Maintrain 2022: Live and in-person

Photo: Mario Cywinski.

After two years of going virtual, the Maintrain conference was hosted in-person at the FourPoints by Sheraton Toronto Airport, for the first time since 2019. The 2022 event was a hybrid model, so in addition to the 172 attendees at the venue, 79 others joined from the comforts of their home or office.

“Beyond the numeric success, it was so great to be able to connect and learn once again in person. The quality of the content and the high spirit of connection was just phenomenal, and it was great that through a hybrid format we were able to extend the opportunity to access the conference content online to people across the country and around the world,” said Cindy Snedden, Executive Director, PEMAC.

Photo: Mario Cywinski

The conference allowed attendees to participate in workshops, sessions, panel discussions, keynote speeches and an exhibition showcase. Also, the hybrid model allowed for seven pre-conference online only sessions to be available before the conference started. In all, 48 presenters and panelists were a part of the conference.

“Maintrain 2022 was an opportunity to reconnect and network with asset management, maintenance and reliability colleagues in person while participating in informative and interactive workshops. Everyone was so approachable and willing to share their experiences,” said Susan Lubell, Principal Consultant, Steppe Consulting Inc.

Workshops
Workshops and sessions were presented by industry experts and allowed for attendees to learn from those who are experts on the topics they are discussing. Workshops included: Maintainability and Reliability Best Practice Metrics Workshop by Michael Raible; Demystifying the Digital Twin and Achieving Whole Life Asset Intelligence for Sustainable Operations by David Armstrong; and Uptime Improvement Tailoring by James Reyes-Picknell and Martha Myers.

Photo: Mario Cywinski

Keynotes
Each morning, a breakfast keynote started the day. This year the three keynote speakers included: Ron Bettin who presented Executive Decisions – What Does Your Boss’s Boss Think of Your Asset Management Strategy?; Jeremy Sylvain presented Strategic Investment Into our Greatest Asset – Our People, Maintenance Supervisor & Coordinator; and Danaka Porter presented Maintaining Reliability in Unreliable Times.

Sessions
Many sessions were also offered to attendees, they were grouped into four categories, asset management, reliability, maintenance, and technology. Speakers included Jean-Pierre Pascoll, Doc Palmer, Edith Mackenzie, Melissa Schmidt, Cliff Williams, among many others.

Tours
Each Maintrain, a tour is part of the conference, this year attendees had the opportunity to visit Capital Power’s Goreway Power Station. The tour included a presentation about the plant, and a look at the main equipment used.

Photo: Mario Cywinski

Exhibitor Showcase
A big part of the conference was the exhibitor showcase, which allowed those in attendance to network industry professionals and find out about the latest and greatest products that were available. Those exhibitors in attendance included: Cohesive, Northern Lakes College, UE Systems, Benchmark PDM, Cameco, ARMS Reliability, and others.

Maintrain will go west next year as the 2022 Maintrain conference will take place in Winnipeg, Manitoba.