A more even drying quality now in focus, as Versowood invests in Valutec kilns
Finland’s largest privately-owned sawmill group Versowood has chosen to invest in two Valutec OTC kilns for its sawmill in Vierumäki.
“We have long planned to increase our annual production from 1,300,000 cubic meters (551,000 MBF) to 1,500,000 cubic meters (636,000 MBF), but have had a bottleneck in the lumber drying. The investment allows us to eliminate this,” says Ville Kopra, CEO and partner of Versowood.
The new continuous kilns will primarily be used to dry boards and slats for Versowood’s own glue-laminated factory. This is why Versowood placed a lot of importance on finding a supplier who could guarantee a high level, even drying quality, with low levels of standard deviation.
“Valutec is an experienced and reliable supplier of lumber kilns, and they presented an excellent competitive solution,” says Ville Kopra.
“Versowood is one of Finland’s leading sawmill groups and a very distinguished company. I’m proud that we have been chosen to supply facilities that not only increase their production capacity but also help to further optimize their production,” says Timo Kanerva, Valutec sales.
The continuous kilns, which are made of stainless steel, will be equipped with pressure frames for minimal deformation of the top lumber layers, Valutec's air/air heat recovery system and Valmatic’s control system. Alongside the installation of the kilns, Versowood is also installing a Valmatic control system to six existing OTC kilns.
“We already have Valmatic controls installed in the majority of our kilns in the Vierumäki, Riihimäki and Otava sawmills. It is without a doubt the best control system for lumber drying available on the market today, and it feels good to have the same system across the majority of our lumber kilns,” says Ville Kopra.
Versowood is a Finnish family-owned sawmill group, with 11 facilities in Finland and one in Estonia. They produce sawn timber, further refined wood products, glue-laminated products, wooden posts, wooden packaging and various wood-based energy products. The group employs a total of around 750 people and has an annual turnover of around €400 million.
For further information, please contact:
Timo Kanerva
Myynti
Valutec
Tel: +358 506 1117
timo.kanerva@valutec.fi
Ville Kopra
CEO
Versowood
Tel: +358 500 235 701
ville.kopra@versowood.fi
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The desire to increase the use of wood is the ultimate reason for Valutec's existence. We have been combining Scandinavian expertise in the field of timber drying with insights into the challenges facing our customers for almost 100 years. This has all been done with the aim of pushing the boundaries of what is possible, both as regards value-creating timber kilns as well as intelligent control systems. The Valutec Group has companies in Sweden, Finland, Russia and Canada, and with more than 4,000 timber kilns delivered, we are the leading supplier in Europe. Read more about our “Good for Wood” outlook at www.valutec.se.
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