National Hardwood Magazine - January 2021

Equipment and Services Providers
Continue
Offering Solutions
By Matthew Fite
Companies providing equipment and other services to the Hardwood lumber industry saw challenges in the
economy in 2020 but pushed ahead. These firms also have seen challenges in the trajectory of the industry – but
have pushed ahead. For 2021, equipment manufacturers and chemical producers see opportunity. Adding hi-tech
solutions to sawmills can help the mills’ bottom line – and enable these equipment and services providers to
continue pushing ahead.
George Barker
Biolube
Fort Wayne, IN
Biolube Inc., provides trouble-free Lubie® spray application equipment, saw lubricants, moulder bed
lubricants, grinding coolants, pitch cleaners and other specialty products that allow sawmills to increase
their bottom lines with the most environmentally friendly products available.
For 2021 the Lubie bandsaw lubricant line, both Hardwood and softwood, is being reformulated to
give higher performance without increasing cost. A new line of lubes for guided gang saws will be introduced.
We continue to see strong growth in the pallet industry with emphasis on longer band life with higher
feed speeds. n
Lance Johnson
ISK Biocides, Inc.
Memphis, TN
George Barker
I consider 2020 to have been a very successful year for us because we were able to attain respectable results in a tough
environment. I expect the industrial side of our business should only get better in 2021. It may be tough to repeat the strong
sales we had in our retail products in 2020 as many consumers took the opportunity to work on their house while they were
supposed to be working from home.
We held our own with our industrial (lumber treating) products, but our retail products really thrived.
In 2020 we launched a new anti-sapstain chemical called 22 Express. We are very pleased with the
results, although the roll-out was slowed somewhat by COVID-19 travel restrictions early in the season.
The LTL carriers stayed busy and filled to capacity almost immediately at the start of the recovery, so
we did experience more delays than normal in our LTL shipments this year. We had no major issues
with international shipments, neither in raw materials coming in nor in finished goods going out.
Our angle on this is as an importer rather than exporter. While additional tariffs are a concern and
would be painful, I personally see them as a short-term issue and have much more concern over our
reliance on China in the long term. The chemical industry is reliant on China for many components, and
I believe the trade issue as well as some global shortages incurred in the last couple of years have
Lance Johnson
shed some much-needed light on the situation. I hope it will bring some changes to the global supply
chain. n
Paul Cleereman
Cleereman Industries
Newald, WI
Cleereman Controls offers Proportional Controls, Linear Controls, 3D Scanning Optimizer, Stave Mill Controls, Trimmer
Controls, Edger Controls, Auto Saw Guide, Start/Stop Console, MCC Electrical Starter Cabinets, Debarker Controls and
Automated Log Lines.
Cleereman Industries is a solution-based company that offers everything from single piece equipment sales to turn-key
style sawmills. We have our own in-house engineering department for both Cleereman Industries and Cleereman Controls
which allows us to handle everything from start to finish. We can custom build our equipment to meet our customer’s
needs. With the recent addition of the controls company we have been able to design a lot of the electrical control panels
and starters into our equipment packages and save our customers a lot of money and time on their electrical costs. The
combination of Cleereman Industries and Cleereman Controls has taken us to another level of customer service.
Cleereman Industries is constantly striving to make improvements on our current lines of equipment, and our research
and development department is always working on new or improved equipment for our industry. Just in the last few years
we have added Cleereman Controls Company along with our new Stave Mill equipment lines and Debarker lines.
Cleereman Industries is in the final design stages of our new Cleereman Optimized Edger system for the smaller to midsized
sawmills. Cleereman Controls division has been working on a new type of scanning system for our optimized edger
that will fit in existing mills. Our new design will fit into existing Edger locations at a price point that the smaller to mid-size
sawmills can afford. This should be quite appealing to a lot of sawmills in this industry.
We observed mills looking for more of a “turn-key” type project rather than looking after the project themselves. Whether,
the project is a complete, new mill project or an upgrade to an existing mill, owners have relied on the supplier to do most
or all of the project, from design to start-up. Customers appreciate the ability to do “one stop shopping” and it helps projects
run smoother with a lot less people directly involved. Cleereman Industries can provide everything from start to finish to
our customers.
Stefan Dracobly, president of Cleereman Controls is constantly looking at the latest technology available to the sawmill
industry. Stefan says the research and development department at Cleereman Controls is constantly testing new products
and technology. Stefan lists some of his thoughts below:
• Scanning: Newer scanners are coming out with higher density scan data. In conjunction with faster, newer computers,
this data can be more easily utilized to increase our accuracy of the scan and minimize mistakes created by nebulous scan
data.
• Reporting: With report databases the norm, getting the data to sawmiller is important. This can be done by printing,
emailing or texting.
• PLC: With internet access in the sawmills, engineers can remotely attach to control systems for remote monitoring,
troubleshooting and upgrades from anywhere in the world. This saves the customer the cost of an in person service trip.
• PLC: More and more remote IO devices are being created to minimize the need for multiple runs of cables. These new
devices allow multiple sensors and valves to be connected to a local centralized device that then has a minimal amount of
cabling back to the main cabinet.
Cleereman manufactures: Carriages -- Air Setworks, Hydraulic Setworks and Linear Positioning;
Carriage Drive -- Hydraulic Drives, Hydrostatic Drives, AC Regenerative Drives; Log Turner – Standard,
Bottom Pivot, Versa Turner, Cornerless Operators Cabs/Control Booths, Track Frames, Carriage
Rail (30#, 40#, 60#, 80#), Cable Tightener and Sheaves, Airbag Tightener, Hydraulic Tightener, Cable
Sheaves, Saw Husks, Arbors and Mandrels, Saw Guides, Log Decks, Stop and Loaders, Log Troughs,
Drop Belts, Husk Offbearer Belt, Chain Transfer Deck, Rollcases, Belt Conveyors, Unscrambler, Transfer
Deck, Semi-Circle Systems. The firm also offers: Resaw Systems—Runarounds, Infeed Tables,
Outfeed Tables; Edger Line -- Board Edger Feed Systems, Accu-Cut Trimmer, Double End Trimmer,
Carriage Power Units, Log Turner Power Units, Custom Power Units, Conventional Sawmill Packages,
ST54 Lumber Pro Thin Kerf Bandmill, ST64 Lumber Pro Thin Kerf Bandmill, and Debarker. n
Paul Cleereman
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