Timber drying
Drying is the first and most critical step in producing a high value material from timber and is the highest single cost processing step. Successful drying of timber is the platform upon which the $2.5 billion value added wood processing industry in New Zealand has been built.
In the 1970s very little wood was kiln dried in New Zealand; most was sold in the green (wet) state. These days most wood in New Zealand is sold as a kiln-dried product. The ability to make this dramatic change and the confidence that the New Zealand wood processing industry had in doing this was predominantly due to research by Scion’s wood drying group and their invention of DryspecTM.
Scion developed the software-based control system for kilns in the mid 1980s, essentially codifying their years of knowledge in drying Radiata pine into an easy to use kiln software system. At that time converting such knowledge into a computer-based control system was visionary.
Early adopters such as the New Zealand Forest Products mill at Putaruru and Tasman Forestry’s mill at Kawerau took the risk and it was not long before the New Zealand industry followed their lead.
By the mid 1990s DryspecTM was the national benchmark drying system – today it is the international benchmark for drying control and is synonymous with quality drying. It has led to optimal uses of resources for drying such as labour and energy, and has also enabled the individual companies to better manage their drying processes and quality management systems.
DryspecTM played an important role in supporting the growth of an innovative engineering company, Windsor Engineering Ltd, as it developed into a substantial international manufacturer of drying kilns. The company has made sales of over 530 kilns and related equipment, generating revenues of about $20 million per year.
In the 1970s very little wood was kiln dried in New Zealand; most was sold in the green (wet) state. These days most wood in New Zealand is sold as a kiln-dried product. The ability to make this dramatic change and the confidence that the New Zealand wood processing industry had in doing this was predominantly due to research by Scion’s wood drying group and their invention of DryspecTM.
Scion developed the software-based control system for kilns in the mid 1980s, essentially codifying their years of knowledge in drying Radiata pine into an easy to use kiln software system. At that time converting such knowledge into a computer-based control system was visionary.
Early adopters such as the New Zealand Forest Products mill at Putaruru and Tasman Forestry’s mill at Kawerau took the risk and it was not long before the New Zealand industry followed their lead.
By the mid 1990s DryspecTM was the national benchmark drying system – today it is the international benchmark for drying control and is synonymous with quality drying. It has led to optimal uses of resources for drying such as labour and energy, and has also enabled the individual companies to better manage their drying processes and quality management systems.
DryspecTM played an important role in supporting the growth of an innovative engineering company, Windsor Engineering Ltd, as it developed into a substantial international manufacturer of drying kilns. The company has made sales of over 530 kilns and related equipment, generating revenues of about $20 million per year.