From quality assessment to process optimization

A few weeks ago, Holzbau Gröber placed an order at Microtec for the 1000th Goldeneye quality board scanner. CSO Arianna Giudiceandrea and CEO Frank Jöst took this milestone as an opportunity to look back at Microtec’s achievements to date. While the two of them value all previous accomplishments beyond measure, they are mostly focused on the present and future challenges for the company and on scanner technology.

More than 25 years have passed since Microtec sold its first Goldeneye quality board scanner. “Back then, image processing in the timber industry was still in its infancy. Fortunately, we had a very innovative customer in Eggental who bought the first Goldeneye and tested it thoroughly with us,” Jöst recalls the early days. Soon after, the first scanner systems were sold in Germany, for example to Holzbau Gröber, although the initial focus was exclusively on strength grading. “To this day, strength grading is an essential part of our solutions. Over the years, though, image processing and the integration of new sensors and technologies, such as cameras, 3D measurement tools or scattering lasers for determining the orientation of the grain, have been added,” Jöst says about developments over the past decades. For him, the early takeover of Grecon’s strength grading division was another milestone, which made the company the only provider in this field of the timber industry for a long time.

Intelligent operator

Today, the Goldeneye is a multi-sensor quality scanner which combines scattering lasers, 3D lasers, color, and X-ray to assure the highest precision grading and classification of softwood lumber. The focus is on strength grading and on lumber for construction purposes and outdoor use. The Goldeneye’s counterpart for hardwood lumber is the Woodeye, complete with optimization software, which is used to detect aesthetic and/or quality defects in the wood, depending on the specified requirements.

In recent years, the sawmill industry has gone from doing manual quality assessment to relying on scanners. For a long time, companies always had an in-house specialist who operated the scanner. “Since it has become increasingly difficult for customers to find such experts, we have developed the digital quality control tool QC Assist, which provides important support when adjusting the Goldeneye,” Giudiceandrea tells us and adds: “Our Goldeneye scanners always start off with the highest performance. However, if target specifications change or the quality of the lumber fluctuates above average, the scanner needs to be adjusted. Today, our QC Assist supports the operator. In the future, though, an AI solution will turn the scanner itself into an intelligent operator.”

From lumber to log wood

Then as now, strength grading is the core task of the Goldeneye, and Microtec constantly works on increasing both quality and speed. “Ours are the fastest scanners on the market, and we are also working tirelessly on increasing yield. In addition, our systems are also taking on more and more optimization tasks along the entire production process,” Jöst explains.

For a long time, Microtec scanners were only used for assessing dried boards, but the systems have evolved towards log wood via wet sorting. “With several scanners along the entire production process, our scanner systems no longer just assess the end result. Now, they can intervene in the process even before the first cut,” Giudiceandrea explains, referring in particular to the CT Log scanner. This scanner divides each log into virtual boards, which can significantly improve the yield and warehousing of a sawmill by making it possible to cut on demand.

“If several of our scanners are in use, we can use a fingerprint solution to precisely track the path from the board to the log or in the opposite direction, incorporate cross-learnings and further optimize the process in numerous places, thereby relieving the burden on staff. All processes are increasingly supported by AI solutions, which will play a central role in the future,” Jöst says. He assumes that stand-alone scanner systems will only be of interest for few applications in the future.