BWNZ Planer Mill Sets a New Production Record

by John Crane, Bright Wood New Zealand sawmill manager

(October 2006) Every once in a while, everything goes right. All the astrological elements must have been aligned on Monday, May 29, in the planer mill. We surfaced 449 cubic meters in nine hours, which is equivalent to 190 thousand board feet or 21,152 board feet per hour. When compared to our 2006 hourly average of 29.5 cubic meters, we were 69 percent more productive on that day!

In BWNZ’s system, daily planer production involves two components: dry stacked inventory and work in process (WIP) inventory. On this day, the crew planed, graded, sorted, and packaged 77 units directly from the kilns, and resorted another 10 MBF of WIP in the form of jags, which are less-than-complete units of finished goods left over from earlier runs which we must fill up to a uniform unit height as required by our ocean freight contract.

This was a huge effort, made possible by every team member doing his or her part, on time, and without fail. Our “Yank-tank” planer – a made-in-Seattle Stetson-Ross 612-MA1 that spent most of its life in Paisley, Oregon surfacing 6/4-pine and white fir dimension for Fremont Sawmill Company – was put to the test that day, along with our crew. And, boy, did they perform.

Bruce Burson, our planer manager and WWPA-certified grader who learned his trade working for American Forest Products in Martel, California, deserves a special mention. When he was hired in August 2004, our average hovered in the 22 cubic meters per hour range. Through very hard work and laser-like attention to his plan for improving our discipline and culture, our planer department’s productivity has increased dramatically.

Unfortunately, our astrological signs don’t line up nicely for us every day, 240 days a year. So, while this record day was a great achievement and a genuine cause for celebration, it’s the gradual and continuous improvement in productivity, brought about by a good plan and good execution of that plan, that is the real story. After all, the late great NBA star Wilt Chamberlain once scored 100 points in a single game back in the late 1960s – a record that still stands today. But on that night, his team lost!

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