Retrofitting is a hot topic. While money for purchasing new machines has become scarce, an increasing number of machine operators are learning that old machines can be made to function like new, by retrofitting aging, obsolete control systems and human interfaces with new technologies.
A case in point concerns Lee Larson, manager at the Boise Cascade Wood Products plant in Medford, Ore. Last year, Larson completed the retrofitting of two of the mill’s four veneer composer machines. A composer takes strips of veneer, aligns them and clips them for straightness and to remove defects, and glues them together end to end to make a continuous strip of veneer stock. The veneer is then cut to length and is ultimately used to make engineered wood products or plywood.