BSW Timber

BSW Group is the largest integrated forestry and sawmilling business in the UK, with seven BSW Timber sawmills located throughout the country and headquarters in Berwickshire, Scotland, where the business originated. BSW Timber manufactures and supplies a wide range of quality, FSC-certified sawn products for an array of industries including fencing, landscaping, cladding, construction, DIY, decking and packaging.

Due to continued growth in a number of key sectors, BSW has undertaken a significant investment program in plant and infrastructure across a number of sites. This includes the installation of a new automatic crosscutting line at BSW Timber in Newbridge-on-Wye, Mid Wales. David Burd, Mill Manager at Newbridge, said the objective of the project was to install a semi-automatic crosscutting line that would achieve a safer working environment with less manual handling for our employees, whilst delivering an uplift in efficiency, accuracy and productivity of cut-to-length products.

Nigel Patrickson, BSW Group Project Manager, was tasked with investigating the market to find the best solution to meet their specific requirements. As a result, Nigel contacted Kevin McGlone, crosscutting specialist at JJ Smith, and a meeting was held to discuss the key goals that BSW had laid out. Taking into consideration all these points, Kevin concluded that the best solution would be a Cursal TRSI automatic crosscutting line with automated stacking. BSW was invited to JJ Smith's Liverpool showroom for a demonstration and time trials of a similar machine in operation. Following on from this, a final machine specification and quotation was submitted to the BSW board for approval.

The final specification for the saw line comprised of an infeed system with extended infeed chains and a separating system, and a TRSI saw unit fitted with two side aligning devices, one before the saw blade and one directly behind the blade to ensure the cut timber remained in packs prior to reaching the outfeed conveyor. The outfeed system consists of a 6000mm conveyor with two ejectors, the first rapid ejector being for smaller non-standard cut pieces. The second ejector is to push the cut packs onto a pre-stacking conveyor prior to the automatic overhead stacker lifting the cut timber to a new final pack ready for banding.

The line was installed in April by a combination of JJ Smith engineers and a Cursal technician, with additional infeed and outfeed driven chains installed by BSW's own engineers. Gareth Downey, Assistant Production Manager at Newbridge, commented: "The new Cursal line is working very well and production output is exceeding our expectations”. David Burd added: "So far so good; it seems that JJ Smith and Cursal have supplied a machine that has met our project objectives." Kevin McGlone concluded: "I am very pleased that we were able to meet the challenges that BSW set down and to finally see the Cursal line in operation and performing well."

For more information on the Cursal crosscut, please visit here.