Wood Product Manufacturer Saw Glue Line Automation

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OvrX Manufacturing produces a unique engineered wood product for the building construction market. The OvrX "Barricade" family of products are used to insulate roofs, sub-flooring and wall sheathing. Employing renewable wood resources available from a nearby oriented strand board mill, these products are seeing a steady and growing demand. One component of the manufacturing process is the saw glue line, a unique machine cell configuration, designed specifically for OvrX. As currently implemented, the saw-glue-line relay logic produces a large amount of defective product which is not easily reworked, driving up production costs. Improvement of the machine cell by designing and implementing a PLC based digital logic control system will produce more uniform product and allow reconfiguration to manufacture new wall and roof sheathing products. The base technology used to enable the upgrade itself is not unique in manufacturing, but given the specialty nature of the saw glue line configuration, the design and implementation of the custom system requires expertise not available within OvrX or in commercial companies in the region. The proposed project will consist of the design and implementation by the college (in partnership with OvrX) of a digital logic control system, with the intent to reduce defect rate from 1.5% to 0.5%, and lost production from a current rate of 160 minutes/month to 40 minutes/month. The expected benefits to the company result from a combination of enhanced quality of products at lower cost, new product offerings, and potential for increased volume in the manufacturing facility. Given these 3 attributes, the company will be in a position to create sustainable employment and to entertain growth and expansion, expecting to create between 5 and 8 new jobs.