Many companies have written into their purchase orders for optimizers that the equipment must pass an acceptance test in which the actual sawing solutions are to be compared to the optimized solutions determined by SAWSIM^®.

• For primary breakdown systems a sample of logs is processed and optimizer solutions are saved. Using the same logs processed by the optimizer, the "SAWSIM^®-Duplicates" run is performed to implement the sawing solution calculated by the optimizer. The primary purpose of this run is to confirm that the piece yields projected by the optimizer can in fact be recovered from the log, and that there is a reasonable level of solution "safety".
• Next, a "SAWSIM^®-Optimum" run is performed in which SAWSIM^® determines the optimum solution for each log. As much as is possible and reasonable, similar constraints regarding maximum pattern offset, opening-face requirements, etc. are applied to SAWSIM^® to ensure a valid comparison. The total value produced in the SAWSIM^®-Duplicates typically must be close to that of the SAWSIM^®-Optimum run for the machine center to be deemed acceptable. How close is dependent on a number of factors and is specified on a case-by-case basis.

An additional benefit realized from this analysis is that, in the course of setting up the SAWSIM^® model used in the test, a detailed review of the optimizer’s parameters is made. In virtually every case we have found an error in the parameters, or a possible improvement. The improvement resulting from the parameter correction or improvement pays for the cost of the acceptance test study, many times over.

The SAWSIM^® Acceptance testing method has a clear advantage over other acceptance testing methods, such as before-and-after recovery of mill tests or actual mill production. The procedure is fair to both the purchaser and the vendor. It is testing that the equipment is performing in accordance with the specifications. Because the same logs are considered for both parts of the simulation, a valid apples-to-apples comparison in ensured. Of course this is not possible in real production as no two logs are the same, much less two log samples or the logs sawn in two production timeframes.

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