The origin of material response (changing shrinkage rates) during drying is
changing stress levels within the lumber as was determined in a previous p
aper. The object of this research was to demonstrate that a kiln control sy
stem based on material response parameters can reduce the drying time while
incurring no additional drying defects. One control run and two pilot runs
were performed. The results showed that it is possible to advance the kiln
schedule using only material response as the controlling parameter and mai
ntain or improve the quality of the lumber. Accelerating the drying substan
tially reduced the residual stress levels in the final product.