Woodworking Automation & Robotics

Automation Process

How Mereen-Johnson Approaches a Woodworking Automation Project

Every woodworking automation engagement begins the same way: by understanding your operation before proposing a solution. Our process is designed to ensure that what we build solves your specific problem — not a generic version of it.

Why Woodworking Automation Is No Longer Optional

For decades, wood products manufacturers could rely on a steady supply of production labor to fill roles that didn’t require advanced skills — feeding machines, moving material between operations, stacking and palletizing at the end of the line. That era is over. The skilled trades pipeline has thinned, experienced workers are retiring faster than they’re being replaced, and the positions most affected are exactly the repetitive, physically demanding roles that automation handles best.

The operational impact is real and measurable. Lines run below capacity. Throughput fluctuates with daily staffing. Injury rates in manual handling roles drive up workers’ compensation costs and complicate retention. And facilities that could be running three shifts are running two — or one — because they can’t reliably fill the floor.

Automated woodworking machines address this directly. They don’t call in sick, they don’t slow down at the end of a shift, and they don’t require a hiring manager to find and onboard. They run the repetitive, high-volume tasks your operation depends on — consistently, at production speed, around the clock — freeing your people for the judgment-intensive work that actually requires them.

The Mereen-Johnson Difference: Woodworking Expertise Meets Automation Engineering

There is no shortage of robotics integrators. What is genuinely scarce is a company that combines deep woodworking machinery expertise with in-house automation engineering — a partner who understands the upstream production context as well as the robotic systems themselves.

Mereen-Johnson has been engineering woodworking machinery since 1905. When we design an automated woodworking machine or robotic system, we’re building on first-hand knowledge of how wood behaves, how production lines are structured, and what it takes to keep a high-volume woodworking facility running reliably across shifts. A generalist automation integrator can build a robotic cell. Only Mereen-Johnson builds one that’s engineered with the same depth of knowledge as the machinery it’s tending.

Our woodworking automation systems are designed, fabricated, programmed, installed, and supported entirely in-house — in our own 150,000+ square foot manufacturing facility. Mechanical engineering in SolidWorks and AutoCAD. Electrical controls on Allen Bradley/Rockwell Automation platforms. Robot programming and integration with our authorized partners: FANUC, Kawasaki, and Stäubli. From concept to commissioning to long-term support, one team, one facility, one accountable partner.

From Individual Automation to a Fully Integrated Production Line

The greatest value of woodworking automation isn’t any single robotic system in isolation — it’s what happens when those systems work together as a unified production architecture. A machine tending cell that feeds a rip saw. A vision scanning station that triggers an automated sort. A stacking system that receives product from a moulder outfeed and presents it to a palletizer. A conveying system that connects every step without manual transfers.

Most automation integrators can build a cell. Few can design the full-line system. Mereen-Johnson can — because we’re the same company that built the machines those systems are working alongside. Our automated woodworking machines and robotic systems share a common controls architecture, speak the same engineering language, and are designed to work together from day one.

The result is a production line that doesn’t just automate individual tasks — it runs.

Woodworking Automation for Your Industry

Mereen-Johnson’s automated woodworking machinery serves high-production facilities across the full spectrum of wood products manufacturing. Our automation systems are currently in use across:

• Door Manufacturing — Machine tending for sizing lines, robotic handling of door blanks and finished doors, automated palletizing for shipment
• Rough Mill & Solid Wood Processing — Rip saw infeed automation, NaviVision yield optimization, stacking and de-stacking of dimensional lumber
• Cabinetry & Cabinet Door Manufacturing — CNC dovetailer tending, component handling, grade sorting and stacking for mixed-SKU production
• Flooring Production — High-speed outfeed handling, vision-guided grade sorting, automated stacking and palletizing of flooring strips
• Furniture Component Manufacturing — Machine tending for tenoners and moulders, robotic part handling, end-of-line palletizing
• Window Manufacturing — Automated component handling, transfer conveying between operations, robotic material positioning
• Mass Timber & Pre-Fab Construction — Large-format material handling, custom conveying for oversized components, automated quality inspection

Our Robotic Integration Partners

Mereen-Johnson is an authorized dealer for FANUC, Kawasaki, and Stäubli — three of the most trusted names in industrial robotics — and also integrates Yaskawa systems. We select the right robot for each application based on payload capacity, reach, speed, and long-term serviceability. Our authorization status means we have direct access to factory training, technical support, and parts — which translates into faster troubleshooting and more reliable long-term performance for your system.