The Concept of Value Activation : the PrimWood Method for Improved Properties.

Value Activation is an integrated R&D programme carried out for the last eight years at the Royal Institute of Technology, Wood Technology and Processing. The name Value Activation refers to the basic understanding ofwood, where at present there are properties that are not fully exploited, but with help of a new sawing pattern could be fully utilized. The basic idea lies at an industrial level producing radially sawn timber with good profitability and with a lesser and mostly a controllable moisture movement. In short it implies an activation of values of timber, that has not been exploited in ordinary industrial production to date. This paper gives one example how the basic ideas in the concept of Value Activation have been implemented to the industry. A new manufacturing system, the Prim Wood Method, has been proposed in order to improve the utilization of wood. One basic idea within this method is a new sawing pattern called star-sawing, which produces timber with two different shapes, viz., timber with rectangular and triangular cross sections. This method facilitates an efficient production of radially sawn timber with vertical annual rings, and without pith and juvenile wood. The triangles produced in star-sawing are used for producing high quality, knot free panels with vertical annual rings, PrimWood Prism. In this process, the timber is finger-jointed to form knot-free lengths and glued together into a block. This block can then be divided according to thickness into boards with vertical annual rings. In star-sawing, a certain volume of clear pieces will be obtained which are relatively long, i.e. longer than 1 metre. It is not desirable to finger-joint these boards, but instead to manufacture PrimWood Prism without a finger-joint. The first full-scale industrial plants based on the Value Activation concept are now in production in nothern Sweden. At full capacity, the saw mill will produce around 18000 m3 of star-sawn pine a year and shift. The plant for Prim Wood Prism will produce around 5 000 m3 a year and shift. The company is expect to generate two to three times the usual value from each log