SDL Solutions: Delivering Exceptional Service

Sam Launchbury is the founder and CEO of SDL Solutions, an innovative and forward-thinking forestry business and wood pellet manufacturer. Driven by sustainability, the company take their environmental responsibilities seriously.

The digester works by mixing organic waste with hungry microorganisms in a large silo allowing nature to intervene. The microorganisms digest the organic material and produce biogas (mostly methane gas) which is burned in generators to produce electricity. A transformer and substation connect it to the national grid.

Whilst finishing the works at the AD Plant SDL Solutions continued to carry out site clearance work and were asked to clear a large area for the construction of a new road at the heads of the valley. To carry out this work SDL purchased a Jenz HEM561 to accompany the 360 excavator and shear. During this contract SDL produced 1000’s of tons of woodchip and so the process in finding a useful home for the material started. SDL started to supply a converted coal power

station and newly installed biomass woodchip systems, that were being installed during the uptake of the RHI scheme. It became apparent that there were different specifications needed depending on the size of the boiler installation and that screening the product and drying where necessary. This would enable all the site clearance material processed to be utilised for maximum return. SDL ceased contract civil engineering and focused on its own development installing two 1mw boilers linked to a drying system. The boilers were able to burn a lower grade of fuel from the site clearance which enabled the screened, more premium product to be dried and sold.

Whilst SDL continued to grow and carry out more site clearance, a lot more lower grade material was available and rather than sell to the larger power stations coming online (that paid very little), the opportunity was there to build a CHP Plant (Combined Heat and Power). The thought behind this was to enable SDL to produce its own electricity which would then give opportunities for further manufacturing/processing with cheap electricity. Sam applied for planning in early 2016, following his submission visiting multiple CHP Plants and sawmills across Europe and settled on a supplier for the CHP unit and drying unit. Sam negotiated and purchased the equipment and started installation in October 2016 completing the install with its G59 grid connection on March 27th 2017. Only one to two engineers from the main suppliers helped SDL’s staff to complete the entire installation.

Having commissioned the CHP plant, Sam could see others joining the woodchip supply market and causing prices to drop to unsustainable levels. With this in mind, Sam took another bold step later in 2017 when he built a wood pellet production plant right next to the biomass boiler, utilising the heat and power from the CHP plant to produce EN Plus A1 wood pellets – the highest quality available and all manufactured from sustainable local timber.

You can’t help but be in awe of Sam as not only had he brought his vision to life, but he designed the layout of this amazing facility himself and constructed it with his own skilled workforce.

The biomass plant and pellet line sit side by side. The biomass plant uses wholetree, lop and top and poorer quality timber to produce heat and electricity. The sawmill bi product and better-quality chip wood is used to manufacture the wood pellets next door. It is an impressive set up. The woodchipper, was working flat out in the yard making short work of the large stack of chip wood destined for manufacturing wood pellets.

The plant runs all year round and is only shut down for two weeks each year to conduct servicing and maintenance. I confess to not fully understanding the ins and outs of plants like these, but it was easy to see how effective and productive it is. The fact that it only needs a handful of operators to keep it running smoothly is all down to the articulate planning, design and layout that took place prior to construction.

The biomass plant and pallet line are situated on a very a large site with plenty of room for expansion and I would imagine there will be much more to come.

SDL employs around 150 people in total. Up to four squads work on roadside/site clearances. SDL conducts a lot of site clearance and roadside work nationwide, removing Ash trees suffering from Dieback. Even with this type of work Sam has a unique approach. Although all of the trees will eventually die, instead of clearing them all away, initially only the unsafe or unstable ones are removed. By working this way, young natural regeneration trees can establish themselves. A young crop will be coming through by the time the last of the diseased Ash trees are removed. This improves the aesthetic impact as the roadside has continuous cover and never looks like a bomb site after a total clearance.

It is astounding what Sam has achieved in such a brief time span. In 2023 he took another brave step and purchased one of the last remaining sawmills in South Wales. The mill was destined to be closed, but having purchased sawmill residue for many years, Sam made an offer which was accepted. Staff were thrilled that the business was to continue under new ownership and committed their future to Sam and SDL solutions.

SDL Solutions are a completely self-sufficient company with sustainability at its heart. Nothing is wasted as they use every part of the standing timber they purchase. Even the brash mats from their harvesting sites are extracted and chipped to fuel their biomass boilers.

SDL are very well equipped with machinery and have their own fleet of HGV’s Lorry’s with walking floor, timber, low loader, and bulk tipping trailers for transporting round wood, sawn timber, wood pellets, woodchips, and equipment. Other equipment includes their powerful self-propelled Albach Diamant 2000 which is used for on and off-site chipping, various McClosky Trommel three-way screeners, excavator Magni and Liebherr machines equipped with various Westtech tree shears, Fendt 828 tractors with various attachments, two wheeled based harvesters, one track based, four forwarders, skyline and winch.

