MADE EVEN BETTER Niagara’s sawmill in Invercargill, New Zealand spans more than 20 hectares, the site employs over 100 staff at the sawmill, office, kilns, treatment and finger jointing plants. Niagara’s Ashburton plant uses timber from the sawmill to manufacture a superior range of building and finishing products. Ashburton • Niagara’s sawmill and remanufacture plant is ideally located at Kennington, seven kilometres north of New Zealand’s southern-most city, Invercargill. Invercargill • Niagara Truss & Frame and Parklands Firewood & Landscaping Supplies are both located in Invercargill. 4 History 5 Timber source 6 Sawmilling 8 Kiln drying 10 Quality control 12 Remanufacturing 14 Ashburton plant 16 Timber grades 17 Bark, chip, sawdust and briquettes 18 Niagara Truss & Frame 19 Parklands Firewood & Landscaping Mid 50’s forklift at the original Niagara sawmill Carting timber - early 40’s Generations of timber Originally established in the small Southland country settlement of Niagara, the company, which has been wholly owned by the Richardson family since 1954, has graduated from three sawmills to its present site at Kennington on the outskirts of Invercargill. Providing quality timber is their lifeblood and they have expertise, experience and a belief that their product, like the tall forest, will stand the test of time. Ensuring they utilise each tree to maximum capacity means they provide a full spectrum of products, from milled timber through to precision building products and everything in between, including bark, chip, sawdust, firewood and briquettes. Niagara has been sawmilling since 1935 and has a proud history of responsible forestry and timber processing. The current Kennington site was built in 1966 4 5 Mid 50’s forklift at the original Niagara sawmill Carting timber - early 40’s Ross and Ken Richardson Niagara selects and processes only the best radiata pine trees McNeill’s truck loading with logs set for delivery to the sawmill Perfect pine It is well known that trees absorb carbon dioxide Niagara concentrates solely on radiata pine, and release oxygen as they grow. which flourishes in the southern climate. All material is sourced from plantations in This reduces the harmful CO2 emissions that Southland and areas of neighbouring Otago. The white timber of radiata pine has a contribute to global warming. multitude of uses and is highly sought after Importantly, when the trees are harvested and on the global market. processed the carbon is sequestered in the wood. The Southland region of New Zealand lends itself perfectly to the growth of quality radiata This means the more wood you use the more you pine with an abundance of suitable plantation sites. Consistent rainfall, cool climatic are helping to produce a healthier, more energy- conditions and ample sunlight, particularly during spring and summer, result in an ideal efficient, carbon neutral environment. growing environment. Niagara sources its material from a variety of locations and while it owns some of its own plantations, the company also purchases logs from privately owned blocks and through the tender system. Niagara was among the first sawmills in New Zealand to be certified as a supplier of FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) timber products. This is available to customers on request. Printed on chlorine free, 100% recycled FSC paper using environmentally friendly inks. 4 5 Logs enter sawmill Headrig operator scans the logs so optimum conversion can be achieved Flitches on infeed of horizontal saw Sawmilling A great deal of effort and experience goes into producing a quality product and with over 75 years entrenched in the sawmilling business Niagara is at the forefront, a world-class leader in its field. Producing approximately 120,000/m3 of sawn timber from its Kennington sawmill each year Niagara understands the importance of quality and accuracy to its worldwide customer base. This is why during sawmilling each piece is individually cared for using a wide range of modern technologies allowing Niagara to produce each piece of timber to its customers’ specific requirements. Producing approximately 120,000/m3 of From the start of the sawmilling process sawn timber from its Kennington sawmill cutting edge technology scans each log for maximum sawn timber recovery. This precision scanning also ensures accuracy, each year Niagara understands the which is vital as each piece continues its journey throughout the sawmill. importance of quality and accuracy to its Niagara’s horizontal saw takes care of the next stage worldwide customer base. of production, followed by a six saw automated edger system, which scans each piece to ensure the optimum width recovery is achieved. 