Schedule

Would you like to speak at our event? Please submit your presentation proposal to Maria Church: mchurch@annexbusinessmedia.com
8:30am - 9:00am

Breakfast

9:00am - 9:45am

Sawmill of future: What does it look like?

Speakers:
  • Sylvain Dionne, vice-président principal, ventes et expérience client, BID Group
  • Diego Braido dos Santos, Director of the Applied Artificial Intelligence, BID Group
  • David Dubé, Director of Robotics Division, BID Group
BID is leading the way in several areas related to Industry 4.0: IIoT, augmented reality, robotics, artificial intelligence, and designing the next generation of sawmills. At OptiSaw, BID will share their vision of the sawmill of the future: a sawmill that will be powered by a combination of cutting-edge technologies and an inspired workforce. Experts will introduce innovative technologies and their individual impact on operations, and how they all integrate to build the sawmill of the future.

9:45am - 10:30am

Smart eyes: reinforcing scanners with AI

Speaker: Jyri Smagin - Chief Sales Officer, Finnos Oy

Finnos Oy’s Jyri Smagin will walk the audience through the sawmill, with its different scanners at various locations, and show how the latest technology enables the scanners to connect with each other via fingerprint technology. He will demonstrate how applying AI optimization to the whole raw material flow linked by fingerprint can increase fibre recovery and yield significantly.

10:30am - 11:00am

Networking Break, sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric Automation Inc.

11:00am – 11:30am

Energy transition: Good for the environment and the bottom line

Speaker: Martin Tremblay, owner and head of business development, Idea Contrôle

Experts agree, the energy transition in the industrial sector must be achieved by 2050. Incentives are available to initiate the transition, offered by energy suppliers or by the various levels of government, but where can one start a project? IDÉA Contrôle, an internationally recognized energy management equipment manufacturer, will share their efficient and effective tools to simplify the energy transition, which can reduce your mill’s emissions and costs.

11:30am – 12:00pm

Visualizing the invisible: How to increase productivity with Big Data and IoT technologies

Speaker: Tim Melburn, Asset Performance Engineer, Arrow Speed Controls

Optimizing machine productivity and maintaining a competitive edge can become increasingly difficult in a global economy. Big Data and IoT technologies offer a wide variety of potential improvements from production efficiency to predicting machine failures to managing employees. Have you ever wondered how to get the most out of your equipment while ensuring they run at optimal performance? Having the right KPIs and a solid preventative maintenance plan will provide incredible cost savings.

12:00pm - 1:00pm

Lunch, sponsored by Wellons Canada

1:00pm – 1:45pm

Case study: Functional safeguarding of a planer system

Speaker: Ian Rood, principal, UBSafe, Inc.

UBSafe performed a functional safety system upgrade to a Stetson Ross planer at Conifex Fort St. James, B.C., facility. To utilize the safeguarding system for minor servicing tasks, such as clearing jams, the WorkSafeBC approval process under regulation 10.10 for control system isolation device (CSID) use as an alternative control measure to lockout was triggered. UBSafe principal Ian Rood will share the results of the project – a safe, compliant, efficient system that was measured to reduce jam clearing-related downtime by 50 per cent.

1:45pm - 2:15pm

Sawmill simulation with OptiTek

Speaker: Mohammed Khachan, senior researcher, FPInnovations

Optitek II is a sawmill simulation software platform that allows stakeholders in the sawmill ecosystem to validate, analyze, and measure the impact on key performance indicators of new technologies and processes. Mohammed Khachan will provide an overview of the new software platform including drying simulation, planing simulation, profit evaluation, and flow analysis. A second part will be dedicated to the introduction of AI into the simulation process and its interest in estimating the value of stems supply from the forest to the mill.

2:15pm - 2:45pm

Networking Break

2:45pm-3:15pm

Cut on Demand: Predict and Optimize your Value Chain

Speaker: Patrick Freeman, chief technology officer, MiCROTEC

Maximize your mill's efficiency with unique CT technology and the MiCROTEC AI platform. Utilizing these tools, along with the innovative SMART Link solution, you'll be able to streamline and optimize each stage of your value chain to drive maximum value. MiCROTEC CTO Patrick Freeman will help you discover the power of prediction and optimization with MiCROTEC.

3:15pm-3:45pm

Case study: Installation of EchoStop system at Clermond Hamel sawmill

Presenter: Pierre Gilbert, founder, Secovac

Secovac installed the EchoStop system, its latest technological breakthrough in the field of drying control, at Clermond Hamel’s sawmill in Saint-Éphrem-de-Beauce, Que.

Secovac founder Pierre Gilbert will share the results of the project and how the EchoStop system, which has been designed to measure wood moisture without contact for continuous kilns, has optimized the sawmill’s operations, eliminated the down grade caused by overdrying, increased production and reduced the energy required by fbm.

3:45pm-4:00pm

Closing remarks

Speakers

David Dubé
Director of Robotics Division, BID Group

David graduated in wood engineering and started his career in process optimization and improvement to then take care of plant management and general management, which he did for over 10 years. It was in 2017 that David joined BID Group. He held director positions in the process improvement/start-up field, and in the optimization division for the Industry 4.0. Over the following two years, he created a new team of 10 process specialists for the BID automation division. His experience in wood processing and his ability to put forward new talent now serve as levers in the field of robotics to conquer the vast territory that is North America.

