Lying slap bang on the line that divides southern Finland from the north, Kuhmo Oy has had to develop clever strategies to counter increasing conservation restraints from both sides of the border.
Marketing director Juha Virta explained: “We are stuck in the middle of two administration poles, so suffer from two bites of conservation rather than one. Both areas are reducing the amount of mature forest available for sawmilling – by at least 30%. We needed to overcome the supply problems as, while the forest is being taken away, customer demand is growing.”
Independently-owned Kuhmo, one of Finland’s largest sawmills, which has a brown bear – Ursus – as its trademark, realised that what were available in abundance were small logs starting from 40-year-old thinnings – but it did not have the technology to fully use them.
The company turned to Canada for help, recognising that it had the experience and machinery to handle extreme variations of log size and length.
First of its kind
The result was a small log line, the first of its kind in the world and the first delivery to Europe by Canadian company Comact. The new line complements Kuhmo’s main line which was installed in 1992.
The new line, which had to be adapted in many ways to meet European quality requirements, is part of a three-year £11m investment programme which has also included a FinScan full colour grading system and further kilning at Kuhmo.
Such is the technology that the journey of the logs from their raw state to their ultimate transformation into a product can be overseen by just one person. Stationed in the control room, he directs everything from seeing the incoming logs through scanning, debarking, log grading and cutting all the way to the dimensional sorting and camera grading line.
Before committing to the investment, Kuhmo looked at what sort of products it could make from the small logs for the joinery and furniture markets.
Mr Virta said: “The thinking behind everything we do is that whatever we produce has to have a buyer. We don’t produce anything in the mill for stock – it is all done to order. We create sales for each item and when the shipping time is due the instruction is given to cut.
“We keep developing our processes to make our products as close to the end use as possible so there is little wastage in the further processing. That gives us an edge.”
Reversing a trend
Production with the new line is set to reverse a trend which last year saw the company take in 250,000 more logs but achieve 6,000m3 less in production on the previous year simply because the logs were getting smaller.
Mr Virta said: “The Finnish average volume for a log is 0.20-0.21m3. Ours was 0.15m3 and is now coming down to 0.13m3 with the new line.
“There is plenty of raw material of this diameter within a 120km radius of Kuhmo. It is close grain and good quality. Our total procurement is about 600,000m3 a year overall and this will probably rise to 650,000m3 this year because of the smaller logs.”
Previously around 25% of Kuhmo’s product came from log sizes below normal, but that is now set to rise to 40%.
Kuhmo has around 6,000 products in its portfolio, ranging from the smallest at 22x50mm to the largest at 100x225mm. Mr Virta said: “Those 6,000 products are before we take the length into consideration, plus different dimensions, quality and moisture content.”
The company makes about 100,000 pieces a day – about 150 pieces a minute – and Mr Virta said that would not be possible without the full colour camera grading system – the first in Finland.
Canadian package
Mr Virta said: “We came up with a package for the Canadians, specifying what quality finish and accuracy of measure was required, the capacity needed, the layout of the site, what space we had available and where the new line had to join in with the rest of the machinery. Together with quality, speed was one of the most crucial factors.
“In Scandinavia we are used to handling logs of the same size, one size at a time. In Canada they are used to sawing different sizes – short, long, thick or thin. There is nothing like this new saw line in Europe. There are similar structures in Canada but they wouldn’t try to maximise the yield in the way that we do.”
Another first at Kuhmo is the debarker – a prototype and the only one of its kind. Weighing 55 tons, it is the first in the world to be built to a specification to include this size of raw material and speed.
Mr Virta said: “Reliability is an unknown factor because it has not been tested before in a production environment, but we haven’t had any major problems since it was installed.
“When you increase the speed of the line you have two problems – firstly removing the bark from different sized logs and secondly being able to handle the logs so they won’t go in the wrong way or two at a time. The faster you go the bigger the damage can be. The debarking tools have to catch the top of the log and that can be ripped off because it is going so fast. You have to be able to hold the log steady. It is a balancing act between how tight you can hold the log without causing it damage.”
On arrival at the sawmill, logs are scanned for size and shape, and those that are too short or long, or not graded to the quality for the process, are removed.
Of all the timber delivered, only pieces that are totally unsuitable for cutting are taken out. The rest stay in the line for processing.
Mr Virta said: “Those small logs must have as little handling as possible. Ninety per cent of what comes in here we can use – the rest either goes to the bigger sawline or is sold to partners.
“At camera grading we can pull out whatever customer grades we want and the material gives a high yield. We have a huge amount of flexibility in our grading and we can make grades for special kilning.”
The main line has 70 bins on the log sorting line and grading is carried out throughout the process. Mr Virta said: “On quality we are within 1% of our targets.”
Kuhmo has 20 chamber kilns and eight progressive kilns giving it the flexibility to guarantee each product the best kilning process depending on dimension, quality and required moisture content. Of product made, 100,000m3 is for the domestic market and 200,000m3 goes for export.
Looking to the future, Mr Virta said: “When situations are created we have to try and adjust to them, but whether the next big investment will be in more sawmilling or further processing we don’t know yet.
“The background to any investment is to develop the business with existing clientele. At any one time we have something in the pipeline as a plan for the future.
“We are thinking about further processing, but so far we haven’t seen the feasibility of doing it. We always try to keep our options on the table for discussion and when we make a decision we make it quickly. The problem is you always have more plans than you have the money for!”
