Langdale Forest Products operates a high-volume sawmill in Barnesville, Georgia. FiberPro replaced their aging dual stop-and-chop merchandising system — originally installed in the mid-1980s and partially modernized in 2013 — with a fully modern Gen 7 Sliding Infinite Trim (5) Saw Log Trimmer System. The project paired state-of-the-art 3D lineal bark-off scanning with an engineered log pocket pusher to maximize value recovery, increase throughput, and dramatically reduce maintenance downtime.

Langdale's bucking process relied on technology that had already been stretched beyond its intended lifespan. The dual stop-and-chop saw system installed roughly a decade prior was always intended as a bridge solution — not a permanent answer. FiberPro's Josh Krauss had been deeply involved in that earlier modernization effort while co-owner of LogPro, helping design, procure, and commission the system. But the industry had moved on: scanning technology, optimization software, and saw carriage design had all advanced materially, and Langdale's existing system could no longer keep pace with the mill's production demands.

Beyond the saw system itself, the mill faced a secondary challenge on the outfeed side. Logs exiting the trimmer at speed were prone to fiber breakage, requiring a handling solution that could receive lineal-transferred logs gently and meter them safely to the small log primary infeed deck without damage or disruption to flow.

We replaced the older LogPro system with the evolved Gen 7 Log Trimmer — a traveling-carriage design with infinite trimming capacity purpose-built to take full advantage of modern 3D lineal scanning technology. Unlike the fixed-position stop-and-chop approach, the Gen 7's traveling saw carriages can position precisely anywhere along the log, unlocking the full value-recovery potential of the scanner's output. The result is measurably better recovery and a significant reduction in mechanical maintenance compared to the previous system.

To solve the outfeed fiber-breakage problem, we engineered and installed a fully plated log pocket pusher. The system uses gravity to gently collect logs exiting the trimmer into a concrete-filled engineered log pocket, then lifts and meters them straight and safely onto the small log primary infeed deck. Dual operator control was integrated across the full system.

The combination of accurate bucking, state-of-the-art optimization, increased throughput, engineered log handling, and dual operator control delivered a strong return on investment for Langdale — and a system built to run reliably for decades rather than serve as another bridge.