Industry 4.0, the long-term full factory automation strategy that was the talk of LIGNA 2015, will also be among the major themes for conference sessions at the 2015 Woodworking Machinery & Supply Conference & Expo, says Bill Esler, program coordinator for the event. Held November 5-7 during Canada's largest woodworking industry show, it will be the first North American wood windustry event to include a focus on Industry 4.0. 

 

"This will be about practical applications, like Batch One production cells, and integrating furniture and cabinet customer designs from point of sale right into the woodworking production computers," Esler says. Conference sessions running November 4 will include a keynote by one of Canada's largest wood component manufacturers, and sessions covering the theory and implementation for Industry 4.0.

 

Presentations include wood manufacturing firms that are at various steps in automating their factory operations, along with a look at 3D design visualization applications for cabinet buyers and manufacturers. Automating 

 

Woodworking Network developed the program for the Conference at WMS 2015 in partnership with Lignum Consulting, and with The Centre for Advanced Wood Processing (CAWP) at the University of British Columbia. 

 

Lignum Consulting's exhibit was the first stop on the official LIGNA 2015 Industry 4.0 technology tour. 

 

 

Industry 4.0, as described by Lignum Consulting, is a comprehensive strategy for automating factories, embracing organizational structure, data, product development, logistics, and human resources. Lignum Consulting Inc. president Georg Frey, based in North Carolina, and Sepp Gmeiner, partner, who heads the Toronto office, operated the first stop on LIGNA 2015's Industry 4.0 Technology Tour in Hannover. Based in Germany, Lignum Consulting Inc. launched  its Canadian subsidiary, Lignum Consulting Corp. with an office in Toronto, Ontario, in 2004. It is headed by Sepp Gmeiner. 

 

Specializing in peer-to-peer consulting, experts at Lignum  have an apprenticeship in cabinet making and engineering degrees in the field of furniture production technology. Permanent in-house advanced training keeps us up to date with technical developments. 

 

CAWP was created in consultation with the University’s Forestry Advisory Council and Canada's National Education Initiative on the Canadian Wood Processing Industry, CAWP addresses the need for advanced technical and managerial training for the value-added wood products manufacturing sector. CAWP is an interdisciplinary initiative administered by the UBC Department of Wood Science's Faculty of Forestry, in collaboration with the Faculty of Applied Science at The University of British Columbia.  

 

WMS 2015 runs November 5-7 at the International Centre near Toronto; the all day Conference at WMS 2015 is November 5; the exposition is November 5-7.