Frank Lumber Company: Encontrar un nicho rentable

Ubicada en Mill City, Oregón, Frank Lumber Co., Inc. tiene una larga trayectoria en la fabricación de productos de alta calidad.

“Frank Lumber got its start in the late 1930s on the North Fork of the Santiam River where my uncle, A.J. Frank, was in business,” explained Clement Frank, Quality Control Manager since 1989. “A.J. moved the company to its present site in Mill City in the early 1950s. We were mainly a hemlock mill at that time.

Frank's sigue siendo una empresa familiar que depende de la madera local, federal y estatal, junto con tierras forestales propias, para operar el aserradero. Debido a las limitaciones derivadas de la presencia de numerosas especies en peligro de extinción, la tsuga de mayor altitud dejó de estar disponible para nuestra empresa. Desde finales de la década de 1990, procesamos exclusivamente abeto Douglas.

“La calidad para los clientes es fundamental para la continuidad del negocio”, continuó Frank. “Un aserradero debe mantener un recurso de madera de buena calidad, y hemos logrado mantenerlo a lo largo del tiempo”.

Nichos de mercado importantes

Over the years, Frank Lumber Co., Inc. has found the benefits of specializing in niche products. “We’re a niche market mill where we deal mainly with machine stress-rated lumber and glulam for our lam stock customers,” said Frank. “We also do some specialty items like hirakaku beams for the Japanese.”

El contenido de humedad es clave

“El contenido de humedad debe estar en un nivel determinado, por lo que confiamos en el medidor en línea modelo 683 de Wagner para descartar la madera que no cumple con los estándares de uso final para nuestros clientes”, explicó Frank.

Wagner’s Model 683 in-line moisture detection system proved its value in mills like Frank Lumber for many years. Its ability to automatically reject boards that are too wet or too dry helps prevent manufacturing defects and wet claims. The system:

• Automatically measures the moisture content of every board, instead of relying on spot checks.
• Automatically rejects boards that are too wet or too dry, identifying problem boards before they cause wet claims or manufacturing defects.
• Uses a display and marking system calibrated in percent moisture content.
• Utiliza detección sin contacto para eliminar el desgaste del sensor.
• Has sensors that use electromagnetic wave technology to measure moisture through the wood, not just on the surface.
• Is designed so its accuracy isn’t significantly affected by humidity, ambient temperature, surface moisture, static electricity, or sensor debris, which reduces recalibration and maintenance.
• Uses Wagner’s built-in air-gap compensation for accurate readings on warped boards.

Wagner’s current in-line system is the Sistema de medición de humedad en línea Omega.

“We dry to an average of 12% on our dimension lumber, while our hirakaku beams are dried to an average of 18%,” said Frank. “Most of the products are machine stress lumber grades which require a moisture content of 15% or less, so it’s very important that we monitor that closely. It has proven to be a reliable tool to our company in providing the quality drying for the many specialty grades we produce.”

Asociación con Wagner Meters

Frank Lumber Co., Inc. tiene una larga trayectoria trabajando con Wagner Meters. "Somos una empresa que se mantiene al día con los estándares técnicos relacionados con la madera", explicó Frank.

“Our former Technical Director, Bill Galligan, and Ed Wagner (of Wagner Electronics, now Wagner Meters) co-authored an ASTM standard for the calibration of in-line moisture meters.”

That standard is ASTM D6782, Standard Test Methods for Standardization and Calibration of In-Line Dry Lumber Moisture Meters.

“Llevamos usando el medidor de humedad en línea 683 desde que tengo memoria, y empecé aquí en la planta en 1970”, recordó Clement Frank. “Los productos Wagner que hemos usado son muy fiables”.

Wagner Meters’ products have proven to be very reliable at Frank Lumber Co., Inc. Give us a call at (541) 291-5125 for more information on how we can help you too!

Compre el sistema Omega en línea.

Última actualización el 9 de octubre de 2026