The export of U.S. grown logs is in decline, due to falling demand from overseas competition. The goal of the proposed program is to develop a system to reverse this trend by improving the competitiveness of the U.S. log trade industry overseas. The U.S. log trade can improve its ability to market and sell logs internationally by utilizing the combination of the Internet and industrial X-ray based Computerized Tomograghy (CT). CT technology produces a high resolution cross sectional image of the internal structure of a log including grain pattern, and all knots and defects. By scanning logs using CT technology and then posting the images and other associated information on the Internet (LogNet) both log buyer and log seller can reap a variety of benefits.
Anticipated Results/Potential Commercial Applications of Research: Maybe the most attractive benefits and the ones which will make U.S. logs more competitive are, via LogNet buyer will spend up to 15% less in the procurement process, will have verifiable assurance they are buying the quality of log they paid for, and will have the images to extract more values out of each log at the time of milling. By offering such benefits through LogNet, U.S. logs will become more marketable at higher prices and will have wider international exposure as compared to today. All of this information including the images themselves can be delivered to the customer on a per log or per log batch basis via the Internet. Price and terms can be negotiated and purchases can be finalized via the Internet. Images can the be downloaded to optimize sawing at the mill.
