About | PikAssist, Mushroom Harvesting Equipment

Mushroom farming equipment

We have developed a simple and cost-effective solution that can be used with small and large commercial mushroom farms, to significantly reduce their reliance on a vanishing labor force.

Mission and vision

We aim to provide a solution to the constantly growing, industry-wide problem of labor availability for mushroom farmers.

We envision a solution that requires no changes to growing rooms or growing shelves. One that can be adopted seamlessly by mushroom farms across the globe, and immediately begin paying dividends.

PikAssist is an easy decision for small and large farming operations to adopt, and will immediately drive significant benefits.

A growing bed of healthy mushrooms stretches into the background

Our Core Values

What drives our team every day to solve some of industry’s most challenging problems.

Unwavering diligence

We work with persistence and determination to ensure even the smallest of details have been considered and addressed.

Sympathetic comprehension

We understand that each work environment brings a unique combination of people, processes, perspectives, and tools. We are adept at understanding context and bringing together the best of each element to create positive outcomes.

Focused on outcomes

We strive to surprise and delight our customers in all that we do. Positive outcomes for your farm create positive outcomes for our company.

Our story

The conception of PikAssist began at a small gathering in The Netherlands following a long day of conversation at the Mushroom Days Conference. This conference confirmed that what we had been learning over our past 15 years in the North American mushroom industry was also true across the globe: finding mushroom harvesters was becoming increasingly challenging and had quickly become the largest threat to the industry.

This was all the confirmation we needed to get to work on turning this idea into a reality, bringing PikAssist to mushroom farms across the globe.

Two people working to pick mushrooms with PikAssist stand between rows of mushroom grow beds

Meet the team

The folks working tirelessly to bring the best harvesting solution to mushroom farms.

Mike Gardiner

President

Mike started his career as a Professional Engineer, and has advanced as an Operations Specialist. Beginning at a bulk material shipping terminal and moving to Labatt Brewery in Vancouver, he learned how to apply technology and data to make equipment and people work better together, resulting in big improvements to plant productivity.

Leveraging this operations experience to the Food & Beverage Industry led to the creation of Lyne Systems, where Mike has been providing production efficiency improvements for years for customers in the Agriculture Packaging and Food & Beverage sectors. These production improvements frequently result in performance gains much greater than 30%, while focussing on harvest and plant floor labour, equipment optimization, and real-time data utilization.

Mike’s focus is finding technology solutions that make things easier for production staff, resulting in plants that work much more effectively.

Jarred Positano

Operations Manager, Lead Designer

Jarred is a 15-year experienced computer software and hardware designer with a passion for autonomous robotics and their integration with daily life. He is a multi-lingual programmer with strengths in .NET, IEC 61131-3 PLC Programming, and low voltage electrical design.

Working at Lyne Systems provides the Jarred the ability to participate in the technological revolution occurring in the food and beverage industry. As labor shortages affect the world’s food supply, automation is the answer.

He enjoys implementing automation in many forms, from large scale processing lines to embedded technologies – anything that creates a more efficient and enjoyable user experience.

Steve Pickering

Software Developer

Steve has been a software developer in several industries giving him a breadth of experience with many technologies. His latest focus has allowed him to develop cutting-edge solutions that integrate with hardware to optimize productivity. With Steve’s background in real-time and historical data analytics, this has helped him add lots of value to our client’s projects by focusing on developing software that meets the needs of the clients, while exceeding their expectations.

Jose Loza

Mechatronics Designer

Jose is a Mechatronics Engineer, who is passionate about problem solving with creative and innovative ideas. Starting his career in the food industry as a Vision Systems Technician, he kept growing professionally as a Maintenance Coordinator, Production Supervisor, and Customer Technical Service provider. He then moved into IT services as a Software Tester Engineer and Information Security.

All the experience gained in the food & beverage and software industry has been applied to several projects at Lyne Systems. Electrical and Mechanical Design and Assembly are assets applied during all the stages of the project’s life cycle. José enjoys developing innovative ideas to optimize processes, increase production efficiency and quality, and improve operator safety and ergonomics.

Kyle Gardiner

Product Management Lead

Kyle is a dedicated Business Development Professional, whose career has advanced through multiple startups and small businesses to his current Product Management Lead role. His experience participating in multiple startup incubators and accelerators in Atlantic Canada taught him how to work with advancing technologies, and leverage various tools to bring exciting ideas to market.

He’s excited to bring these skills to the exciting AgriTech space, where food security has increasingly become a significant priority. Advancements in this space are crucial to providing for our growing populations, and Kyle is excited to participate in this space that is using Robotics, Automation, Data, and AI to solve industry-wide issues.

About Us