The American Lumber Co. says it now uses advanced technology for specie sorting and full surface two-face color matching to create premium quality custom grades that will provide the highest maximum yield with minimal waste.

This is the latest extension of American Lumber’s customized lumber grading programs. The Hamburg, NY, lumber supplier contends that traditional grading standards, which have served the wood industry well for over a century were developed as a measurement for fairness and consistency for random width and length lumber.

But in a white paper, the Hamburg, NY, wood supplier says a different standard is needed that measures the usable surface area a manufacturer would receive based on their specific production process and requirements. Here’s their case:

Another Grading Approach

Traditional grading practices may not depict the true value of a board, based on a company’s specific manufacturing needs. Color consistency, available clear cuttings, or the amount of usable surface area can be, and often are, unique to a specific company’s production requirements. If a company could design and order only the lumber that worked best for them, that could increase productivity, decrease waste, and reduce overall cost to produce finished products. That is the case for designing a custom hardwood lumber purchase solution.

Some examples:

Providing a product with a guaranteed yield along with a percentage of five specific ripped widths that would be manufactured out of a traditional random width load that reduced the customer’s unused ripped inventory by 100%, reduced their lead time, and increased productivity.

Development of a specific proprietary grade for customers for hard maple focusing on their specified color, wane, and side bend requirements enabling them to receive 3-5% more usable surface area per board for their cabinet making process.

A customized sort in cherry, specifically selected based on desired knot placements and color, which provides a furniture manufacturer the ability to increase usable surface area by 8-10%.

American Lumber says it has co-created more than a hundred individualized hardwood lumber delivery standards specific to individual customer needs, starting with on-site visit and analysis.

From this procedure, a specification is developed, and a sampling of the designed lumber will be shipped to the customer for analysis and test runs. (American Lumber says its representatives are on site to observe the material being used in the specific production process.)