March is National Engineering Month and we have over 670 reasons to celebrate!  Talented engineers from all disciplines working across our diverse operations. Together, our engineers represent eleven different universities including the University of New Brunswick. St. Francis Xavier University, Memorial University, Dalhousie University, University of Waterloo, Clarkson University, St. Mary’s University, University of Prince Edward Island, Acadia University, McGill University, and Université de Moncton.  They hold Bachelor, Masters, and Doctorate degrees in engineering. 

This past year has brought on new challenges for our engineers. They have had to find new ways during COVID to utilize technology to continue to plan and build safely. From making paper to designing naval ships, we are excited to share the stories of our engineering team and how they have navigated the new world of COVID.

Meet Scott Saunders! Scott, Associate Project Manager started full-time with the Pulp & Paper Division’s Project Engineering team in 2019 working on capital investment. He graduated from Memorial University with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering.

“With travel in and out of New Brunswick severely limited, and physical distancing required for all personnel, it has opened the opportunity to get creative with everyday technology, as well as utilize high tech tools new to our group. We find ourselves using tools like 3D models, digital drawings, and live construction monitoring cameras during virtual meetings to collaborate with our design firms, vendors, and manufacturers. This technology, though sometimes not as ideal as onsite meetings, does gives us tremendous opportunities for job planning to be completed efficiently and safely well in advance of when we bring contractors onsite. 

The Microsoft Hololens has also been extremely valuable when troubleshooting issues in the field with manufacturers and consultants. I have been able to stand in front of equipment, walk around it, and stick my head inside it in the field and have consultants talk me through installation challenges just like they are there looking over my shoulder. We have also been able to work with manufacturers to test technologies and develop procedures to complete virtual factory acceptance testing for new equipment that will most likely be used in many future cases to save on travel expenses to manufacturing sites.”

Meet Jennifer Skerker! Jennifer has been working at Irving Tissue in Fort Edward, New York for over 13 years and has a degree from the University of Buffalo in Industrial Engineering. She is currently the Converting Department Manager.

"My favorite project that I am currently working on is implementing Converting Asset Teams across my department. This is a cross functional team made up of a Process Leader, Manufacturing Engineer, Mechanic, E&I tech, and Operators that work together on each production line reviewing current issues, prioritizing work, solving problems, and making line improvements. This is my favorite project because it is fostering collaboration between departments, developing ownership of safety, quality, and production, and improving communication across the site. The foundation of our success is working together and communicating to achieve a common goal."

Stephen Pope is a Junior Engineer with Irving Shipbuilding on the team preparing for the build phase of the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) for the Royal Canadian Navy. A graduate of the Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. Stephen is playing a lead role in the development of a Digital Twin solution for the CSC. 

“As the name would imply, a “Digital Twin” is a complete digital representation of a physical product, powered by engineering data which remains synchronized across various systems and software. For the CSC, that product is the ship itself, and the tens of thousands of parts which are used to make it.”

To read the full story head to https://shipsforcanada.ca/

Meet Jose Bouchard-Dube! Jose is a Civil Engineer graduate from the Universite de Moncton. He recently joined our Gulf Operators team as a Project Manager in November of 2020.

“I am currently the project manager for equipment Gulf is using from the new  Brandt Dealership in Moncton. Brandt is an international heavy equipment supplier. Since joining Gulf, this is by far one of my favorite project for it lots of complexity with winter condition, different methodology approach & coordination with the General Contractor of large projects to provide a quality product to the customer. The Brandt Dealership will be a great addition to the Moncton area and this project will give Gulf a good exposure in the Moncton Area and help developing the business in that section of New-Brunswick.“

Meet Philippe Landry! Philippe is an Electrical Engineer graduate from Universite de Moncton. Philippe has his MBA from the University of Western Ontario, and currently works as an Operations Manager for the Sawmills Division. He has been with JDI for more than 20 years.

“Being a manufacturing site employees still need to be on site to be able to perform their job.  Interactions with employee had to be adapted to maintain social distancing, but regular communication is still happening and is even more important in the current situation.  Technology has helped in reducing the number of visitors the site gets from outside personnel, by replacing on site meeting with virtual ones, thus limiting the exposure for employees.”

Meet Josee LeBel! Josee is the Director of Human Resources for the Sawmills and Woodlands Division. She joined JDI in 2018 and has a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Universite de Moncton.

“It certainly was a quick switch from meeting in person to moving to virtual call, I typically work with white board and brown paper, therefore I had to adapt to brainstorming online and finding different ways to collaborate. 

Although remote work is not new to me, I now use Microsoft Teams a lot more than I ever did to collaborate on documents and to host meeting.  I constantly use the video and encourage the team to do the same, it is nice to see people, I miss seeing people!”

Meet Mayuresh Kange! Mayuresh has been working at Irving Tissue in Macon, Georgia for 2 years and has a degree from Michigan Technological University in Mechanical Engineering. He is currently a Reliability Engineer working diligently on the expansion of the tissue plant in Macon.

“Being in a hands-on role, I have several meetings and face-to-face interactions with skilled trades. During COVID, the use of MS Teams was a major change. There are situations where I need to be within 6 feet of other people due to the nature of the work, for example, to inspect a failure or assist in an installation. We use a face shield in addition to a face mask.

Implemented new tools, such as the Factory Assessment Test as been important. In Macon, we are currently purchasing critical equipment and we used this assessment tool virtually. Employees evaluated several tests visually using MS Teams. These tests would normally require travel and be done in person.”

Meet Helen Ocampo! Helen is a Business Improvement Analyst for the Transportation & Logistics Division. Helen graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a degree in Chemical Engineering.

"My favourite project I am currently working on is the Implementation of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for JDI’s Transportation & Logistics division. This project consists of investigating ideas with the businesses to implement RPA’s to reduce manual work and cost by eliminating waste from our processes and automating repetitive tasks so that the team can focus on other opportunities.. 

Through this initiative, we are also leveraging tools and capabilities already in place for our businesses to maximize efficiency as we continue to improve our operational processes. 

This initiative has provided me the opportunity to  meet and work with many employees from our T&L businesses which I have enjoyed. Investigating new ideas and the solutions with the team  varies from one idea to another making the work challenging and exciting. We always learn something new from each potential automation opportunity!"

Meet Doug Dean! Doug started with JDI in 1981, working his way up to the Director of Corporate Engineering. He graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a degree in Civil Engineering, with an MBA from the Queens University.

"All projects whether large or small have three things in common , Scope, Schedule and Cost.  What I find most interesting and rewarding is how project engineers and managers work to maintain the  balance between these three areas whether it be a small or large project.

The key is to manage expectations of all stakeholders from the beginning of the project to its completion."