North Sea Lumber’s (NSL) trade milling arm Portside Sawmill has installed two Weinig moulders to upgrade its capabilities on added-value products.
The Hull operation has added a six-head high-speed Hydromat 2000 with mechanical in-feed and out-feed, together with a six-head high speed Powermat 2000 with PowerCom control. A Rondamat 960 profile grinder completed the investment.
The new technology replaced three of the four Wadkin moulders previously used, but the same monthly throughput of 2,000m³ has been maintained.
Benefits cited by Portside include a saving in floor space, greater production flexibility for long or short runs and less downtime due to quick tool changeover. It can now manufacture bespoke profiles as easily as standard profiles, which is expected to attract more customers and grow turnover further.
“Next day delivery is a growing demand by customers these days, and the Powermat is ideal to meet this requirement and also, for bespoke and short runs,” said Andrew Watkins, Portside production director.
Portside expects to achieve further flexibility and production throughput as machine operator experience grows.
The PowerCom tool-setting system, which serves all the moulders, records all settings plus the tooling history (customer name, profile, timber species, dates, run length etc) for instant job recall.
Portside was established in 2003 to machine softwood mouldings for sale through NSL and Quayside Timber, an independent subsidiary of NSL.
NSL, which has an £18m annual turnover, imports softwoods from Russia, the Baltic states, Sweden, Finland, Canada and the US to its terminal at Alexandra Dock in Hull, and via other ports.
