Rack & Stack streamlines flooring process

Cameron Automation, a division of James L. Taylor Mfg. that focuses on improving rough mill processes, hosted demos of its Rack & Stack Flooring Nester (model 516A) at the IWF in August. It’s an automated system for sorting, nesting, bundling and packaging flooring strips up to 5” wide and 7.5” long.

With its patented technology and the ability to handle an average of 30 boards per minute, it’s particularly beneficial to help flooring manufacturers save on labor costs and produce a better yield, according to the company.

“This machine is designed for a hardwood flooring plant that makes unfinished strip flooring that does more than 5,000 sq. ft. a day,” says Josh Renner, director of engineering for Cameron Automation.

“Specifically, it’s designed to do two things. One is to reduce the labor input to make flooring. Two, and where it really pays off for our customers, is the yield savings. Every time someone makes a bundle of flooring, and if they do it manually, they are basically guessing and doing their best, so they don’t make it too long or short. This measures every board down to 1/16”, so when you make a bundle, you tell it that you need a 19-1/2-sq. ft. bundle, and it spits out a bundle that exact size. It’s extremely accurate.

“In layman’s terms, if we get 20 to 30 bundles from a customer and run it through our machine, we usually give the customer back anywhere between half and a full bundle of extra material that they didn’t know they were sending out to their customers.”

For more information about Cameron Automation products, visit jamesltaylor.com.

This article was originally published in the November 2022 issue.