`Electronic sawyer' helps you cut for maximum value.When as much as 50% of the lumber lumber, term for timber that has been cut into boards for use as a building material. The major steps in producing lumber involve logging (the felling and preparation of timber for shipment to sawmills), sawing the logs into boards, grading the boards according to you buy is going to waste -- as it is in most woodworking plants -- any device that can increase lumber yield will be an important addition to the rough mill. That's what American American, river, 30 mi (48 km) long, rising in N central Calif. in the Sierra Nevada and flowing SW into the Sacramento River at Sacramento. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill (see Sutter, John Augustus) along the river in 1848 led to the California gold rush of Drew Inc. discovered a year ago when it began using its Mini-Max III lumber yield computer. This manufacturer of bedroom furniture, located in North Wilkesboro, NC, reports it has increased yield an average of 4% and saved thousands of dollars. The Mini-Max is designed to take the guesswork out of the first and most critical task in the furniture manufacturing process -- cutting the board for maximum value. The unit shows the sawyer how each board should be cut for a given cutting bill and suggests the best lumber grade mix to use. The computer relieves the operator of making such decisions at the saw by considering all possible length combinations, and then recommending the "best" combination. For example, it can determine whether a 28-inch clear area can be more economically ec·o·nom·i·cal adj. 1. Prudent and thrifty in management; not wasteful or extravagant. See Synonyms at sparing. 2. Intended to save money, as by efficient operation or elimination of unnecessary features; economic: cut as two 14-inch parts or as one 24-inch part and 4 inches of waste. It can tell the operator when to sacrifice sacrifice [Lat. sacrificare=to make holy], a type of religious offering, or gift to a superior or supreme being, in which the offering is consecrated through its destruction. some clear lumber in order to obtain a longer, more valuable piece -- and more importantly, when not to. At American Drew, the Mini-Max operator types instructions to the machine on a console (1) The physical control panel on a computer or electronic device. (2) A terminal or desktop computer used to monitor and control a network. (3) Any display terminal. located in a small, glass-enclosed office in the center of the production floor. Calculations are based on the grade mix of the lumber coming into the rough end and on the five lengths of lumber the firm cuts. Using this input, the computer produces color-coded cutting instructions on a strip of paper to actual scale. Stops on the saw are painted to correspond to the color gauge gauge In manufacturing and engineering, a device used to determine whether a dimension is larger or smaller than a reference standard. A snap gauge, for example, is formed like the letter C, with outer “go” and inner “not go” jaws, and is used to strip produced by the computer. The operator looks at the point on the gauge strip that is nearest the end of the clear area, and sees the best combination of lengths to be cut out of that clear area. The decision has been made for him; his job is simply to identify a clear cutting strip on the board. Excerpted from Wood & Wood Products, July July: see month. 1977 |
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