J.D. Irving, Limited sawmills adopt Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality to save time, support sustainability goals

Keeping the logs rolling at J.D. Irving, Limited

Saint John, New Brunswick–based J.D. Irving, Limited (JDI) has been involved in the sustainable building material industry for more than 140 years through its Forestry and Forestry Products Division. It sounds like a straightforward business proposition. After all, the raw material for the lumber industry does, in fact, grow on trees. But that fails to consider the complexities inherent in turning carefully managed forests into finished wood products. For generations, that process has included the era’s most innovative technology and mechanical engineering. Its history stretches back to third-century Roman water-powered mills and leads to today’s Sawmills Division at JDI, where sophisticated machinery—laser-guided and computer-controlled—increases yield and quality from raw timber to best meet the requirements of the modern building trade.

Neal Mercer, Electrical Supervisor at JDI’s Sussex Sawmill, manages and maintains the Sussex site’s mill equipment and related technology, keeping everything running at peak effectiveness to best support critical business continuity. He makes sure the product is of the highest standard, materials are processed most efficiently, boards are edged consistently, and the machinery’s orientation and alignment are accurate. Any issues call for timely intervention to renew, reset, realign, and recalibrate to avoid inefficiencies or costly downtime.

Meeting new challenges with new solutions

Any problems that Mercer and his team can’t fix immediately may require coordination with equipment suppliers and specialist engineers who must come fix them onsite. At least, that was the norm before COVID-19 forced a review of conventional practices and the evaluation of new, creative alternatives. “Most of those outside experts we need to solve advanced technical issues on the saw line are a day away in Quebec, which was already inefficient. Then COVID-19 came, and they couldn’t travel here at all,” Mercer says. “That started us down the road toward a new solution.”

According to his colleague and JDI Communications Associate Robyn Craig, the challenge boiled down to figuring out how the remote experts could provide a true equivalent of that optimal, in-person, hands-on experience to local team technicians. “We still needed that help, but in a global lockdown, it became clear we should invest in a solution that enabled us to bring those people and their expertise here not physically, but virtually,” says Craig.

JDI started by having the local team use mobile phones with applications such as FaceTime to confer with external specialists via conference calls. “Then we added a remote desktop solution, which worked better but was always a little clunky to use onsite,” says Mercer. “Often our monitoring and analysis and the changes we’re making need near real-time evaluation, and we sometimes experienced a lag that could cause issues.”

The decision to try Microsoft HoloLens 2 devices in the JDI sawmills sprang from the positive experiences of other JDI businesses. “Our Transportation and Shipbuilding Divisions were already using HoloLens devices alongside Microsoft Teams to solve many of the same challenges we faced, so we didn’t hesitate to bring them into the sawmills,” says Craig. “It’s so easy and quick for us to simply book a meeting in Teams and add that mixed reality option.”

Perfect communication

Mercer offers a firsthand example of how real-time mixed reality connections with engineers­­—either working elsewhere in his mill or hundreds of miles away—can make his work quicker, safer, and more efficient. He noticed a problem with a press roll, equipment that feeds lumber through the edging and finishing process. “It wasn’t dropping the board at the right time, and we couldn’t immediately solve the problem,” he says. “We used Teams with Dynamics 365 Remote Assist to connect the manufacturer’s engineers with our technician, who was at the press roll wearing a HoloLens device. They could see exactly what was happening from his point of view, and our technician could immediately evaluate the onsite changes they were making remotely. And I could monitor the entire operation through to resolution.”

No need for cumbersome phones, no hooking up cameras, no verbal explanations and potential misunderstandings. Mercer sums up the advantage for his team. “You have that perfect communication,” he says. “Rather than being out in the field fumbling with a phone around equipment, you have everything you need placed solidly in front of your eyes—and so do the remote experts. You can learn what it is you’re looking at, they can tell you what to do, and you can see the results of their remote intervention. With HoloLens, we get much more powerful collaboration. It’s a quick and effective tool to make sure everyone understands the issue and the best way to resolve it.”

A new tool for the toolbox

The point Mercer raises about safety around equipment is important. Minimizing the number of people around working machinery is a further safety advantage JDI achieved with the new solution. Mixed reality helps engage a broader team of specialists and supervisors without requiring them to be present in the field where, for safety reasons, they may not even be granted physical access. Mercer adds that he also plans to increase familiarity with HoloLens among managers and supervisors to give them greater visibility into operations. “Now management can better understand what we’re doing. We can take them right into the field with us and give them hands-on experience through HoloLens but safely, from the office. Previously, they couldn’t get that directly involved.”

Some claims about mixed and virtual reality’s potential can sound more like the stuff of science fiction than viable industrial applications. But at J.D. Irving, Limited, Mercer has a more down-to-earth view of the technology, perceiving HoloLens as a resource that complements others, which, used together, help him and his team be more effective. “We get very practical advantages with HoloLens. Using this new tool in our toolbox, we bring together our people in the field and the additional problem solvers in real time,” says Mercer. “And we’re already thinking about new ways we can take advantage of its capabilities.”

Supporting a sustainable future

Craig notes that those advantages go beyond the sawmills, helping support JDI’s broader business and ecological goals. A cornerstone of the company’s vision is to pursue sustainability across all its businesses. “We initially deployed HoloLens by necessity, but we quickly saw its broader potential,” says Craig. “Now, we’re continuing to develop those capabilities because they also help drive sustainable operations, bringing ecological benefits such as avoiding unnecessary travel for us and for our providers. Avoiding people making that 24-hour journey to spend a few hours onsite is not only more efficient, but it also reduces our carbon footprint.”

Mercer expects future opportunities to embed HoloLens into the continuously evolving production environment at the sawmills. He notes that so far, adoption of the new technology has been rapid and relatively straightforward and not just because people quickly recognize the clear practical advantages. “When you see a guy on a catwalk wearing a HoloLens headset and waving his arms in the air—that piques interest really fast!” Mercer says. “And when it comes to using it, it’s pretty much plug and play. We did a HoloLens demo for new users in the morning, and they were up and using it by the afternoon.”

HoloLens adoption extends well beyond the Sussex Sawmill. Notes Craig, “We have 10 sawmills throughout New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Maine, and all of them use HoloLens for their maintenance services. And the devices get used throughout JDI, not just in our sawmills. You can find HoloLens everywhere.”

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