Industry News News
DEMO 2012 a huge success

The 29,000-hectare site, in the forest north of Saint Raymond, Quebec, was filled for three straight days with people from all over the world looking to see the newest products available for logging, sawmilling and biomass industries.

With over three kilometres of exhibition space to be seen, DEMO 2012 was a showcase of the newest equipment, technology and innovation available from leading forest equipment manufacturers. Close to 100 companies had the latest products on display, both in static and active operations.

The biggest draw at DEMO International 2012 was the opportunity to watch live equipment demonstrations as harvesters, skidders, forwarders and chippers tore through the active sites. The active-site companies provided 6-8 demonstrations a day, with as many as eight machines working simultaneously to cut through the dense forest in the heart of Gestion Solifor’s Seigneurie de Perthius site. Over 100 machines were involved in active site demonstrations throughout the DEMO exhibition area.

DEMO was also an opportunity to showcase the newest equipment to the Canadian forestry market. Several companies took advantage of the chance to launch new products at DEMO, including: Tigercat, John Deere, Prinoth, Cat, CBI, Delouppe, Silvana, SP and Gilbert. Those new products were in addition to a large amount of new machines that have just been released to distributors in Canada, but were already available in other global markets.

Steve Sirois of SMS Equipment came away as the winner of the 2012 DEMO Forwarder Challenge, beating out Charles Pilote in the final race to take home the $1,000 prize. The Challenge including bulk loading, precision loading and stacking, and grappling exercises in a time-trial format combined over two races, one in each of the two forwarders. Pilote walked away with $500 for finishing in second place.

Early estimates from event organizers put the three-day attendance at close to 10,000 people, with final attendance numbers expected to be released later this week. That included a large number of students from nearby forestry schools, as well as colleges and universities from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.

Be sure to pick up the September/October edition of Canadian Forest Industries magazine for our exclusive look back at DEMO International 2012, including highlights of the new products showcased in Quebec.