Wood Business

New Gear Equipment Sawmilling
Microtec achieves log scanning first in North America

November 26, 2015 - The Microtec Logeye is now officially the first scanner in North America to be approved to automatically measure log volume for trade. The scanner has been tested and certified by Measurement Canada to meet the recently released Terms and Conditions for the Approval of Timber Dimension Measuring Devices. The first stage of testing was done in the lab in Ottawa at the end of September, and then was installed in the bucking line of a B.C. sawmill. The second stage of testing was completed under actual operating conditions, leading to official approval in October 2015.

“Only with Microtec’s experience in this field we were able to pass the extensive requirements for the test,” says Norvin Laudon, chief technology officer at Springer Microtec North America and CSA committee member. “Our first scanner was certified in Germany in 2005, and we’ve installed well over 100 government certified log scaling solutions in Europe, Russia and South America since then. We are proud to be at the forefront of a new era of log measurement in North America.”

What’s new?
Previously, the mill was required to manually scale 100 per cent of its logs off site at a dry land sort facility. Together with B.C.’s Ministry of Forests, the mill, and Microtec, a pilot project was designed to use the measurements of the officially approved and sealed scanner for payment. As a result, manual scaling has been reduced from 100 per cent to approximately 2.5 per cent. The species/grade ratio from the manually scaled sample is then applied statistically to the whole boom. The remaining bundles bypass the sort facility, travel directly to the mill and are scanned in the debarking line. In addition to scanning the volume, the data is also used for bucking optimization. All measurements are compiled and sent to the province’s H.B.S. (Harvest Billing System) for payment. By drastically reducing the manpower and log handling involved in the process, the Microtec Logeye scanner reduces scaling costs while providing more accurate log measurements for trade.

The development of the Terms and Conditions for the Approval of Timber Dimension Measuring Devices are a result of a long term Canada-wide multi-disciplinary committee, the CSA Technical Committee on Scaling Roundwood.

Logeye Scanner details:
Microtec Logeye 
- Site approval for diameters from 18 cm to 115 cm, and lengths to 17.6 metres.
- Startup in less than a week
- Usage of scanner in the debarking/bucking line of the sawmill for volume measurement and bucking optimization.

For more information, contact Lisa Springer at lisa.springer@springer-microtec.com or visit springer-microtec.com.

November 26, 2015  By Lisa Springer/Springer-Microtec


Manual scaling has been reduced from 100 per cent to approximately 2.5 per cent.

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