Diego Braido dos Santos
Director of the Applied Artificial Intelligence, BID Group

Diego is a forest engineer and holds a master’s degree in wood sciences. He has spent the last nine years working at BID Group, where he currently holds the position of Director of the Applied Artificial Intelligence team. Diego and his team are dedicated to improving existing optimization systems through the implementation of artificial intelligence, as well as developing new and innovative products that can expand the applications of AI in the lumber industry.

Ian Rood
Principal, UBSafe Inc.

Ian Rood has 30+ years’ experience in design and application of industrial automation across north America in a wide variety of industries. His career was primarily automotive manufacturing industry in Ontario prior to moving to British Columbia in 2006. Ian founded UBSafe Inc. in 2009 to respond to the growing need in western provinces and industry to efficiently apply safeguarding solutions within the context of western regulatory requirements. He is a technical committee member of CSA Z432 (voting), CSA Z434 (associate), ISO 19085 (voting), ISO 16092 mirror committee (chair), and UL3100 STP committee (voting), and a member of the Executive Health and Safety Council BC and signatory of the charter. Ian graduated Robotics and Automation and Electro-Mechanical technologist level programs from Conestoga College in Ontario circa 1990.

Jyri Smagin
Chief Sales Officer, Finnos Oy

Jyri Smagin is responsible for all of Finnos’ global sales and marketing. He has over a decade’s worth of experience working with machine vision systems in various positions in the sawmill sector. Jyri earned his Executive MBA degree from Finland’s Aalto University Executive Education, and a Master’s degree in Forest Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Management, and Environmental Technology from Aalto University in Finland.

Martin Tremblay
Owner of IDEA Control, Head of Business Development

Holding a master’s degree in entrepreneurial management and having more than 13 years of experience in energy management, Martin has distinguished IDÉA Contrôle in the Canadian market, but also internationally. The proximity of IDÉA Contrôle to its customers has made it possible to evolve and adapt its energy management tools to the needs of the energy transition.

Mohammed Khachan
senior researcher, FPInnovations

Mohammed Khachan received his PhD in applied mathematics from Joseph Fourier University (UJF), Grenoble, France. He has extensive experience in academia and industry, starting with his role as a research associate at UJF and the University of Poitiers in France. He then joined École Polytechnique de Montréal as a research professional where he focused on computer-aided modeling and engineering for the design automation of hydraulic turbines. He transitioned to the industrial sector and has been involved in the development and management of several innovative software projects, including shape inspection and fault detection (NDT Ic), dental restoration software (Cynovad), beam welding with optical acquisition systems (AGT Robotic), and 2D/3D metrology (BuildIT Software & Solutions).

Patrick Freeman
Chief technology officer, MiCROTEC Group

Patrick has worked in the wood products industry for more than 30 years, starting with Lucidyne Technologies which became part of Microtec in 2020. For most of that period he has been leading image processing and artificial intelligence teams working on lumber automated vision inspection. Patrick’s previous work experience includes designing semiconductor circuits and PC motherboards. He holds an electrical engineering masters (robotics) from Ohio State University.

Pierre Gilbert

Pierre Gilbert graduated in chemical engineering from École Polytechnique de Montréal and began his career as a representative in the field of industrial ventilation, pollution control, and energy recovery.

He participated in the founding of Salton Installation, the Quebec branch of Salton Fabrication of Vancouver, which is now Wellons Canada.

In 1996, Pierre founded Secovac, which manufactures kilns and multi-zone control systems for lumber kilns. In 2012 Sécovac innovated its software to integrate it into the AccuStop plate system, which allows reading the actual humidity of the wood inside traditional dry kilns.

Sylvain Dionne
Senior Vice-President, Sales and Customer Experience, BID Group

Sylvain started his career with the Comact family in June 1997 as a control technician. Over the years, he has occupied different roles in the control department to then become the Automation VP in 2013, when Comact was purchased by BID Group. Sylvain participated in a lot of sales meeting and tradeshows throughout those years but never thought he would one day be leading the whole BID Group sales team. The transition to the sales team started in August 2020. Since then, Blade products and customer experience have been added to his responsibilities.

Tim Melburn
asset performance engineer, Arrow Speed Controls

Tim Melburn has dedicated his career to helping companies take advantage of their equipment and system(s) data to realize previously unknown capacity and efficiency gains, with 15 years of experience in business process re-engineering and 10 years working with big data. Tim’s Business background, coupled with a computer science and data scientist certification has helped bridge the gap between pipe dreams and reality. With this knowledge, Tim’s biggest successes have involved big data and helping companies navigate the paradigm shift of going from using gut feeling to making decisions with a data driven approach.

Exhibitors



Venue/Accommodations

HÔTEL LE CONCORDE & GROUPE RESTOS PLAISIRS

1225 Cours du Général-de Montcalm,
Québec QC (QC)
G1R 4W6
418-647-2222
1-800-463-5256

info@hotelleconcorde.com

Reserve by phone for our special rate of $159 + TAX: 418-647-2222 or 1-800-463-5256.

Please mention ‘OPTISAW’ or Folio #971 905.

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