Sam understands that to be a good leader you must be able to translate your vision into a reality and he has done this by putting experienced and skilled leaders in key positions throughout the company. When Sam takes on a new project, he makes sure he has the right people in place to look after the day to day running of their departments. He has invested heavily in making sure that operatives are fully trained and multi-skilled so they can cover other assignments if required, and he makes sure that they are well looked after.

Timber Harvesting

The following day I met up with harvesting manager Kevin Mitchell at a steep and challenging site being harvesting in Derbyshire. The diseased larch trees along with some Sitka Spruce were being taken out. It was mostly a clear fell, but there were smaller areas where it was more of a mixed crop and the Larch was being removed by thinning. 12,000m³ was being harvested and the average tree had a volume of 1.1m³.

Driving down to the parking area I was surprised by the lack of timber at roadside, I would have expected to see over a thousand of tonnes of timber stacked at roadside considering there was two harvesting teams working there. I asked Kevin about the lack of stacked timber, there was less than one hundred tonne in the landing, and he explained that none of their sites ever had large timber stocks.

“As soon as wood hits the stacking area its straight off to our sawmill or biomass plant. Landowners are delighted as the wood is never left stacked up to dry out, many are realising that they are getting much more value from their wood from SDL Solutions.”

A Komatsu 875 forwarder was being unloaded by operator Heffyn Owen at the stacking area and a Komatsu 931 harvester was nearby which was being serviced by operator Craig Ferguson.

It was quite a walk to where the timber was being harvested as they were working the site in accordance with the weather conditions. The forest road, which was thatched up for the extraction route, cut through the middle of the steep site and as it was dry they were working at the furthest most point.

Two very fit young chainsaw operators, Connor Harris, and Jacob Peters manually felled the trees, and I did not envy them in the slightest as it was a very steep site. The trees were felled and left un-brashed so that they could be processed mechanically next to the extraction track. A much safer way to work as de-limbing trees on steep slopes can put chainsaw operators’ safety at risk.

The full trees were being extracted by a Doosan DX 300LC which had been converted to a skyline in a joint venture by Baden Powell Ltd and Toby J Hyde Ltd. The trees were extracted uphill away from a main watercourse using a TST Carriage.

Aaron and Alfie Pond were chockering for the skyline at the bottom of the hill and Finlay operated the skyline. It was not an exceptionally large extraction distance, around 200m so it was not long before the trees began piling up, making unhitching the chockers a bit awkward. Craig finished servicing the Komatsu 931 and was kept busy processing the timber. Due to the exceptionally long extraction distance, a Komatsu 840, operated by Robert Cowie, assisted the Komatsu 875 forwarder.

With the speed of the skyline extracting the timber I thought they would soon run out of trees and would need to relocate the machine and cables frequently, I assumed that this would slow down production. Kevin assured me they had it down to a fine art and could move the excavator and cables and be back up and running in less than an hour. Although this was not the easiest of harvesting sites, the team produced an average of 700m³ to roadside each week.

The quality of the work being conducted was first class and there was no water issues anywhere, the on-site excavator was mostly used for preventative measures. I observed areas where the harvesting had been completed and it was left in an immaculate condition, landowners have highly commended SDL Solutions for their standard of work and completing jobs and removing all the timber in record time.

The one thing that did strike me was how young this team was. Kevin pointed out that the average age was twenty-seven. This is certainly an anomaly for forestry as most companies have an ageing workforce with many operators heading for retirement. This must be one of the youngest squads working in forestry in the UK and it was a privilege to watch them in action, everyone knew exactly what was expected of them and they worked perfectly in unison as a team. Kevin pointed out that SDL also had another harvesting squad working in Wales. Carl Osborne operates the John Deere 1270G harvester and his son Jack extracts behind him on a John Deere 1510G.

We drove around to the other side of the water course to where the larch was being thinned. This area was a bit easier to work and could be harvested mechanically, it also gave us an unobstructed view of the skyline area.

Walking through the area to be thinned I was gobsmacked with the number of remnants of open fires, some on the root plates of the mature Sitka’s. I could not believe the irresponsibility and stupidity of some people. All the signage was up regarding the harvesting operations taking place and people totally ignored it, still walking through both areas regardless. This is a bugbear with me as we are the ones who must stop working to let them through, although we are doing everything correctly and by the book.

It was a revelation to see SDL Solutions operation, this is a forward-thinking company that will go from strength to strength. Future company developments include a plan to install a carbon capture on their biomass boiler which will further their environmental principles by removing up to three tonnes of carbon per hour and to establish their own replanting team so that they will be able to cover the full forestry cycle from plant to plank.

SDL Solutions is a company where teamwork really does make the dreamwork, everyone I met during my visit enjoyed their work and were quick to point out it would be almost impossible to find a better employer.

www.sdlsolutions.co.uk

Forest Machine Magazine is written and edited by a forest professional with over 40 years hands on experience. We are dedicated to keeping you informed with all the latest news, views and reviews from our industry.

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