Keine Kompromisse EN No compromises

Planing plant combines high performance with reliability, flexibility and precision

Speed, flexibility, availability and quality need not be a contradiction in terms. This is demonstrated by the new Rettenmeier Baltic Timber planing plant. Kallfass had to realise the high expectations of the Rettenmeier team in steel–and in a given existing hall. Incukalns/LV now has a high-performance system that combines speed, state-of-the-art scanner and measurement technology as well as flexible sorting and packaging solutions.

The new planing line at Rettenmeier Baltic Timber delivers impressive performance data: The entire system can handle 100 parts per minute, planes at a feed speed of up to 500 m/min and can produce twelve batches per minute on the output side if necessary.

They know each other

In Incukalns, the diverse experiences of Rettenmeier and the Cordes parent company with Kallfass were combined. The supplier knew what Rettenmeier wanted and helped to implement improvements from other factories. Despite the high demands, they acted fast: It took just one year from the first contact to the start of installation, and only a further six months until the first wood package was delivered. “55 lorry loads were needed for the installation. 232 drives with a total output of 750 kW were installed,” explains Kallfass design engineer Helge Widmann.

This was used, among other things, to design the package infeed with tilt destacking for 3 m high double packages. “With integrated auxiliary destacking for a quick package change, as well as an automatic disposal of the intermediate sticks and separation of squared timber,” Widmann adds.

Heavy duty was a must

A Tongloader is used to separate the workpieces, which are up to 120 mm thick and 320 mm wide. “With these dimensions, every conveyor is under extreme strain. We received a heavy-duty system from Kallfass that has no problem with this,” Paul Schmid, Head of Technology at Rettenmeier Holding, is convinced.

The first employee can visually assess the quality. It is supported by a Microtec strength scanner, a Brookhuis moisture measuring unit and a cupping control. Parts that do not fit or are too moist are sorted out.

500 mm for 500 m/min

The six servo-controlled, 500 mm acceleration rollers, which shoot the parts towards the Rex planing machine, are impressive. “If joint to joint planing is required, the speed increases to up to 750 m/min and the gap is closed in front of the planing machine in the 8 m high-speed channel,” Widmann points out.

The question: “Why exactly 500 m/min?” Uwe Lutz, Sales Manager at Rettenmeier Hirschberg answers this question as follows: “At a speed of more than 500 m/min, the system is effectively just levelling out. In addition to classic four-sided planing, we can also perform profiling at 500 m/min. The company produces sticks, decking and other products for the do-it-yourself industry sector.” The end product is correspondingly diverse: After the planing machine, the spectrum ranges from small roof battens to large squared timber measuring 120 x 320 mm. Everything is processed with high precision and quality.

Immediately after the planing machine, six rollers of the Kallfass scanner infeed capture the wood. This creates defined gaps - even with chipped timber. All parts enter the Microtec Goldeneye 820 scanner in a controlled manner.

Parts tracking included

Two slow-down belts decelerate the parts and transport them in transverse direction to the two stacking lines. Now, at the second operator station, split or broken planed wood can be sorted out manually. Once again, the Tongloader cycles the goods to the downstream sorting station at high system performance. If square parts or other critical dimensions are required, a carrier chain conveyor is used instead of the Tongloader. “Using Microtec's ID scan, each part is assigned the corresponding result from the Goldeneye scanner. This eliminates the need for time-consuming and risky parts tracking,” explains Widmann. This is followed by a labelling station with inkjet printing provided by REA. On the one hand, quality A, B and C and pieces of scrap wood are now separated at maximum speed. B-goods are placed on a parallel line, C-goods in a stanchion, pieces of scrap wood are disposed of centrally. The top quality goes straight into the cutting and stacking line. The parts pass through a bundling station before the Kallfass multiple cross-cut saw. Here, sticks and boards can be stacked into small bundles and strapped. Top performance: Twelve bundles per minute.

A central package station for everything, including mini packages

A real highlight is that the qualities A and B are brought together at a central package outlet. Finally, the packages can be film wrapped and strapped. If desired, even mini wood packages (“quarts”) can be formed. After strapping, the packages can be stacked on top of each other by a package stacker.

A quick word about the hall: The selected hall was used by the previous owner Swedwood as a warehouse. Usually, system suppliers find the width too narrow and length too short, but the hall's 7 m height was unique. “This gave us the freedom to integrate the entire scrap wood removal system below the planing line,” explains Schmid. Each cross-cut or scrap piece is transported to the nearby silo as a chip. The system is actually built in a U-shape. The space in between is used at Rettenmeier Baltic Timber for intermediate storage directly under the roof of sticks, finished and semi-finished products.

Although the hall appears generously dimensioned at first glance, according to Schmid, “every centimetre had to be used to meet our requirements.” They succeeded.