The comparison in Table 1, based on American western rates, illustrates this. It can operate and show a profit when the other mill breaks even or shows a loss. There are many other gains to be made in applying automation to sawmills. Where manpower is used to load the logs in the mill, roll them onto the carriage turn the logs dog, taper, set out, etc. Meanwhile, the machines do the actual handling and measurement much more accurately and faster than a human being can.
Automation also increases production.
In most instances, when men are replaced by machines, not only does the production per man go up, but the total production of the plant increases. As a typical example, when a man was taken off the log carriage at a large western United States mill, the manager reported that within two weeks his production on this headrig jumped from 38,000 per shift to 40,000 per shift. Automation also makes for better, more uniform quality. Dimensional quality is more uniform with automation because it depends on repetition, and repetition is something a man does not do well. Setting dimensions accurately demands a man's full attention, both mentally and physically.