32 | Focus on North America: Kadant Carmanah
as needed, perhaps during a scheduled downtime.”
Mr Macey mentioned that the Covid pandemic started a problem which is still ongoing. “Manpower shortages and employee retention are problems across many industries and with it comes a loss in knowledge, including in the challenging areas like the green-end of an OSB mill where the stranders operate. So AI could help to solve a human resource problem by enabling more remote machine control. “We are continually monitoring all types of
components in the OSB stranding production line, including hydraulics, vibration, lubrication, bearing wear and other factors that can all lead to unplanned downtime,” said Mr Macey.
“The simpler we can make it for our Above: KCD Argus SCT System
tell you when the strander needs attention, including a possible knife change,” explained Mr Macey. “The ring speed adjustment is something built into our system and it adjusts for the reduced RPM.” The third element in the SCT system is the Argus-FMS (Fines Monitoring System), which continually scans the strander outfeed conveyor and analyses the fines content. “Since log quality, including moisture content, straightness, and diameter can impact strand quality, you are looking for a change over a number of log pockets, as the odd pocket of poor-quality logs could sway the results,” explained Mr Macey. “We calibrate the system to take account of what the customer considers to be fines.” “With these three systems, the customer
has live access to data about his machines and he can speak with our service team as needed. “If a service engineer had to go out to the customer’s mill it often can take a day to get there, adding costs and delaying potential fixes. Being able to gather information on the machine ahead of time can lead to remote fixes; or more knowledge ahead of time for the service tech before arriving, leading to quicker resolution of the problem,” said the president. Obviously, the cost to the customer of not running his mill for a couple of days would also be expensive.
Above: KCD SmartRING ISK Install - side view
customers’ maintenance people, the better our relationship with those customers,” “We are also looking at measuring the geometry of the fines – strand distribution ‘on the fly’ – and that system is in development. We anticipate launching it at the end of 2025,” said Mr Macey. Markets for Kadant Carmanah are pretty much global, including 21 lines supplied to Asia – six of which started up during Covid. The company also has a couple of sister companies in China which do some of the non-proprietary manufacturing for these orders. “We carried out a full installation and
commissioning remotely using WeChat etc so we could see and work with our team in Asia. There is a lot you can do remotely like that, but not everything,” said the president. His company prides itself on on-target, on- budget major installations and has over 200 units installed worldwide to back that claim. Kadant Carmanah believes in its people and has an Employee Innovation Programme, encouraging employees to come forward with ideas for improving a machine or system. The company also incorporates customer feedback and requirements into its machine development.
“The goal is to have an optimum operator
system which watches the operation and predicts what the mill personnel should do to optimise OSB production. We want the machines to run more autonomously and for the staff to just deal with any physical problems,” said Mr Macey. “Smart-connected technology means we can point out potential problems to the customer and they can sort it out at the appropriate time, with our assistance
WBPI | October/November 2025 |
www.wbpionline.com
One such example was in the development of the Gen2 Strander which was specifically designed to fit in an existing location in a customer’s factory. That involved a lot of trust between customer and supplier of course: if Kadant Carmanah hadn’t got it right first time (it did), its customer would have had no strander and no production of OSB. “We are strander experts and leaders in strand technology,” said Todd Macey. “And we are also really excited for the future about our partnership with Smartech and its AI expertise as well as the advancement of our SCT offering. Together, the future of stranding has never been brighter.” ●
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