Virtual Event
OptiLog 2021
June 15, 2021 at 1:00pm EST

1:00 p.m. – 1:05 p.m.
Welcome & Opening Remarks

Speaker: Ellen Cools, editor, Canadian Forest Industries

1:05 p.m. – 1:35 p.m.
Knowledge is money: how telematics can help optimize performance and reduce downtime

Speaker: Irfan Zardadkhan, product manager, telematics, Tigercat

In recent years, loggers’ operating costs have gone up drastically, making it increasingly difficult to turn a profit. This means getting data on machine performance, downtime, maintenance, etc., is critical. Tigercat product manager Irfan Zardadkhan will present the latest developments for Tigercat’s telematics systems, RemoteLog and LogOn, including how logging contractors can manage their fleet, optimize their performance and reduce downtime. He will also share how contractors have leveraged these features and the impact they have had on their operations.

1:35 p.m. – 2:05 p.m.
Forestry evolution: leveraging jobsite technology solutions to boost the bottom line

Speaker: Jim O’Halloran, product marketing manager, John Deere

The forestry industry is rapidly evolving, and more logging contractors are leveraging jobsite technology solutions to boost bottom line results. These innovative solutions are opening the door to new levels of operator productivity and efficiency, ushering the industry into the future. Jim O’Halloran, product marketing manager with John Deere, will present on the opportunity Precision Forestry offers to the industry and share details about the impact of the John Deere Intelligent Boom Control technology on contractors’ operations.

2:05 p.m. – 2:40 p.m.
Connected forest: increasing operational efficiencies with GIS

Speakers: Alexander Ryerson, forest information specialist, Lim Geomatics; Mike Morgan, harvest operations supervisor, Tolko; and Nicholas Genier, woodlands operations supervisor, Tolko

As technology in the forest industry advances, collecting and analyzing data on operations is easier than ever. Technology such as Op Tracker, a turnkey GIS solution, bring vital geospatial data and imagery into the cabs of operations equipment and provides tracking and performance analytics to managers in the office. Op Tracker has improved operational efficiency and increased profits for companies across Canada and the U.S., including Tolko Industries. The Tolko operations team in High Level, Alta., provides feedback to the Lim Geomatics Op Tracker development team, and tests and validates new features that solve real-world problems. Nicholas Genier, Mike Morgan, and Alexander Ryerson will walk attendees through the relationship between these two organizations and how it contributes to the evolution of the missing piece of the connected forest, Op Tracker.

2:55 p.m. – 3:25 p.m.
Resource roads: off-road truck platooning comes to the timber industry

Speakers: Joseph Putney, director of commercial systems, Robotic Research, LLC, and Jan Michaelsen, lead researcher, transportation, FPInnovations

Truck platooning is not a particularly new idea, but it has been gaining ground in recent years to link trucks on the highway, yielding benefits such as lower fuel consumption and making it easier to transport more goods. A more challenging problem is electronically linking trucks for off-road transport or use over rugged terrain for industries such as timber harvesting. The U.S. Army has already started using autonomous truck technology developed by Robotic Research for platooning unmanned transports in combat situations. The same technology is now being applied to logging and other industries. This presentation will review innovations in autonomous truck systems, including off-road platooning, and its impact on the timber industry.

3:25 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.
Data-driven stewardship: using AI to make quicker cutting decisions

Speaker: Karim Koreitem, co-founder and CEO, Scaffold AI

As the forestry industry looks to data-driven stewardship and automation to address productivity and environmental challenges, a richer tree level understanding of forests below the canopy will be essential. Detecting tree characteristics and building 3D maps with tree catalogs has immediate and long-term potential across a range of forest operations, including harvesting operator-assist, silviculture planning, environmental monitoring and more. Scaffold AI co-founder and CEO Karim Koreitem will discuss how rapid advances in AI and the increasing accessibility of sensors and GPUs are enabling the development of such representations. He will also present a real-time operator-assist system that leverages extracted tree-level characteristics and highlights trees of interest based on harvesting plans to help operators make quicker cutting decisions and reduce their decision-making burden and training time.

3:55 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Closing remarks

Speaker: Ellen Cools, editor, Canadian Forest Industries

ON DEMAND
How to advance forestry training with technology

Speaker: Julien Richer-Lanciault, product manager, CM Labs

For years, the forest industry has been facing a labour shortage. That labour shortage is becoming more acute as more older workers retire and fewer younger workers show an interest in logging. Simulation training can help address this issue. CM Labs’ forestry and construction product manager Julien Richer-Lanciault presents a session detailing how new advancements in simulation-based training can help the forestry and logging industry respond to the skills gap and meet the needs of a changing market.

ON DEMAND
The future of forestry training

Speaker: Mario Leduc, assistant director, Mont-Laurier Vocational School

Mario Leduc, assistant director at the Mont-Laurier Vocational School, shares his experience in the field – from lessons learned to best practices – and examines the future of forestry training. Note this presentation is pre-recorded in French with English subtitles.