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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
