National Hardwood Magazine - August 2023

Deer Park Lumber

Deer Park Lumber recently installed a Pichè Inc. 60-bin sorter. New Equipment And Increased Automation At Deer Park Lumber By Paul Miller Jr. New technology and machinery has resulted in increased efficiency and smoother operations at Deer Park Lumber Inc., based in Tunkhannock, PA. Deer Park Lumber recently installed a Pichè Inc. 60- bin sorter, as well as a Comact trimmer and grading scanner from BID Group Technologies Ltd. and PLC Controls from Logitech Controls. “These installations have made us more efficient,” said Joe Zona, sales and marketing manager. “Everyone has had struggles with getting employees and this takes a lot of the physical labor out of lumber handling. We have more technical positions now, where they need to know how to operate computers, automatic lumber stacking and stick placement, as well as how to troubleshoot the machine when a board is skipped and has become skewed.” The new installations will increase Deer Park Lumber’s capacity as their employees become more proficient in the use of the new technology. The new Pichè sorter will allow them to sort two species at a time in both kiln-dried and green lumber as the computer continues to learn how to recognize different grades, species and colors. “It’s a 60-bin sorter with two rejects on each side, so we end up with 58 sorts,” said Bob Seidel, mill operations manager. “We used to only have 15 sorts on the grade side, so this has significantly improved our efficiency.” “We have the bins now to take all the green lumber that Jack Monnoyer has been buying, and re-enter it Deer Park Lumber, located in Tunkhannock, PA, is able to trim outside purchased lumber during their regular milling process with the new installation of the Comact trim line. through the Comact, allowing us to trim the outside purchased lumber during our regular milling process,” said Zona. “We are cutting White Oak and re-entering Cherry. These boards aren’t sorted by grade, but by length, width and thickness and while they are being sorted we add the stickers.” As the sorter bins become full, they dump down onto the decking and are transferred to a “trolley train” that goes to an unscrambler to the stacker where the boards are simulated and make six-foot course if they are being dried or a 42 inch “dead piled pack if it’s going out green.” “Everything is automatic, the course placement, course making, stick placement and scanning,” said Seidel. Deer Park Lumber has made the switch to Duramax sticks from Redwood Plastics and Rubber Company located in Stockbridge, GA. “I know we are the wood guys and these sticks are plastic, but they stay straight and they are stronger. We don’t have to worry about mois- Please turn the page “These installations have made us more efficient. Everyone has had struggles with getting employees and this takes a lot of the physical labor out of lumber handling. We have more technical positions now, where they need to know how to operate computers, automatic lumber stacking and stick placement, as well as how to troubleshoot the machine when a board is skipped and has become skewed.” – Joe Zona, sales and marketing manager, Deer Park Lumber Inc. 24 AUGUST 2023 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE RealAmericanHardwood.com/industry RealAmericanHardwood.com/industry AUGUST 2023 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE 25