Weinig-Luxscan provides automated strength grading with certificate

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PR-Advertisement Weinig-Luxscan, text and pictures: Fabian Pöschel, Holzkurier
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Weinig-Luxscan
 

CombiScan EVO X

Phone: +352 540 416
Fax: +352 540 417
eMail: info@luxscan.com
Web: www.luxscan.com

Optimization of glulam production with a new scanner line

Weinig-Luxscan provided a highly reliable automated scanning solution to Mayr-Melnhof Holz Richen, Germany for their glue laminated timber production. The integration of Luxscan’s X-ray scanner CombiScan EVO X into the scanning line last year has provided automated strength grading according to EN 14081.

Mayr-Melnhof Holz Richen processes about 100,000 m3 of wood to glulam products in its factory near Eppingen, Germany. The favorable location within the metropolitan area Heilbronn-Mannheim-Stuttgart makes an efficient supply of customer-specific wood components possible not only in Germany, but also in the adjacent countries.

The brisk demand for such products is seen as a welcome challenge in Richen, Germany. ‘We can put our goods together within two to three days, and also partly laminate them,’ says Martin Rupp, Project and Quality Manager at Mayr-Melnhof Holz Richen. Around 100 employees process intermediate products from the company’s own sawmills.

Luxscan CombiScan EVO X

Control panel CombiScan

The CombiScan EVO X grades the strength certified according to EN 14081 since last year; The control panel is easy to handle and supports the definition of quality grades (Photos: top: Pöschel HK, bottom: Luxscan)

Sorting at 180 m/min

To guarantee a high quality of the product, the glulam manufacturer kept searching for an established solution. Now, one has been found. The new heart of the production process is the sorting and optimizing line from Weinig-Luxscan, a company based in Foetz, Luxembourg. The line’s speed of 180 m/min is impressive. However, it was not just the high sorting speed that was crucial for the investment. A Weinig-Luxscan scanner was delivered together with other products from the wide portfolio of the Weinig Group to complete the line, which can be customized to different customers’ needs. The complimentary mechanization was supplied and installed by Weinig-Dimter. The sorting process starts with CombiScan EVO X, an X-ray scanner which detects density differences in the wood – possible without even checking the external appearance of the boards. A new addition at Weinig-Luxscan is the certification for strength grading. Jörn Dittgen, Regional Sales Manager at Weinig-Luxscan, explains: ‘Since the end of 2017 the CombiScan EVO X has been certified in accordance to the norm EN 14081 for mechanical strength grading of timber with a load-bearing function.’

CombiScan ShapeScan KrümmumgsmessungAdditionally to strength grading, the CombiScan EVO X is equipped also with four-sided laser and colour sensors which can detect typical wood characteristics for optical sorting. Cracks, resin pockets, knots, discolorations and edge defects are reliably captured and then evaluated in the optimization software. The detection of defects is preprogrammed and customers can define and modify their quality classifications using the special software as they need. The newly installed line is complemented by shape measurement using a ShapeScan and a marking station which can print cut and quality markings for further processing of the sorted boards.

The challenge

Luxscan Mayr-Melnhof Richen

Martin Rupp und Kevin Östrich of Mayr-Melnhof Holz are happy with the new scanning line (Foto: Pöschel HK)

The project was particularly challenging during the installation phase. As the production could not be interrupted, the line was assembled outside the working hours. ‘We completed the installation over three weekends,’ confirms Dittgen. The planning accounted for the existing layouts, which had been provided by Mayr-Melnhof. Looking back, Rupp is content, ‘the good cooperation with Weinig-Luxscan during the project implementation was important. Especially the preliminary training helped us integrate the scanning system smoothly into operation.’

As numerous projects show, implementing customer-oriented layouts is no problem for Weinig-Luxscan. ‘Last year was our record year. We received an order almost every week, including four orders from German-speaking countries,’ emphasizes Dittgen. The Luxembourgish company invested in a new factory in 2016 in order better to meet the increasing order intake.

 

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Ervin Zerjal
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