Timber industry benefits gained from PlantRun

The timber processing industry faces continued pressure on margins and increases in material and operating costs. Inflexibility in sales pricing means that prices cannot be increased in line with costs.  Businesses must therefore focus on reducing costs in order to maintain or improve margins. This must be done in parallel with improved volume and capacity utilization.

Already driven to high efficiency levels to remain competitive in order to achieve incremental improvment it is vital to have access to accurate, high availability production level data. The use of high volume, high capital equipment has particular industry specific requirements. PlantRun is proven in this industry with existing users experiencing benefits such as;

Product Rationalization

PlantRun allowed one user to identify at least one product that cost more to make than it was selling for. Unable to raise the price and remain competitive the company stopped making the product, freeing capacity for other products and increasing overall profits.

Capital Expenditure Justification

The accurate data that PlantRun provides enables continuous improvement with the ability to measure track and analyse the effect of any trial, or initiative in a pilot scheme before major roll out. This makes it faster and easier to determine the ROI of capital expenditure projects, accelerate efficiency improvements and maximise capital productivity.

Energy Saving

Energy is a significant cost for sawmills and timber processors. In the UK The Environment Agency is issuing energy reduction agreements for sawmills. These agreements mean that participating mills can make significant savings on their energy bills in return for investments in energy reduction. PlantRun Energy Monitoring package can be integrated in to any existing PlantRun system to provide a means of proving energy saving initiatives and clearly identifying areas to target.   Read more about PlantRun Energy Monitoring