Forest Products

Smart predictive maintenance solutions for the forest products industry

Lumber + -

One thing all lumber mill assets have in common is their criticality: any downtime on a single machine can have severe impacts on overall production. Specialized machinery requires advanced maintenance skillsets and presents significant safety issues if something goes wrong.

Gang saw
Kiln fans
Vertical saw
Wood planer
Knife systems (gang saw, chipping heads, chipper disc)

Forest products industry photo showing lumber stacked up on pallets.

Corrugated + -

Machinery used in the production of corrugated paper products can be difficult to monitor, and the industry has been deeply impacted by supply chain issues causing long lead times for critical replacement parts. Time- and route-based monitoring aren’t enough to maintain optimal machine performance and ensure operational safety.

Double facer
Single facer
Trim blower fan

OSB + -

Time-based maintenance protocols don’t accurately capture damage inflicted on OSB production assets due to their short run cycles and intermittent operations. Even minor deviations in machine performance can result in major impacts on product quality.

Dryer ID fan
Press loader lug
Sander
Strander/Flaker

Gypsum + -

Mechanical faults that slip detection with traditional reliability practices can result in high levels of rejected board material. Fans and conveyance assets are typically hard to safely monitor but are critical to ensure continuous operations.

Conveyors
Fan Systems

Pulp & Paper + -

KCF Technologies’ SMARTdiagnostics system aids the pulp and paper industry by enhancing equipment monitoring and maintenance. It helps detect early signs of equipment issues, allowing for proactive maintenance and minimizing disruptions. This system focuses on critical processes like bleaching and thick stock pumping to ensure smooth and efficient operations.

Bleaching
Thick stock pumps
Paper Machines

Paper mill in operation with a maintenance engineer checking the status.

"Some suppliers, when you ask them a question, they're going to send you an invoice and look for a deal before they take a phone call... That is not the type of partner we prefer to work with. A mutual benefit says we'll pick a partner at scale because they make sense, and we'll have a good service relationship. And we have that with KCF."

David Bonfante, Senior Director of Asset Health
Georgia-Pacific

Customer Success Story

"By deploying sensors and optimizing the strategy, they reduced this cost to about $1.8 million, saving roughly $900,000 over three years."

Thom Brotski, CEO
Harrison Group LLC

Customer Success Story

"What this technology has enabled us to do is for these technicians to find defects in our process in our equipment identify those and spend more of their hours actually troubleshooting and understanding those problems rather than simply walking the plant to find them in the first place."

Clifton McDonald, Sr. Director of Reliability
RYAM

Customer Success Story

"The immediate long-term benefit that comes to mind is just overall better reliability and maintenance of our equipment . "

Jesse Stephens, Operations Manager
St. Croix Tissue

Customer Success Story

Georgia-Pacific Keynote

“Some suppliers, when you ask them a question, they’re going to send you an invoice and look for a deal before they take a phone call…And so that is not the type of partner we prefer to work with. You know, a mutual benefit says that we’ll pick a partner at scale because they make sense and, you know, we’ll have a good service relationship. And we have that with KCF.“

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Case Study Spotlight

Moving equipment into a precise state

Discover RYAM’s transformative journey with KCF Technologies, enhancing equipment reliability and safety across all manufacturing facilities. Since 2021, RYAM has installed over 2,600 KCF sensors in Jessup, Georgia, achieving 95% coverage of critical machinery. This adoption of KCF’s 24/7 monitoring technology minimizes routine checks, averts failures, and boosts efficiency. The initiative demonstrates RYAM’s dedication to innovation, equipment longevity, and environmental sustainability in the industrial sector.

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A KCF Technologies IoT hub connects machine health monitoring devices for robust data.

How the IoT HUB succeeds where traditional vibration monitoring fails

The IoT Hub from KCF enables the user to collect simultaneous data samples from each monitoring point and transmit the data wirelessly to a KCF Base Station. Use case scenarios include:

Intermittent Operation: Monitor assets using triggered signal input to measure periods of interest, allowing comparison of relevant data.
Synchronous Data Collection: Accurately time-synchronize sampling from multiple monitoring points.
Signal Propagation: Wireless sensors are decoupled from the IoT Hub and can be placed anywhere, including submerged locations.
High Temperature: Placing the IoT Hub away from extreme temperatures ensures you don’t compromise battery power.

Explore Solutions

Related case studies

Vacuum Pump

Vacuum Pumps

Vacuum pumps are critical in many manufacturing processes. KCF's comprehensive machine health monitoring empowers you with the data and insights needed to minimizing unplanned downtime.

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RYAM’s transformative journey: Moving equipment into a precise state

Explore how KCF helped RYAM to enhance efficiency, safety, and reliability by integrating a robust machine health monitoring program.

View Case Study

Transforming industries: The power of remote monitoring and AI

The partnership between Georgia-Pacific and KCF Technologies, proved to be instrumental in driving the success of this transformative journey. See how machine health monitoring can improve your uptime.

View Case Study

$ 4 Billion+

in customer savings

85,000

hours of downtime prevented

1.2 Billion

data points per month

Request a demo

Want to eliminate unplanned downtime and extend the lifespan of your critical assets?
Contact us to see how our comprehensive, AI-driven machine health platform can optimize your operations.

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Proven results in wood, pulp, and paper

Smart predictive maintenance solutions for the forest products industry

Gain a competitive edge with KCF

Georgia-Pacific Keynote

Moving equipment into a precise state

How the IoT HUB succeeds where traditional vibration monitoring fails

Related case studies

Why KCF

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