The implementation of a Lumber PickLine is a quick study in lean manufacturing tailor-made for each component plant’s building constraints and saws. A Lumber PickLine can semi-automatically feed any linear saw or any component saw. A saw that is fed lumber from a PickLine is a just-in-time pull system.
The pull system components of the PickLine are shown in the image. The Sawyer pulls lumber from the “17’ Sawyers Deck” which the Sawyer operates independently to feed the saw. The Picker fills the “17’ Pickers Deck” by following the lumber picklist using a tablet and dropping the lumber into the “Linear Pick Line” chain trough when the PickLine light flashes green carrying the lumber across the 131’ chain trough up the “8 ft Indexed Incline.” When the Pickers Deck is filled with lumber, the chain trough stops and the light flashes yellow signaling the Picker to pause lumber picking. [For all photos and images, See PDF or View in Full Issue.]
The 131’ chain trough shown here is just getting stocked with picking lumber (which is not lumber storage). Dense lumber inventory will be stored against the building on the left side and in the yard on the right side of the chain trough. Using forklifts just to replenish the picking lumber on the PickLine will reduce forklift usage by 80%, which is a significant operating cost savings and now just a part-time forklift driver labor requirement.
The quality of lumber that reaches the saw affects productivity not just at the saw but also at the truss build tables. With a PickLine, the Picker will check each piece for quality and cull pieces not suitable for truss production. The QC check by the Picker will reduce the number of re-cuts discovered at the truss tables, significantly reducing table downtime.
If during the lumber picking process the light turns flashing red, the chain trough will stop, signaling the Picker to check the tablet for a picking error message of either incorrect lumber width, incorrect length, or incorrect piece count. Yes, the PickLine has technology that will help the Picker pick flawlessly!
A lumber chain trough can be configured from 50 ft to over 300 ft of lumber. Feed multiple saws out of the same lumber inventory with double- and triple-trough PickLines for an accelerated ROI with an even better use of valuable lumber storage space.
The Pickers Deck and the Sawyers Deck can be configured from a combined 16 ft to over 80 ft depending on building and yard configuration to allow unobstructed traffic flow and building access.
The Sawyer at any time can touch a button to pull the lumber from the “17’ Pickers Deck” up to the “17’ Sawyers Deck” to keep the saw running to re-claim saw idle time.
The RetroC fully loaded with SpeedCatch as shown here will auto-fill 4 slot paired lumber carts, to be unpaired at the tables and placed left and right of table to speed up truss building. Filled carts can be moved to the table staging area by the Picker in between filling the 17’ Pickers Deck and by the Sawyer in between clearing the 17’ Sawyers Deck.
There is no risk of over-producing because the number of carts is balanced to the number of truss set-ups to supply. Empty carts are returned to the saw by the production foreman or any other float workers. Fill all the carts in the plant and the Sawyer and Picker can manage and maintain their respective work areas or pitch in wherever needed until the empties start coming back from the tables.
With a RetroC, if you need more production, just add more carts!
Let LimTek Process Organization Technology help you squeeze out more truss production and deliver quality trusses with shorter lead times to better service your customers by organizing your truss fabrication processes to maximize your investment in automation. https://limteksolutions.com/#solutions