File Week 2019 wraps today after five days of coverage on new technology and processes for the filing room, plus strategies for filers to find their niche in the world of advancing automation. Here’s a snapshot of what we learned from the featured articles, videos and columns.
1) Evolving trade: Our main coverage this week was from the BC Saw Filers Association annual convention that took place in Kamloops over the weekend. Tolko’s Brian Shale gave a keynote during the day of sessions, challenging filers to “get outside the filing room” to become craftsmen in machine health management.
2) New products: The convention tradeshow had a number of product launches. Burton Saw, a division of Simonds International, introduced graphite saw guide pads as an alternative to conventional nickel babbitt saw guides; both Williams & White and Precision Machinery showcased new saw temperature monitoring systems; and Saw-ADD unveiled its new saw and guide force sensing system for round saws. Find six videos of products at the show here.
3) Filing’s first lady: Canada’s first female journeyman sawfiler, Stephanie Milburn, shares her experience entering the trade and overcoming challenges. “I didn’t want any special treatment because I was a girl. I wanted the same as what the guys did – respect,” she says.
4) Filing room feature: Filer and regular CFI columnist Trevor Shpeley is bringing readers inside saw filing shops in 2019. For his second profile, he gets to know the filers at Weyerhaeuser Drayton Valley in Drayton Valley, Alta., where a 1,600 square-foot shop is entirely devoted to servicing circular saws.
5) There and back again: Columnist and Canfor sawfiler Josh Penner shares the reasons behind his nearly year-long hiatus from the saw filing trade, and what brought him back.
CFI’s File Week landing page will continue to serve as a hub for both sawfilers and other stakeholders to learn best practices and find the latest information on advancements in saw filing technology. Our landing page is live all year round, found in the MENU tab, under Explore.
Find the landing page here, and see you next year for File Week 2020!
Thanks again to our generous sponsors: Supersaul Chemmex, Simonds International, and Corbilt/Wrangler Engineering.
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