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2025-09-10/Drew Hanover
Chinook Wood Products: From Pilot to Prevention with AVIAN
"I think it's a brilliant technology…"
During an initial 6-month deployment of our monitoring system, the Chinook Wood team has already found substantial benefits in the technology. The pilot kicked-off with 2 cameras monitoring strategic areas in Chinook’s manufacturing facility based in Vauxhall, Alberta.
One camera was placed inside of the dust shed to monitor 24/7 for temperature irregularities caused by hot embers, overheating motors, or gearboxes. This is an area with extreme risk - large amounts of fine wood dust are stored here.
Peter Rempel, Chief Operating Officer, had the following to say:
“We had a gearbox that was overheating in our dust shed. Thanks to the alerts from AVIAN, we ended up changing the oil in the gearbox which brought it back under normal operating conditions - saving us downtime and avoiding failure of the part.I'd argue it's probably one of the best technologies as far as fire safety is concerned. I think it's a brilliant technology.We're confident in this camera technology and are keen to continue its use, looking to expand our system by adding more cameras to monitor high-speed machinery for both fire safety and maintenance points. The AVIAN team has shown flexibility and a strong partnership approach, and we believe their technology offers significant preventative potential, especially given the rising insurance costs impacting our industry. We highly recommend AVIAN's solutions for their reliability and crucial preventative capabilities."
At AVIAN, we value our partnerships with excellent manufacturers like Chinook. When they sent us the initial photos of their facility, we thought - “Man that’s a clean facility” and were curious how much use they were going to get out of it. Even for a state of the art facility, we are finding customers across the globe benefiting from our system in ways that surprise us - peace of mind, reduced downtime, and of course fire prevention.
We look forward to continuing our relationship with the Chinook Wood team and helping them keep their operations running smoothly.
Stay safe out there
Drew Hanover
CTO & Founder
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