Mitrek Sawmill is located in the town of White River, South Africa. The company mainly cuts pallet components for pallet manufacturers.
Sawmill owner Peet Groenewald started his sawmilling career in 1997, starting with a Wood-Mizer LT20 to get the business off the ground. Later Peet added two Wood-Mizer LT40’s and Wood-Mizer resaws and edgers to expand the mill even further.
The decision in 2017 to replace one of the LT40 sawmills with the recently launched Wood-Mizer LX450 twin rail sawmill exceeded his expectations.
The process
The main timber species that is cut at Mitrek Sawmill is Eucalyptus Grandis. It is a hardwood grown extensively in South Africa for pulp and saw log purposes.
With an average weight of 640 kg/m3, the timber is difficult to cut with a lot of warp and internal tension. The logs that Mitrek processes on a daily basis typically range in size from 150 to 800 mm in diameter.
With Peet’s longstanding relationship with Wood-Mizer equipment, he decided to implement a new LX450 into the company to raise overall production capacity.
“I also know the company, the service and the product and I based my expectations and projections on what the LX450 could offer me on my previous experience with Wood-Mizer. In fact, the LX450 has exceeded my wildest expectations. It’s the best thing I’ve done,” Peet shares.
“I’ll have to reconsider everything that I do. The extra capacity that the LX450 has given me, has forced me to change my long-term plan that I had for the mill completely.”
“My monthly turnover has increased by 25%. Timber volume cut per month has increased by 30%.
“It has also allowed me to also diversify into more profitable cutting activities. The speed and accuracy of the LX450 has allowed me to investigate this profitable market.
“Although we’re battling to keep up with the machine, the options that it has given me has left me astounded,” Peet says.
Wood-Mizer is currently the first and only sawmill manufacturer with a monorail or twin rail design to choose from to accommodate various sawing applications and preferences.
“It’s an awesome machine. I don’t know why it does what it does, it just does it,” Peet concludes.
LX450 up close
Wood-Mizer’s new LX450 sawmill offers a completely redesigned sawmill that has never been available from the company before.
Featuring many of the same benefits of the world-renowned Wood-Mizer LT sawmill series, the new LX450 sawmill offers a cut width of 86 cm, log diameter cutting capacity of up to 91.5 cm and log lengths of up 6.1 m with additional beds extending the cutting length even further.
“Wood-Mizer has long been the only sawmill manufacturer of the monorail cantilever design, holding several patents on this technology and trusted by 70,000 sawmillers throughout the world,” said Robert Baginski, COO of Wood-Mizer Industries in Europe.
“Every sawmiller has different needs and preferences which led to the addition of the LX sawmill series. You can now own an LT series monorail or LX series twin-rail sawmill and receive the best support in the industry enjoyed by Wood-Mizer sawmill owners throughout the past 35 years.”
LX450 Sawmill Specifications
Power Options - 18.5 kW electric motors
91, 5 cm diameter x 6, 1 m length with extra bed extensions for longer logs
86 cm width of cut and 41 cm depth of cut
