Revolutionizing sawmilling with AI

Intelligent monitoring systems are constantly striving to maintain or even improve production rates, while ensuring that no employee is put at risk by any production anomaly. Photos: BID Group

Over the past 10 years, we’ve seen that artificial intelligence (AI) is more than just a buzzword. It is about to revolutionize all fields of our society.

From image recognition to visual art creation and from text and speech analysis to content generation, the AI is advancing at a breakneck pace. The sawmilling industry is no exception – 20 years ago, automation and optimization of the most complex tasks in the woodworking process were rare or non-existent. Then came the automated graders. It was a huge step forward in performance. Today, we’re on the verge of another industrial revolution: that of AI. It is now possible to envision the factory of the future.

The sawmill of the future will be a fully integrated and connected site, where human intervention will be increasingly rare. Processes will be controlled on a global scale thanks to AI, instead of acting locally without knowing the global impact of a change along the production chain. We are not that far from that ideal factory. Comact has already assembled many key components with its digital platform, AI-powered optimization, and Smart Tools for quality control. More recently, the introduction of Smart Vision applications has elevated production flow management to a level of intelligence that surpasses both traditional photocells and human oversight.

The Smart Vision systems are engineered to monitor and interact with plant operations, offering advanced capabilities for regulating and optimizing processes such as log infeed and deck management. These systems can detect anomalies and halt the line promptly to prevent issues, as well as enhance worker safety by monitoring environmental conditions. Each module is designed for simplicity and minimal maintenance, featuring a high-resolution camera and a rugged enclosure connected to artificial intelligence engine.

AI can optimize log feeding and gap control, helping to maintain a superior pace while avoiding blockages or safety problems

The first type of application is transverse production line monitoring for sawmill and planer mills. It can detect skewed boards, double or short boards, as well as jammed trim blocks and stop the line before a major blockage occurs. It reduces considerably false positives and misfires made by traditional photocells sensors. The system also ensures correct board loading at the lug loader and validates the size of each input package at the planer mill infeed, preventing production interruptions caused by packages of incorrect dimensions being sent to the tilt hoist.

On top of that, the Smart Vision can be used to act on the line flow. We’re talking about adjusting stem position at the merchandiser, monitoring and filling management for log or trim block decks, and log singulation. At the merchandiser, it guarantees that the stems will be cut correctly, thus avoiding the problem of excessively short and long logs. The next areas where it intervenes are the log decks, ensuring that the fill rate optimizes the line flow. This task is neither easy nor interesting for a human being but can quickly cause productivity losses if not managed properly. Moving on to the next stage, the Smart Vision can optimize log feeding and gap control at the Wave Feeder for instance. This helps to maintain a superior pace while avoiding blockages or safety problems.

Finally, as a tireless eye on the production, such monitoring devices can greatly improve environmental security for workers. Defining safety zones, for instance, will make sure that the line stops if a board or log enters an area where workers can stand or pass. A log getting out of the step feeder and falling on the catwalk, or a board thrown out of the trimmer have been seen in the past in several places. Of course, these systems cannot replace good practices and security programs, however, they should be seen as complementary barriers to prevent serious threat to employee well-being.

Systems can detect anomalies and halt the line promptly to prevent issues, as well as enhance worker safety by monitoring environmental conditions

As we can see from these applications, intelligent monitoring systems are constantly striving to maintain or even improve production rates, while ensuring that no employee is put at risk by any production anomaly. Among other benefits, they will help attract and retain younger employees in addition to reduce the total number of people required in a context of labor shortages. Moreover, they will strengthen the mill management team’s decision making. Finally, they will reduce downtime due to lock-out periods, improve efficiency, cut labor costs and prevent equipment breakages in some cases.

In a nutshell, the industry is on the brink of a new revolution. Improved efficiency and autonomous production are the key words here. With intelligent systems such as the Smart Vision applications, the company has taken a step towards the mill of the future and asserted its leadership position. In-house developed, lumber oriented AI engine has been Comact’s success story over the last few years. Looking forward, there is a bright future ahead for the whole industry especially after the labor shortages of recent years.

Source: Canadian Forest Industries