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2025-12-18/Thomas Laengle
Why Jim Anderson from Charles Ingram Believes "Every planer mill should have an AVIAN system."
Charles Ingram Lumber in South Carolina has served the Southeastern U.S. since 1931 and has produced high-quality lumber ever since.
When we at AVIAN first contacted them about our fire prevention and predictive maintenance system, they were immediately receptive. From the first conversation, it was clear we were aligned on proactive fire prevention and operational uptime. The team at Ingram is technology-forward and quickly understood what our technology is about. Jim Anderson (Vice President) and his team were excellent to work with—very responsive and always open to feedback.
They moved quickly after our initial visit in February 2025 and installed the first systems in their planer mill. After some fine-tuning and integration of the system into their PLC, they have had zero fire incidents since the system was integrated into their PLC, and they have also reduced downtime by detecting jammed boards and other defects much earlier.
“Every planer mill should have an AVIAN system. I can’t think of a reason why anyone wouldn’t want to install it,” says Jim Anderson (Vice President).
“We can see how different shifts and operators are running the line when we’re not onsite. It also helps us reduce downtime because we detect board jams and other issues earlier,” says Chris Stewart (Planermill Supervisor).
Only a few months after the planer-mill installation, they moved forward with installing more cameras to monitor other high-value areas such as air compressor units and hydraulic presses.
Jason Cox (Process controls Supervisor), who integrated the AVIAN system into their PLC, adds:
“I’ve rarely seen a vendor that stays this engaged after the sale - providing valuable feedback, checking in onsite, and paying close attention to how the system performs. The AVIAN team has been great to work with.”
We visited again to gather feedback from the broader Ingram team on how to improve the system. “For us, it’s extremely important to get direct feedback, and we truly appreciate relationships like this—teams who take time out of their busy day to host us and share their day-to-day operations,” says Thomas Laengle (CEO at AVIAN).
To learn more about increasing productivity while reducing risk, reach out to us or the team at Charles Ingram, to hear from them directly.
Thanks for reading,
Thomas Laengle
CEO and Co-Founder
