Most mills only find failures after they’ve stopped production. Avian finds them before.
The only predictive maintenance system trained specifically on planer data — detecting bearing failures, fires, and misalignments before they cause downtime
100% of Avian installations have detected a critical failure within 12 months.
"We’ve already prevented a fire"
— Mercer Timber Products
Avian's thermal cameras help us not only with fire protection but also with optimizing the planer settings and preventive maintenance. It noticeably increases the efficiency of our processes. We’ve already prevented a fire: while processing beetle-damaged wood, a splinter got stuck. The early warning triggered by the temperature increase enabled timely intervention and prevented an open flame.
Mercer Timber Products
Danny Friedrich
Downtime is expensive
Even a few minutes lost per shift can cost over $100,000 a year.
Preventing just one failure often covers the full cost of Avian.
Small change, massive impact
ROI in as few as 90 days
We stand behind our system’s reliability and results. If you’re not satisfied after 12 months of active monitoring, we’ll refund your first-year subscription fees.
How Avian Prevents Failures in Your Planer Mill
From sensors to shutdowns — a 4-step flow that turns your planer into a self-protecting system.
Monitor Critical Zones
Avian gives your planer eyes
Thermal and RGB cameras continuously observe bearings, feed rollers, chains, motors, and dust lines — capturing precise heat signatures every second.
Each critical zone is mapped during installation for full coverage and early visibility into abnormal temperature trends.
Learn Normal Behavior
The system learns your mill, not the other way around.
Avian’s AI builds a unique thermal baseline for your planer — automatically learning what “normal” looks like across loads, wood types, and shift cycles.
It refines alert thresholds over time to match real operating conditions, cutting false alarms and highlighting true risks.
Below: The system dynamically adjusts its alert levels as it learns your baseline temperatures
Spot Failures Before They Happen
The system sees trouble days before you do.
When temperature patterns drift from their learned baseline, Avian flags deviations — often 24–72 hours before a potential failure.
Each alert includes temperature trend, severity, and exact location, giving maintenance teams time to act before downtime.
Anomaly Detected
Outfeed Roller Zone 4
Detected gradual temperature increase +5.1°F above normal.
AI model predicts threshold breach within 48 hours.
Alert & Act
Instant alerts mean you’re always ahead of downtime
When an anomaly crosses its threshold, Avian automatically notifies your team via SMS, WhatsApp, phone, or PLC integration.
Operators can view live feeds, acknowledge alerts, or allow automatic shutdowns — preventing damage before it occurs. Every alert is logged for traceability and trend analysis.
Ready to protect your planer?
Talk to our engineers and see how Avian can help you predict failures, prevent fires, and increase uptime — with measurable ROI.
One conversation could prevent your next shutdown
The Complete Planer Package
Predictive maintenance, fire prevention, and guaranteed uptime — all in one integrated system.
One contract. One system. Everything you need to protect your planer — hardware, software, and service included.
Hardware
See every bearing before it fails
Software
Learns your mill like a seasoned operator
Service
Our engineers stay with your mill long after install
We stand behind every installation — because prediction without proof isn’t worth much
If you’re not satisfied after 12 months of active monitoring, we’ll refund your first-year subscription fees.
Zero risk. Guaranteed results
Real Mills. Real Results.
Every installation tells a story—of fires prevented, downtime avoided, and critical equipment saved. See how leading mills are using Avian to protect uptime.
Real Event
Planer Fire Prevented in Under a Minute
Below is a real example of how Avian helps mills avoid catastrophic failure.
A fire ignited at the right vertical cutterhead on a four-sided planer—likely caused by bearing or knife friction heat.
The system spotted the hotspot and sent alerts instantly. Within seconds, the operator had water on the flames — stopping what could’ve been a full-blown fire in under a minute.
03:10 PM
Avian thermal cameras detected a rising hotspot
Automated alerts were sent immediately via text and phone call
03:14 PM — 4 minutes later
The fire ignited
Because of the early alert, the operator acted within seconds and put it out before it spread—saving both time and equipment
Real Event
Bearing Overheating Detected Before Failure
Avian’s thermal cameras detected a bearing at the planer outfeed running hotter than normal.
An automatic alert went out to the maintenance team, who were able to schedule a bearing replacement during routine downtime — preventing a seizure and avoiding costly unscheduled downtime.
Hotspot undetectable to the human eye — caught early by Avian before bearing failure.
See Avian in action
Watch how Schilliger Holz — a 100-year-old European mill — uses Avian’s AI thermal monitoring to protect uptime and prevent failures across their planer and sawmill lines.
Do the math yourself
Enter your mill’s numbers to see how much downtime is really costing you.
Most Avian clients recover their investment in under 90 days.
Want to verify your numbers?
Avian's thermal cameras help us not only with fire protection but also with optimizing the planer settings and preventive maintenance. It noticeably increases the efficiency of our processes. We’ve already prevented a fire: while processing beetle-damaged wood, a splinter got stuck. The early warning triggered by the temperature increase enabled timely intervention and prevented an open flame.
Denny Friedrich, Deputy Plant Manager
Mercer Timber Products
My positive experiences with AVIAN’s thermal imaging cameras confirm that they represent a significant advance in fire protection. The cameras give me peace of mind about the protection of my business. I can highly recommend AVIAN - the service and support during installation and operation of the system is excellent.
Peter Wanner, CEO
Wanner Holz
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. 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. We highly recommend AVIAN's solutions for their reliability and crucial preventative capabilities.
Peter Rempel, COO
Chinook Wood Products
The 24/7 monitoring, simple installation, continuous further development and the learning process of the system have completely convinced us! The practical benefits have already become apparent in the first few months - motors and drives that are operating at their performance limits have been identified.
Lothar Rosenbaum, CEO
Anton Rosenbaum Holzbau
Temperature changes become immediately visible with the Avian system, allowing us to react without delay. We can now adjust our machines in real time—without shutting them down and see machine failures earlier. This kind of predictive maintenance greatly increases technical availability and minimizes unexpected downtime.
Johann Zingl, Production Manager
Rubner Holzindustrie
In our company, we have a vested interest in making sure that nothing bad happens. Avian gives us a new kind of security. We can send our employees home at the end of their shift with peace of mind, because we know that the critical areas in our company are reliably monitored. We see huge potential in this solution.
Valentin Niedermann, Head of Technology
Blumer Lehmann
Protect your mill before it fails
Talk to our engineers to see how Avian can deliver predictive maintenance, fire prevention, and measurable uptime — tailored to your operation.
