However, that fell behind schedule when an equipment supplier fell behind in a delivery, so the shutdown had to be delayed for six weeks, Buchi explains.
He says the roof is now off of the main building, which is primed for the major installations.
The weather has been “pretty accommodating” for that, he adds.
“There are well over a 100 contractors here, and right now we are mostly into the [demolition] part.
“Things are going well; they are progressing. The equipment is on site and everything looks as though it’s going to go as planned.”
He notes the planer is still running three shifts, so an accumulation of rough inventory in the yard can be reduced to a minimal amount before starting the mill up again.
The most important and significant part of the current phase amounts to a large project primarily revolving around the installation of a brand-new canter and a brand-new trim saw, Buchi says.
The general manager adds 100 Mile Lumber intends to get the construction done right, so it can start up an efficient mill that’s matched to the anticipated fibre supply.
By having more shifts with fewer people on each of them, the rebuilt mill will run 24-hours-a-day, five-days-a-week, instead of 16 hours a day, he explains.
“We’ll have a bit of a start-up curve; we’ll just maybe run days for a couple of weeks, and then maybe add another shift. There are going to be contractors around and there may be bits and pieces to finish.
“But the first production shift will start Oct. 14, and we are all looking forward to it.”
FACTS BOX
Once reopened in October, the rebuilt local mill at West Fraser 100 Mile Lumber will bring numerous benefits to its production processes, a sampling of which are outlined below.
• While the overall production won’t change much, the more efficient technology will consume less electricity while producing more pieces of lumber from each log processed.
• The mill’s new crack-detection technology will scan logs for a computer simulator to align them in the optimum position for the saw, maximizing the quantity of lumber pieces.
• This technology is especially beneficial for processing trees killed by pine beetles that have checked and split logs, and significantly improves safety by reducing log jam-ups.
• Handling the fibre so much more efficiently will also help extend the timber supply.
