Now it's almost Christmas and normally a time of the year when loved ones get together to just hang out and take it easy. Yesterday Sunday, we lit the 4th candle in the Advent candlestick. Candlelight, dark outside and the warmth of our fireplace spread that peace of mind. The calm that makes us reflect, me too.
The first word that comes to mind is pride. Proud of the impact our patented dynamic process for wood drying has had in Europe and a few other countries. We started our company Alent Dynamic in 2005 with a bold disruptive method for the sawmill market - interval drying. Claiming that you can get much better wood quality, shorten the drying time and save electricity by "switching between short intervals where fans and ventilation run at full power and longer intervals of rest" raised many question marks. To say the least.
However, the results with our first customers, not least Stenvalls, spoke for themselves. More customers who wanted to try our so-called “interval drying” got the same good results, if not better. Word spread and more customers upgraded their kilns using our patented method.
The Alent Dynamic method spread further year after year. Of course, we met resistance from large suppliers of kilns with built-in drying control. A resistance that has gradually turned into recognition. Today there are 4 kiln manufacturers who have chosen to supply their new kilns with our patented dynamic wood drying process to offer the highest performance from the start.
We have also developed our customer offer over the years so that today we have a patented fully developed process for wood drying with real-time measurement and adaptive control for each drying cycle, including AI-analysis of the entire drying process. In the spring, we will also launch the next step.
After a short briefing with our salesmen and installers, I can state that during the week before Christmas, deliveries/installations are taking place at sawmills in 13 countries at the same time.
At the same time as an influx of new customers who heard the rumors and read their electricity bills.
We also welcome Croatia as a new country for us, where a sawmill has chosen our drying process for drying oak.
What makes me extra happy is that we are now, with a number of customers, together with them discussing further energy optimizations for wood drying at group level.
If we don't hear from each other before, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Eric Björkman
Research & Development, Alent Dynamic
eric.bjorkman@alentdynamic.se