National Hardwood Magazine - October 2014

Top Photo: Three of 10

Top Photo: Three of 10 dry kilns at Havco Wood Products LLC, Scott City, MO, with the Danfoss “Cold Steam” Water Mist System for humidity control. Left Photo: Truckloads of lumber lined up delivering to the facility. This starts the process that ends with Havco’s truck floors shipping all around the world. The Equipment “Doctors” At Sawmill MD Build Customer Relationships Offering State-Of-The-Art Solutions By Gary Miller Crestview, FL—Optimization and operational consulting are only part of the services offered at Sawmill MD, headquartered here. Co-owners Mike Ballard and Duncan Ferguson established the company in 2002 after they discovered a need in the market for an optimizer savvy company that not only provides solutions, but also offers complete application consultation. Sawmill MD distributes and installs SiCam Systems, Vancouver, BC; RealTime Size Control Systems and the SiCam LSIZE Caliper System, McDonough Manufacturing, Eau Claire, WI; Bandmills, Carriages, Optimized Linear Edgers, Transverse Edgers, Optimized Edger/Gang Combinations; and Danfoss, Denmark, Mist Systems that offer high pressure misting to control sawdust and improve sawing. The company also provides financial and administrative services that include identification of capital requirements, insurance review, financial systems review and upgrades, forecasting, and risk and vendor management. 34 OCTOBER 2014 ■ NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE

Ferguson has a master’s degree in forest products and Ballard holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting. “Duncan’s experience at Harvey Electronics, Hemco, CSMI, USNR, Trident, Perceptron, and ASM enables him to identify large and small issues with the complicated electronics used in the sawmill industry,” Ballard explained. “He can quantify the existing performance level of your optimization and control systems, and then suggest and implement changes needed to enhance the systems’ performance.” The time that Ballard spent in sawmill management positions at J.L. Sizemore Sons Lumber Co., and New South, Graham, NC, compliments the time that he and Ferguson had with Kockum’s, Hemco, CSMI, USNR and ASM on the equipment manufacturing side of the sawmill industry. “My background is in equipment manufacturing and finance,” said Ballard. “I help operations that are looking for opportunities to enhance what they do and find ways to help them do that and benefit from a financial aspect at the same time.” He continued, “Duncan has been in the forest products industry for pretty much his entire life. I’ve been in the industry for more than half of my life now. When we established Sawmill MD, we basically sought out forest products companies that needed to have better representation from an independent perspective. So we started with the larger sawmill equipment and we’ve continued to move into other areas. We’ve been a distributor for Danfoss for about 10 years and we have installed the Danfoss Mist System in about 200 dry kilns around the country. The Danfoss Mist System is one of our four primary product lines. Manufactured in Denmark, the system is designed to reduce the demand and the fuel usage in boilers and improve lumber quality by controlling the humidity in the dry kilns. We’ve adapted that to the Hardwood world in the U.S., which has made a big difference for the Hardwood suppliers that have to spend time conditioning and equalizing their lumber.” Ballard explained some of the benefits of the Danfoss system. “After installation of the Danfoss system, our customers find their overall quality improves significantly and there is a reduction in the overall demand on their boilers. Air Emission control quality is key to the operations and adding boiler capacity is very difficult. They want to add dry kilns but they can’t add any more boiler capacity. So we’re doing a lot of things that benefit the lumber by taking stress off of the boiler. There is much less water being added to the boiler daily, which reduces chemicals. A primary advantage of this system is that it is easy to maintain.” Sawmill MD recently completed the installation of a second Danfoss high-pressure mist system for humidity control in three additional kilns at Havco Wood Products in Scott City, MO. Havco produces laminated Oak trailer flooring from their large woodworking plants located in both Scott City, MO, and Vonore, TN. After running the Danfoss system supplied by Sawmill MD for less than four months in seven of their other kilns, Havco Wood Products decided to make the addition. “The installation of the Danfoss System by Sawmill MD is one of the best projects we have ever done,” Ronnie Larentius, Havco’s purchasing and lumberyard manager explained. “The first Danfoss system Sawmill MD installed performed so well that within three months we were ready to order a second system.” Please turn to page 58 The Danfoss unit is utilized for humidity control in seven kilns and dust control in the sawdust silo. “After installation of the Danfoss system, our customers find their overall quality improves significantly and that there is a huge reduction in the overall demand on their boilers.” -Co-Owner Mike Ballard, Sawmill MD Mike Ballard (far left), co-owner, Sawmill MD with the Havco Wood Products team (left to right): Todd Honey, Earl Stevens and Ronnie Laurentius that championed the purchase of the Danfoss system and has made it a successful addition to the drying process at the Scott City operation. OCTOBER 2014 ■ NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE 35