News
Milestone for Valutec - the first TC kiln in North America is now in operation
Recently, the first lumber packages were loaded in Pleasant River sawmill group's new TC continuous kiln.
- A milestone for us, says Ingo Wallocha, country manager Valutec North America.
Valutec's TC continuous kiln has achieved great success on the world market and the model has been sold to countries across Europe, Russia and last spring, Pleasant River sawmill group invested in two kilns for their sawmills in Jackman-Moose River and Dover Foxcroft in Maine, US.
-The installation process was smooth without any major issues. And when we saw one of the kilns in our mill for the first time we knew we made the right decision, says Jason Brochu, owner Pleasant River Lumber.
The installation of the dryers, which together have a capacity of more than 240 MMBF, began this spring and was led by Valutec’s assembly manager Mattias Henriksson together with an American assembly team.
- Delivering to other countries and working with local assembly teams is part of our everyday lives. We have built up a great deal of experience in projects in other countries and know what it takes, from design to planning of logistics and on-site work, says Valutec CEO Robert Larsson.
Valutec's assembly manager Mattias Henriksson (left) has enjoyed his time in North America.
-The assembly team has been great working with and I believe that we've learnt a great deal from each other.
Pleasant River is a fourth-generation family-owned sawmill company with 5 mills in New England. The investment in the two TC kilns from Valutecm for 2 of their Spruce mills is intended to contribute to an increase in production capacity by 50 per cent in the coming years.
The deal with Pleasant River means that Valutec has taken another step into the North American market following the establishment of an office in Vancouver, Canada three years ago.
- The fact that we now have a plant in operation in North America is a big step forward for us. References are important and the TC channel dryer is unique in terms of capacity, flexibility and quality. In addition, it is much easier to get customers to visit another state than a completely different continent, says Robert Larsson.