By Bill HoweWoodlands Manager Norbord Inc., Cochrane Ontario
April 2007
The Norbord plywood mill in Cochrane, Ontario now uses a novel way to sample logging trucks coming to our mill. This has reduced operating costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, improved wood flow through our yard, and helped us avoid the purchase of a lift, a capital savings of $700,000. We also reduced peak-time staff in the yard by 40%.
Four years ago I asked Phil Green to take a look at the way we were measuring logs. He devised a solution that reduced the amount of measuring we were doing by up to 96% in some cases. We call it the Log Delivery Management System.
Our payments to our logging suppliers were based on the quality and volume of the wood they send us. Our mill accepts only high quality logs because we use them to make the veneer that goes into our plywood. Every time a log truck came across the weigh scale, a large Paralift machine would lift the logs from the trucks and place them on the ground. Our scalers, technicians certified to measure and assess logs, would then measure the volume and inspect the quality of each and every log.
With over four thousand logging trucks per year coming to our mill, and about 225 logs on each truck, we were taking approximately 900,000 measurements per year. This required considerable manpower, space in the wood yard, and two grappling machines.
Phil analysed several years of historical data and found ways to pool information between logging contractors and season of delivery, for wood coming from defined regions of Ontario. This information allowed us to recognize certain patterns in the density of wood. Using this information, he was able to define a method of sampling a small number of trucks—in some cases as low as one in 25. He also designed the payment methods based on these samples.
Phil wrote up his method in clear business language for management and in technical language for software vendors. We then used his report to get quotes from software suppliers. The system has been up and running now for three years and we are reaping the rewards. The system has provided us with an innovative way to capture volumes and pay suppliers, to the high satisfaction of all parties. It is a good news story in the forest industry—and something we’re very proud about. It is helping us to remain competitive in a very difficult economic environment.
We’re looking forward to working with Phil on future projects.