You've said good th It us. told us youre pleaser ; onalized caviar cane elp you get —— just what you need. But wekenot going to rest and di on our laurels. We're now working even, harder to maintain the trust we've eamed in the community and to serve the Kootenays " even better. mn. Castlegar News 1988 Review! March 30, 1988 Castlegar's forest industry Saieseniaeeeeae ae WESTAR TIMBER Mill in final year of $20m upgrading This marks the final year of a multi-million dollar modernization program at Westar Timber's Southern Wood Products sawmill. “By theoend of this year most of our major modernization projects will be complete,” says Rick Forgaard, sawmill production manager Forgaard is referring to Westar's $20 million up grading of lumber operations, with the bulk of improve ments taking place this year. “If you don't modernize, you're not competitive,” said Forgaard, and Westar has to remain competitive to stay in business. Forgaard says the mill will continue to modernize and keep up with growing technology. Changes- in production have and will continue to improve productiv ity for the mill with increased quality and decreased waste. SWP will spend $14 million on major projects this year. The mill has recently spent $2 million on a new bucking-barking line which more efficiently strips the bark off logs and optimizes lengths coming into the mill “It will increase the quality of the chips, the rec covery lumber and the number of logs produced into the mill,” Forgaard says. As of April, Westar is hoping to have two new kilns for drying lumber, a secondary medium-log size canter, and a $1.5 million improvement to the waste handling system. “As a result of increased production, there is a need to increase capacity of the by-product and waste systems,” says Forgaard The upgrading to the by-product system will maximize the amount and quality of chips, mulched shavings and bark sold to Celgar Over the last 26 years; the mill-has cut down on the number of large trees it cuts, and still has two large and one small-log size line. The mill now needs a medium-sized log line “We did a lot of research,” Forgaard said, and the mill decided on a Linck canter line manufactured in Germany, which is “top of the line” equipment When that is in place, the sawmill will shut down one large log line and start the canter line, which is expected to increase the productivity of the mill-by 30 per cent Westar has had two edger/optimizers installed in the last twp years and will have a third in place this summer The system cuts away the outer rough edges of previously sawed logs and makes sharp, right-angled edges. FIRST LOAD OF KOOTENAY FIR It seans the boards coming through with infared light and registers the size and shape of the board on a computer. The computer makes a decision how much to cut away to make it into a straight piece of lumber . The computer feeds that information eleetroniéally into the edging machine. Forgaard says the edging equipment has a 97 per cent wood recovery rate, compared to manually edging the wood, which was 85 per cent efficient at best Westar also has a $2.5 million trimmer-sorter line. There the boards are trimmed as they go down to the bin areas and the sorting and stacking is done automatically. In the past, it was done by hand. “The project went really well,” said Forgaard. “We lost only 31 minutes man-down time.” Now, they have 45 new bins, in addition to the 23 existing bins. “Before we didn't have enough spots to sort the lumber,” Forgaard says, adding there is increased recovery and increased quality In the processing stage, Westar is placing 13 steam-fired kilns with six gas kilns for quicker: drying time. Forgaard says this will achieve quicker drying time and higher quality drying. At the present time, stacks of lumber wait to be dried in the kilns because there is not enough room. For the most part, only one type and size of lumber can be dried at a time. Westar Timber has taken to renaming its larch and fir as part of an unique marketing program “Kootenay Fir” is sold primarily in New York and New Jersey and also goes to Massachusetts and the Canadian prairie provinces “We know we produce a good quality product,” Forgaard says and Westar feels by making product identifiable it can sell more when people will be able to “ask for it by name.” He says modernization eliminates jobs and the company has been working on ways to offset the effects of modernization on employees It introduced “an early retirement program where employees 60-65 can retire early and the company will be pick up the difference in retirement benefits. “This lowers the impact on junior employees,” explained Forgaard. “So they will continue to have jobs in the future as a result of the cooperation with the senior employee Forgaard says 16-17 employees have opted for the early retirement in 1989. 4 Westar =: OTENAY sanen R meats IPPED SEPT 6 1 » WESTAR CHANGING . . (clockwise from top) trimmer Murray Nelson on the trimmer sorter line; A welder trom Bid Construction works on the new Linck canter line; Saw filer John Fostey sharpening a sow blade; Westar employees launched Kootenay Fir in 1987 The bark comes oft with the 43-inch Inteld barker White pine meeting planned White pine is the most valuable species of three marketed by Westar Timber and is also the most challenging to grow “It is double the value of cedar, which is our next most valuable species,” says Bob Korda, Westar's woodlands manager. But Korda says growth of white pine is threatened by white pine blister rust which was introduced in the area around 1920. “Since that time there has been substantial mortality rate for white pine on Tree Farm Licence 23,” says Korda. Blister rust attacks the tree's growth layer and can wipe out all the white pine in a stand, although it is harmless to other trees. “It's obviously a very valuable species so we don't want to just write it off,” says Korda Westar and the B.C. Ministry of Forests and Lands and the Canadian Forest service are sponsoring a Western White Pine Management Symposium in Nakusp in May The three-day event will pool the expertise of the leading pine growers from British Columbia, and th: northwest United States. Korda says there is no way to kill the disease However, pruning off the bottom branches of an affected tree to stop the spread of the disease or developing genetically resistant pine are the only means of success fully combatting blister rust The management conference in Nakusp will concentrate on effective management of white pine Korda says Westar has already been working with the U.S. Forest Service in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to develop a tree resistant to blister rust “Nobody else is as advanced,” says Korda. “The Kootenays are the leaders in white pine management in B.C.