2024 Current News
BELOW ARE THE EVENT REPORTS THAT ARE EMAILED TO OUR MEMBERS AS WE MOVE THROUGH THE SEASON. WE ALSO POST THEM HERE ON OUR WEBSITE FOR VISITORS TO ENJOY. THE FIRST REPORT YOU READ BELOW IS MOST RECENT. A FEW PHOTOS FROM EACH ONE ARE INCLUDED IN THE SLIDE SHOW ABOVE.
Intelliflex Facility Tour - March 2
Attendance for the CES Intelliflex trip on March 2 was down to only a dozen members, but those of us who showed up certainly had our eyes opened with regards to the high level of technology that a local company is involved with from design to finished product. The company manufactures IMDC (Immersion Modular Data Center) units. The units provide liquid immersion cooling for computer systems that because of their massive electrical usage, produce tremendous amounts of heat. And of course, heat tends to destroy things both mechanical and electrical so sophisticated and efficient cooling systems are required. Intelliflex's advanced design features result in their products being somewhat smaller-sized yet more efficient than those of their competitors.
The specific computer systems that Intelliflex deals with are those involved with "Bitcoin Mining", the day-to-day computer operations involved with the Bitcoin cryptocurrency marketplace. Bitcoin is one of many different cryptocurrencies in use worldwide. At this time, CES Intelliflex in Acheson has a workforce of 50 but that can approach 150 when things are running full steam ahead. The shop workforce is completely made up of journeymen electricians who piece together the wide variety of componets in their 76,000 square foot facility in Acheson Industrial Park. You could expect to see Intelliflex IMDC's almost anywhere on the planet.
DFI Piling Field Trip - February 25
Our club's first outing of the year was on Sunday, February 25 when we organized a field trip to the DFI Piling facility in SE Edmonton. Club member Chris Whitford hosted the tour and 32 club members and guests showed up on what ended up being a rather wintery day. DFI is a privately owned company founded in 1969 which operates in Canada, Australia, and the USA. The Edmonton facility is located on 54 acres with 200,000 square feet of shop space. They employ 350 staff worldwide. DFI is a foundation supply and installation company that specializes in the manufacture and repair of their own scratch-built crawler cranes, picker trucks and piling equipment. In the first of two shop buildings, we toured their welding, machining, painting, automation, and final assembly areas.
We then walked over to a separate steel pipe rolling mill which uses 50,000 tons of steel each year in the manufacture of pipe ranging from 5.5" to 16" in diameter. Screwpile manufacturing is their specialty and their products can be found world wide. One interesting fact is that they actually design and fabricate most of their own manufacturing equipment that is on site. The scale and diversity of the operation can only be appreciated in person and we all had a great afternoon.
Final Farm Report 2023
In mid-August, we square-baled the hay at the "Pointe aux Pins" (PaP) site .... formerly referred to as the Bremner Farm. In early September, we turned our attention to our fall grain harvest duties at PaP and our East 50 lease alongside Rg Rd 221. At the PaP site, we had about 12 acres of oats seeded near the west end of the pulling track. We put about two acres of it through our binder and the bundles were eventually loaded into our two hay wagons for storage. We will thresh those at next year's pull event.
In mid-September we swathed 50 acres of barley at the East 50 location and then in early October we harvested that crop and stored the grain in the on-site bins. Then we harvested the remaining 10 acres of oats at PaP and trailered the grain over to the East 50 for storage. Our 2023 grain crops will be sold at a date yet to be determined.
The farm crews finished up by square-baling the straw at the two sites. In early November, the field at the East 50 was cultivated and will be ready for disking and harrowing next spring before seeding. Sales and loading of this year's grain crops will be arranged later at a time to be determined. A big thank you goes out to the members who put in so much time and work this year with our farming efforts.
Strathcona Vintage Tractor Association