28 International Forest Industries | OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2016

LUMBER PROCESSING Operation Focus – Microtec

Brazil’s industry leader upgradeswith Springer and Microtec technology

Since 1952, Berneck has been a major player in Brazil’s wood processing industry. With its operations

in Araucaria, Brasnorte and Curitibanos, the company is rated as the most modern saw and planner

mill in the country and ranks among the global technological leaders. To increase the productivity and

lead the global market, the planer mill in Curitibanos has been recently equipped with the Goldeneye

900 transverse scanner by Microtec, the first of its kind in South America. All mechanical parts were

installed by Springer, a leading sawmilling provider of conveyor systems for lumber handling

Berneck disposes of more than 63,000 hectares of land for forests in the regions

of Paraná and Santa Catarina. The raw material of the sawn products is specially managed and selected by Berneck, from the preparation of seedlings, planting and harvesting up to the final processing. Berneck produces 4 million pine tree sprouts per year, from which 3.5 million trees are planted for industrial use. The processed wood species, Pinus Taeda, has a standard moisture content from 8 to 12%, and is classified in accordance with the requirements for the different final uses such as: packaging, furniture, civil construction and wood framing for exportation to big markets like China.

At the headquarters in Araucaria, Paranà, the company produces a range of products

including: MDP – Medium Density Particleboards, which are covered on both sides with decorative films impregnated with melamine

resin, MDF – Medium Density Fiberboards formed by wood fibers deriving from sustainably planted Pine forests and HDF –

Dry sorting and planer mill at Berneck Curitibanos

Optimization standards of Goldeneye 900 boost both recovery and value

International Forest Industries | OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2016 29

LUMBER PROCESSING

Brazil’s industry leader upgradeswith Springer and Microtec technology

Ruggedness, speed and measurement precision are key for high performance planer mills manufacturing a large variety of final products. We have made sure that our customers have no need to compromise in terms of either throughput or reliability, and certainly not in terms of function.Federico Giudiceandrea, CEO Microtec

Right after the Goldeneye 900 scanner, a trimmer station with two saws on either side of the board, cuts the boards to the final length for packaging. “The great advantage of the production with Goldeneye 900 is to perform the measuring and quality selection in transverse feeding. This new technology provides reliable results even at a high throughput speed increasing our added value”, comments Fernando Gnoatto.

The planer line also features an inline moisture meter M3 Scan that determines the board’s moisture to check if the degree of moisture content is within the thresholds for transversal feeding. The rapid growth of the Taeda Pine in Brazil leads to a varying moisture content degree over the whole length of the board. As a result, the two moisture-measuring tracks will be upgraded to four measuring tracks in order to determine the most accurate average moisture content. The operator can easily calibrate

High Density Fiberboards also made from bonded and compacted wood fibers and covered on both sides with decorative films. The industrial unit in Brasnorte, in the state of Mato Grosso, produces BERTeak Brazil Edge Glue Panels and BERDeck – Teak Decking. The new production unit in Curitibanos, in the state of Santa Catarina, is a planer mill that also produces MDF. In future it will be replaced by a new sawmill, an MDP factory, and an additional line for BP laminate and an impregnation line.

“Our aim is to produce high quality products to stay competitive in the market and to satisfy the customer’s

needs by providing a wide range of products. That is why we invested in new technology to obtain an overall

control of our production. The very good partnership with Microtec and Springer convinced us that we made the right decision”, comments Fernando Gnoatto, General Manager Lumber division & International Sales.

In order to increase production capacity in the dry-sorter and planer line for quality grading of boards at the mill in Curitibanos, Berneck decided to invest in new software and machinery products engineered in cooperation with Springer and Microtec. While Microtec delivered all lumber quality scanning and optimization devices, as well as PLC control, Springer planned the mechanical components. Springer provided a line feed with a double tilt hoist system, a servo lug loader with

special hold down belt, a trimmer, a tray sorter for planned lumber, a stacker with multi-cross-cut and double lift, a packaging system with foil dispenser, a Pascal press and a strapper. With a feeding speed up to 1.8 m/sec in transversal feeding that is max. 165 boards per minute at 640 mm (25 inch) lug space, this installation is the fastest and most modern planer mill in South America.

