For three jam packed days, from September 23 to 25, maintenance managers and asset managers gathered in Saint John, New Brunswick to connect, learn and contribute at MainTrain2024. The event opened with a Keynote: Climate Change and How to Maintain our Biggest Asset by Carl Duivenvoorden who made the case for transitioning to non-emitting sources as quickly as possible.  Considering the energy used since the industrial revolution from 1750 to 2024, more than half of the energy was consumed in the past 30 years (1994 to 2024).  The energy efficiency pyramid starts with reducing the demand for energy, then using energy-efficient equipment and finally using renewables.  The strategy to “turn off the tap” is the most effective place to start.

The theme of climate was woven throughout the conference with the use of energy audits identified as one of the key reports in your toolbox, with asset management plans, building condition assessments, retro/recommissioning and climate action plans rounding out the reports. The topic of natural assets was presented by Charles Thibodeau from the New Brunswick Environmental Network, who presented the Benefit-Cost analysis tool for natural assets.  This tool is publicly available for use and comes with a guidance document.

Workshops held on the first day included Preventative Maintenance Optimization, Use of Reality Scans to update and restructure the asset register (to name a couple) and offsite tours of Saint John Energy Burchill Wind Project and tour of Irving Public & Paper.

On Day 2, the Keynote: The Mrs. Dunster’s Story by co-owner Rosalyn Hyslop, told the inspiring story of buying an established bakery and the 10-year journey to grow the business, highlighting wins, challenges, acquisitions and strategies to exceed their planned growth target of 3% and overcome significant hurdles to build a new production line during COVID and meet the goal to deliver baked bread in record time.

An example of the technical presentations included Asset Hierarchy Realignment in the EAM tool, and An Integrated Solution to Eliminate Organizational and Data Silos.  Jordan Gonda from Niagara Region presented the Developing a Risk Based 10 Year Budget for Water/Wastewater Assets. The program wrapped up with a dynamic panel discussion on sustainable infrastructure solutions to address the climate crisis moderated by Martha Myers, followed by the Awards Dinner.  Click here for the eight award winners. https://www.pemac.org/members/pemac-recognizes-exceptional-achievements-maintenance-management-and-asset-management

Day 3 was another busy day as the day kicked off with a keynote from JDI on their forest management philosophy, followed by technical presentations that included net zero through reliability, cross-pollinating climate change action with maintenance management planning.  Rob Lash from Town of Caledon and PEMAC board member presented the outcomes from a study on leveraging asset master data and information that was conducted with support from Toronto Metropolitan University and funded by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

MainTrain2024 wrapped up with a panel on Cultural Alignment: Bridging the Gap between Strategy and Execution that was moderated by Frank Engli (Becht) with panelists Roland Bradshaw (Niagara Region), Samir Yammine (Saint John) and Shelley Wood (Mariner Partners). It was announced that next year MainTrain would be held in Calgary on October 6 to 8, 2025.

Report by:

Darla Campbell, P.Eng.

CNAM Chair 2024-25