6 7 Operator scanning flitches for optimum conversion Outfeed of edger after optimisation Niagara knows its customers demand accuracy from its products, which is why Niagara has recently installed an inline trimmer to ensure that each and every piece leaving the sawmill is end docked to ensure an accurate length, as well as being scanned for width and thickness. After the trimmer each board is then separated based on size and grade into Niagara’s binsorter, which allocates just the right amount of pieces per bin to ensure the finished packs are the perfect size for effective and consistent kiln drying. Once each bin is full an automatic stacker stacks each pack, precisely placing fillets on every layer to ensure each pack is optimised for the important kiln drying process that follows. All Niagara staff are highly trained and continuous upskilling of all staff is a vital ingredient to Niagara’s continuous push for excellence and dedication to the timber industry. 6 7 Woodwaste boiler State-of-the-art computer technology Kiln drying Niagara understands the importance of accurate moisture content and kiln drying to its worldwide customer base, which is why Niagara’s state-of- the-art kiln complex is fully computerised using the latest technology. Niagara’s kiln complex includes seven medium temperature kilns - three Windsor Batch Kilns and four Mahild Continuous Kilns (CFK). With a drying capacity of over 120,000m3 per annum Niagara can ensure all its customers’ requirements are fulfilled on time and to the highest quality. Recycled sawdust fuels the boiler generating heat for the kilns. 8 9 Kiln dried timber exiting a kiln Continual moisture checks are made throughout the process By using the most modern kiln drying computer-based technology Niagara can ensure that each and every piece is individually cared for and monitored throughout the drying process. Niagara’s kiln staff are trained in the best drying practices and each step is precisely carried out. Careful building of each kiln charge allows optimum air flow right through. A real time system shows the exact stage of each charge and how it is progressing allowing the operators to make decisions based on each kiln individually at any time of the drying process. Because Niagara’s complex is manned around the clock each charge is only left in the kilns for the precise amount of time. Hot checks are completed on each charge before releasing timber to the next production stage. Niagara’s continuous drying kilns operate around the clock. 8 9 Each board is graded and checked for moisture A finished pack being lowered for stacking Pack being wrapped before containerisation Sling sorter/quality control Niagara’s responsibility to quality doesn’t just stop after the drying process, it continues into the sling sorter/quality control department where each and every board is tested for moisture along the entire length. Niagara’s sling sorter has the capacity to process over 600m3 of kiln dried sawn timber per shift in order to meet customer demand in the most efficient way and ensuring accurate scheduling and on time delivery. Each pack from the kilns is de-filleted and run across an inline moisture meter to check for any defects in drying before reaching the grading station. Each piece is then individually graded depending on customer requirements and automatically allocated to one of 30 slings along the line. Each sling is automatically tallied for length and number of pieces to ensure the customer gets the right volume for every pack they order. Packs are then automatically stacked and either wrapped for the export market or allocated to Niagara’s remanufacturing plant for further processing. Because Niagara individually checks each piece for both moisture and grade specification customers are rest assured that product requirements will always be met. 10 11 Each board is graded and checked for moisture A finished pack being lowered for stacking Pack being wrapped before containerisation Niagara’s export-ready products are shipped out from nearby ports at Bluff, Port Chalmers and Lyttelton to clients in the United States, South East Asia and Australia, as well as those based in New Zealand. 10 11 Stetson-Ross infeed Optimising control station Rip recovery Remanufacturing The Niagara remanufacturing plant uses FSC certified radiata pine sourced from their sawmill to produce finger jointed blanks. These are further processed into engineered timber products of superior quality and appearance for local and overseas customers. Rough sawn kiln dried timber coming into the remanufacturing plant is machined through a Stetson- Ross planer to give a smooth uniform finish ready for defecting and finger jointing. The timber is constantly checked to ensure that only the product that meets strict quality specifications is used. An inline moisture meter is one of these quality checks, ensuring that timber outside the required moisture range is identified and removed before further Niagara’s remanufacturing plant uses processing occurs. the latest technology. Timber is scanned Using modern technology the timber is then scanned through a Woodeye at up to 220 metres per minute. through a Woodeye at up to 220 metres The Woodeye takes a snapshot of the entire length of each board, identifying the different grades of timber per minute taking a snapshot of the entire contained within the piece and selecting only the best length of each board and identifying the material for finger jointing.