Inkjet printing equipment is helping Jewson Ltd identify and keep track of the hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of timber that come into the docks at Hull and Newport, South Wales from Finland and Sweden.

The company has invested thousands of pounds in a total of 10 IP9000 industrial printers from Leicestershire-based ATD Inkjet Systems Ltd – and the move has proved a major boon. A typical ADT inkjet package for the timber industry costs £7,000 including installation, training, processing equipment and inkjetting under a three-year warranty.

Jewson Internal Timber supplies’ site general manager Richard Smith said: “Before it was installed, finding the correct product was more time consuming. We put meterage labels on by hand but there was nothing to tell anyone where the timber had come from and how long it had been in stock.

&#8220Every single piece of timber gets the length and a works order printed directly onto the end grain. This not only simplifies finding the right length, it brings major improvements in stock control ”

Jewson Internal Timber supplies’ site general manager Richard Smith

“Now we have a system which measures the exact length of each piece of timber which passes under it. Every single piece gets the length and a works order printed directly onto the end grain. It not only makes the task of finding the right length simplicity itself, but it has brought major improvements in stock control. It really has been a good investment.”