DEMO and Conference Boast Biomass

Organizers and planning committees for DEMO 2012 met in Quebec City late in October to work on details of both the pre-DEMO conference and the live logging event itself. Planning for both events is well underway, and in both cases the emerging biomass sector looms large.

Logging contractor Foresterie CHB Ltd. is building the landings for DEMO 2012. Here (from left), CHB’s Martin Picard, Solifor Group’s Marc Bergeron and the CWF’s Peter Robichaud watch the finishing touches being put on Tigercat’s landing.

Pre-DEMO Conference
The organizing committee met in Quebec City near the Loews Le Concorde hotel to flesh out the program. Co-sponsored by the Canadian Woodlands Forum and the Canadian Institute of Forestry, with co-operation from the Quebec Order of Forest Engineers, it covers a wide rage of topics in concurrent sessions over two days, September 18 and 19, 2012. The event features simultaneous translation with sessions in both official languages. Biomass specific topics include:

• Biomass harvesting: Machinery and technology for the harvesting, transformation, and hauling of biomass.
• Sustainability: The effect of collecting biomass residuals on the forest ecosystem.
• Biomass markets: Existing and emerging markets for today’s products and tomorrow’s innovations.
• Fibre chain logistics: Industrial case study on best practices for integrating biomass recovery in the forest sector chain.

Conference registration will include a pass to the DEMO International 2012 live logging event. Look to Canadian Forest Industries and our new website www.woodbusiness.ca for more details as speakers are finalized.

Both mulchers and biomass grinders will be working at DEMO 2012. Here the Duchesnay Forestry School’s Rotobec forwarder clears timber off the CMI-GB Equipment site where the manufacturer’s mulcher line will run.

Following the conference, DEMO International 2012 will hit the hills outside Saint-Raymond from September 20-22. Situated a pleasant one-hour drive from Quebec City, the Portneuf region is one of the province’s best-kept secrets, and will be ablaze with fall colours during the show. The event is presented by the Canadian Woodlands Forum, hosted by the Solifor Group, and produced by Master Promotions. The official media partner and exclusive show guide provider will once again be Canadian Forest Industries and Opérations forestières et de scierie with Canadian Biomass serving as media support to promote the event.

The DEMO 2012 organizing committee and exhibitors were on site October 26-27 to detail plans for everything from hotel blocks and shuttles to parking, safety and activities. At the same time, students from the local Duchesnay Forestry School and logging contractor Foresterie CHB Ltd. were on site clearing timber and making landings according to exhibitor specifications.

There will be no shortage of biomass-based gear among both active and static exhibitors, covering harvesting, grinding/chipping, and transport. As of October 31, 2011, these included:

• Bandit
• Canadian Biomass
• Cardinal Distribution
• Caterpillar
• Continental Biomass Industries
• Deloupe
• John Deere
• Hultdins
• Liebherr-Canada
• Manac
• Morbark
• Peterson Pacific
• Ponsse NA
• Quadco Equipment
• Rotobec
• Rottne
• Sennebogen
• Silvana Import Trading
• SMS Equipment/Komatsu
• Tigercat Industries

Once again, news and more details will be published in Canadian Forest Industries and on our new forest sector website www.woodbusiness.ca . Sign up for our free biweekly e-newsletter to stay informed.