The heart of this new industrial unit in Curitibanos is Goldeneye 900 Multi-Sensor Quality Scanner in transverse feeding for dry sorting. The Goldeneye 900 series combines the advantages of sensing technologies with robust industrial design to provide constant, predictable grading performance during the production of lumber products, maximizing fiber value recovery. The Goldeneye 900 scans the boards in a single scan frame from top and bottom with 4-side visual inspection including dimension, scatter and grain deviation and color. The scanning is carried out with no board turner, which enables a fluent and smooth production process.

Goldeneye 900 determines the dimension and the overall quality of the boards by recognizing cup, bow, twist and spring. The properties of the surface such as wane edge, damage on edge, lack of material on the top/bottom face and splits, checks, knots, knottiness, bark pockets and resin pockets, visual pith as well as stain are defects recognized by the Multi-Sensor Quality Scanner.

the M3 Scan when it is necessary to produce boards or trims of different dimensions. All these scanning devices collect important data for the further processing.

The new concept of the installation comes with the advantage that all the measuring devices work in transversal feeding.

Immediately after the Goldeneye 900 Scanner there is the first Microtec Viscan Strength Grader in Brazil equipped with an X-ray, which determines the density of the boards and predicts their strength. Boards are automatically classified into strength classes and transported to the right bins. The sorting process is carried out by Variosort Lumber Sorter, the fully automated Microtec software that supervises sorting, packaging and wrapping of the boards. Variosort’s data interface communicates with Viscan Strength Grader, Microtec Moisture Meter as well as the Multi-Sensor Quality Scanner

Dry sorting and planer mill at Berneck Curitibanos

First Viscan Plus in Brazil. Equipped with X-ray, it determines the density

of all boards with a measurement repeat accuracy of over 99%

30 International Forest Industries | OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2016

LUMBER PROCESSING Operation Focus – Microtec

Goldeneye 900 for a reliable board tracking.

“Ruggedness, speed and measurement precision are key for high performance planer mills manufacturing a large variety of final products. We have made sure that our customer has no need to compromise in terms of either throughput or reliability, and certainly not in terms of function,” states Microtec CEO Federico Giudiceandrea.

Berneck Company

Berneck’s industrial complex consists of more than 170,000 m² with three manufacturing units. The headquarters of Berneck are located in Araucaria with the MDP Factory, MDF/HDF Factory, the unit for laminates with BP (low pressure melamine), FF (Finish foil) and Super Laca, the most modern sawmill in Brazil. At the industrial unit of Brasnorte, the Berneck group manufactures the entire line of Teak wood products. At the innovative planer mill in Curitibanos, Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil, the company produces raw PB (particleboards), PB covered with melamine (LPL), PB covered with Finish Foil and PB covered with gloss. The 1,600 direct employees work in an integrated

way to produce more than 1,200,000 m³ of wood products per year. Berneck is involved in several aspects of the Forestry industry, from planting and felling trees to manufacturing products.

Berneck Company offers products of a high standard thanks to their constant investment in new

technologies and quality control. For over 40 years, Berneck has maintained commercial relations with more than 60 countries on every continent, confirming the reliability of its products both at home and abroad.

All mechanical devices are provided by Springer - line feed with a double tilt hoist system, servo lug loader with special hold down belt, trimmer, tray sorter, stacker with multi-cross-cut and double lift, as well as a packaging press and a strapper

Goldeneye 900 transverse scanner maximizing fiber value recovery. The scanner housing covers all internal sensors, cameras, high power LED units, laser etc. which are fully protected against any rough ambient operational conditions. In front of the scanner a Viscan Strength Grader determines the strength class of every board