Over the past thirty years the Canadian forest industry has implemented optimizing technologies at most machine centres within its sawmills. Studies have shown that the impact of this variety of hardware and software has been an approximate drop of 20% in the volume of raw fibre required to produce the same volume of lumber. To remain competitive however, the industry must make a significant shift from higher volume to increased value recovery.
The purpose of this “technology intelligence” tour of European research organizations, technology suppliers and sawmills in September 2003 was to identify and view opportunities for the transfer of advanced scanning and optimization technologies and programs that could ultimately assist the B.C. wood processing industries to extract higher value from their indigenous resource.
Numerous opportunities have been identified for the transfer of commercially available technology, beta-testing of advanced technologies, and increased scientific collaboration.
The report includes summaries of the individual visits as well as several specific recommendations based upon conclusions drawn as a result of the tour.