The art and science of processing hardwoods is the business of Wolf River Lumber, Inc., a provider of high quality materials for cabinet makers throughout North America. Wolf River’s new corporate headquarters in New London, Wisconsin — built in 2001 — is a state of the art production facility that processes large quantities of oak, maple, birch, walnut, butternut, cherry, ash and other species favored by woodworkers. To keep everything operational in the event of a power outage, Wolf River Lumber recently invested in a comprehensive 3 Megawatt backup power system consisting of four 750 kilowatt Generac Gemini ® twin gensets. Each of the Gemini gensets consists of a pair of 375 kW diesel generators, mounted side by side within a single enclosure, with Generac’s onboard paralleling technology combining their output. The units were purchased from Wolter Power Systems of Brookfield, Wisconsin and installed in the spring of 2007 by Master Electrical Services LLC of New London, Wisconsin.
“We are like a supermarket for hardwoods,” says Mark Christopher, Wolf River’s general manager. Christopher is a fourth generation hardwood specialist who was directly involved in the layout and design of the New London plant. During a tour of the spacious 335,000 square foot main building, it is obvious the pride he takes in the facility and the quality of the wood Wolf River Lumber supplies to its customers. “Our clients have very specific requirements and we’re very focused on supplying exactly what they need in terms of the species, grade and dimensions they desire. We’re very customer oriented, with an inventory of each species that allows us to fulfill and ship orders very quickly.”
Wolf River ’s main building houses its corporate offices (beautifully furnished in a variety of hardwoods), the processing plant and a large warehouse. Outside those walls are three steam boilers and 40 steam-heated kilns, where batches of lumber are stacked and dried. Two of the Gemini gensets are paired up to provide backup power for the main building, while the others are located separately near the kilns.
“Having standby power will allow us to continue operating during an outage,” says Gary Ort, president of Wolf River Lumber. “It also protects us against a freeze out during cold weather and prevents the spoilage of our lumber that could occur during a lengthy summer outage.”
Wolf River receives batches of fresh cut random length lumber from dozens of mills for processing and drying. When a batch of wood is brought into the processing plant, it first goes through the “green line”. Each board starts its journey through the plant on a conveyor, where it passes a group of five certified grading specialists. Each of these individuals visually inspects every fifth piece of wood, marking it with their own colored pen to denote its grade and identify who did the grading. Then each board passes through a scanner that measures its dimensions and reads those marks, tallying the total number of board feet of each grade. Before the boards are sorted and stacked for drying in the kilns, the end of each one is marked to identify its grade, the batch number and the source mill.
The silver-colored kilns — built of aluminum and stainless steel — resemble small aircraft hangars, with a large sliding door providing easy access for forklift trucks. Steam pipes emanate heat that ranges from 90 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, while fans move the warm, dry air through the stacked lumber. Each species of hardwood has its own characteristics, so the temperature and duration of kiln drying varies depending upon its type. Incoming wood may have a moisture content as high as 70% (oak) to 200% (basswood), but the seasoned wood emerges after a number of weeks with a content of just 6 to 8%, making it ideal for fine woodworking.
The kiln-dried lumber is first processed on the “dry line,” where a 36-inch wide knife planer or 48-inch wide abrasive planer puts a smooth or rough finish on each board. The wood is then precisely dimensioned on the “rip line,” where computerized saws cut it to standard or custom widths and lengths. “For custom orders, we have the capability to deliver finished lumber in the exact amount and dimensions needed by a cabinet maker, which increases their efficiency and reduces waste,” Mark Christopher explains. “It’s ready to use, so they don’t even have to cut it.”
Considerable planning went into the design of the backup power system, with numerous options being considered by Gary Ort and Mark Christopher in consultation with Cal Lehman of Master Electrical Services. “Two of the primary corporate needs were to have electrical redundancy for the business operations and provide for future expansion of the installed systems,” says Lehman. “After reviewing various proposals, Wolter Power Systems was chosen as the equipment supplier and engineer to match those corporate needs with the generator options.”
Generac’s 750 kW Gemini models were the answer. Not only does each genset offer built-in redundancy with its two paralleled generators, but Gemini is also part of Generac’s Modular Power System, making it easily expandable. “The 277 / 480 volt three phase installation consists of four separate areas of supply,” Lehman explains. “The automatic backup system is 1.5 Megawatts and the manual backup system is another 1.5 Megawatts. Because the entire facility can operate on generator power, the local utility can temporarily take it off the grid, if that’s ever necessary. After approval of the concept, we had numerous meetings to balance the placement of the generators and transfer switches with utility requirements, production needs, traffic patterns, future expansion plans and cost considerations.”
The installation of the system went very well, according to Mark Christopher. He cited the excellent work done by Master Electrical Services and Ryan Dutkiewicz of Wolter Power Systems, the master service technician who was involved in the start-up of the units. “He was extremely helpful and took the time to make certain that we knew every important aspect regarding the generators and how the system was designed. He didn’t go home until he had answered all of our questions and was certain that we felt comfortable with everything.”
Dutkiewicz noted that good preparation was the key to that smooth start-up. “All four units had been installed and connected by Master Electrical Services and everything was complete and ready for me at the time of the start-ups. All the transfer tests were performed during business hours, planned by the maintenance department to occur during the lunch hour. The generators powering the main processing line were left on for the rest of the afternoon and operated without incident. Each of those gensets backing up the main building has about 650 kilowatts of running load on them.”
Ironically, the only surprise came when a seven hour utility outage occurred on the day before the generators were commissioned. “Losing power that day was very disruptive to our business and we had to shut down for a time,” Mark Christopher says. Untimely as it was, that blackout only further confirmed the wisdom of investing in a backup system. With 3 Megawatts of standby power on site, Wolf River Lumber is now fully protected against the considerable cost and inconvenience of power interruptions.
