As part of this upgrade, Inter Link do Brasil put a high-tech drilling machine into operation in the first quarter of the year, doubling the plant’s production capacity while significantly enhancing product quality. Back in 2014, the company had already commissioned the world’s fastest optimizing cross-cut saw, the "OptiCut 450 Quantum II" supplied by Weinig in Germany.

Now, fresh investment in a state-of-the-art wood scanner is set to boost productivity at “Inter Link do Brasil” even further. As sawn timber passes through the scanner at a speed of 150 meters per minute, 4 lasers and a further 4 color cameras search for and photograph the minutest of defects or color differences. The results are then analyzed in real time. Top quality is ensured by an advanced laser system comprising a total of four 3D lasers and four scatter lasers. Four point lasers grade the timber into different quality classes.

A high-speed process is used to capture and analyze the information on each individual piece of timber, and to formulate the optimal cutting strategy. In the next stage of the automated processing operation, the “OptiCut 450” receives the instructions for how the timber is to be cut to achieve maximum quality and yield.

The productivity of the scanner is truly impressive: even a solid wood fiber analysis on all four sides of a piece of timber can be carried out and stored in memory without compromising speed. The "dual scatter" combination of line and point lasers increases accuracy, and makes the plant as a whole the world’s most sophisticated at the present time. Tooling time is also minimized by fully automated camera positioning and positioning software.

The integration of state-of-the-art communication technology allows real-time monitoring of all data generated during production from the Inter Link Group’s head office in Seltz, France. A detailed GUI can be used to display each piece of timber in real time, accurate to the millimeter, and even allows immediate intervention in processing operations.

Not surprisingly, Inter Link CEO Martin Link is delighted: “The accuracy and speed of this machine is well beyond anything the human eye is capable of. During the coming year, this high-tech system will enable us to supply outstanding high-end products for brick-and-mortar wholesale and retail outlets.”

To accommodate the expected twofold increase in production capacity over the entire fabrication process, "Inter Link do Brasil" recently invested in an additional double-end tenoner, the largest and most advanced machine the manufacturer has ever made. This innovative machine meets the highest safety standards, all relevant European quality standards, and doubles the company’s production capacity in this area as well.

Thanks to integration, a vast array of individual tools work in concert to cut, mill, sand and profile panels in readiness for spray coating, all in a single pass, while a fully automated computerized control system keeps tooling time to a minimum.

The technology at this high-tech plant in the heart of Brazil is rounded off by a liquid coating system "made in Germany." The 40-meter-long machine, which can also handle solid wood, has been in operation for some time. It enables "Inter Link do Brasil" to produce high-quality surfaces in any color and can even accommodate staining operations.