“We are serious about safety at work,” says Arbo Lauri, who is an operator in the sawing team and is also the sawmill’s health and safety representative. “All the sawmill’s employees automatically don their helmets when they work outside the control room.”
that is in poor condition can easily leave an ugly mark on the surface of the wood.” The operators change the blades together at the sawmill. LSAB, the sawmill’s partner, services and sharpens the blades to be fit for reuse. The premium quality of sawn timber is important for the operators. It is a question of professional pride. “We aim to make such good sawn timber that we would buy it for ourselves,” says Lauri.
Problem solving is what Lappalainen enjoys most in his work. His training as an electrician is valuable, for example in determining the reason for possible device failures. “Being able to solve a fault or problem or adjust the trimmer’s calibration is rewarding”, he says.
One millimetre can be crucial for quality on the sorting line
“Quality assurance is our team’s most important task. Any product that does not meet requirements must be removed from the process as early as possible,” says Lappalainen. In green sorting, sawn timber is sorted according to its dimensions. Automation makes this fast and efficient. The sorting team’s operators check the dimensions manually from time to time, so they must always have callipers and tape measures to hand. “The line is equipped with precise cameras, but operators are also required to intervene in the process if the situation calls for it. Also, no sawing flaws such as blade marks or missing pieces are allowed in the boards. Planing must be done to a precision of one millimetre, so you really must pay close attention.” The green sorted sawn timber moves on to the sticking plant and drying department, and after drying to dry sorting, where the team also checks the quality of sawn timber. Thanks to the state-of-the-art technology used at the sawmill, quality data can be collected throughout the process.
Need for experts and all-rounders
In green sorting, recently sawn products move in good order along the two long sorting lines, controlled by sorting robots and machine vision. The pieces on the line are also examined by Pekka Lappalainen , an operator in the sorting team. Formerly an electrician by training, Lappalainen completed a further vocational qualification in sawmill work when he moved to Rauma. The training increased his knowledge not only of sawing operations but also of sawmill maintenance and technology. Understanding and using new technology require a great deal of learning. Metsä Fibre has invested in the training and orientation of operators. Operators also participated in on-the-job training at different sawmills. All this together provides them with deep competence. In addition, they must understand the entire sawmill process, as the future goal at Rauma sawmill is a model in which proficient multiskilled operators handle the tasks of several teams. Multiskilled people like Lappalainen were actively sought for Rauma sawmill during recruitment. With its varied experience, the team of operators can jointly solve challenges in the best possible way.
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