One of biggest casket-makers in Mindanao is almost done putting up its furnace-type lumber dryer (FTLD), after DOST-FPRDI researcher Caesar A. Cuaresma supervised the facility’s installation last March.
According to DOST-FPRDI’s Pedrito A. Lontok, “The 3,000-board-feet capacity lumber dryer of King Jude Metal Caskets and Accessories is about 70 percent completed, after the major parts were put in place last month. The owners requested for the immediate construction of the dryer so that they would be better able to meet the quality and volume requirements of St. Peter Funeral Parlors, their sole client.”
Funds for the dryer were loaned from the DOST’s Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP).
DOST-FPRDI’s FTLD enables SMEs to make high quality finished products from properly kiln-dried wood. Made of locally sourced materials, it is easy to install and operate, uses woodwastes as fuel, and dries lumber to a moisture content acceptable to both local and foreign markets.
In the SOCCKSARGEN region where King Jude Metal Casket and Accessorites is based, two other companies have also availed themselves of SETUP loans for their own FTLDs: the Ramon Tan Sawmill in Tacurong City and the Tecuala Mini Sawmill and Woodworks in Kidapawan City. (Rizalina K. Araral, 19 April 2017)#
