Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Soo Mill & Lumber Company Ltd. has been a family owned business since 1915 and is a leading supplier of manufactured trusses in the Algoma district region. Their prefab truss plant has been a key part of Soo Mill's residential and commercial business and has undergone several process improvements through the years with the implementation of automated machines to help them produce trusses faster and more safely. But, in order to remain competitive, the company must continually deploy the latest equipment and manufacturing processes. *The dimensional lumber that Soo Mill uses to manufacture its trusses varies in size and is currently cut on an automated mill, but stacked manually onto a pallet for further processing. Soo Mill has identified this process as one where automation with robotics could lead to increased productivity, safety and output, while maintaining quality and ensuring delivery timelines to its market. Sault College and Soo Mill will collaborate on an applied research project, whose focus will be to develop and test a robotic lumber sorting application, which will reduce the human intervention of handling lumber in their truss plant.*The project will be based out of Sault College's robotics lab where an ABB industrial robot will be used to simulate the picking and placing of the lumber components onto wood pallets. Sault College will also complete a robotic simulation using specialized software. By completing the simulation first and then implementing the robotic programming offline in Sault College's robotics lab, design risks can be minimized for the project.*