We've seen video of a monstrous tree-felling vehicle, as well as the sometimes comically-difficult process of loading logs into containers.
The next step in turning those logs into tasty, nutritious 2x4s is to run it through a mill. This process is pretty staggering when executed on an industrial scale, and engineers have designed all sorts of clever machinery to shift, rotate, transport, sort, saw, flip and plane these logs into shape.
But if you're walking around in one of these facilities, you really can't see much; the massive assembly line has much of the action above eye-level. Thus Vaagen Brothers Lumber, a third-generation family-run large-scale mill in Washington State, has captured their entire operation via drone. Here we can get a perfect view of this incredibly well-choreographed lumber-processing dance:
It's hard to pick which of those contraptions was my favorite, but I think it's this thing:
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Thank you for sharing this! Incredible to see the innovation that goes into streamlining a manufacturing process. I loved the automated cutter near the end, that analyzed length (and I assume defects) and decided whether to cut or not. Amazing!