|
|
_______
Love your mill
There have been very few mills I have walked into during my career where I could say, "Somebody loves this mill."
If you ever see one, you will know the signs. It will be as perfectly maintained as the town in Jim Carrey's movie, "The Truman Show." Everything will be neat, orderly and well maintained.
If you are in a mill that is not like this (and you most likely are), don't despair. As a capital projects engineer, you can have a strong influence on creating islands of exemplary examples (I almost said "islands of love") in your mill.
Do your projects with care, thought and purpose. Talk to operations and maintenance, and install capital equipment in a manner such that it is fun to operate, a pleasure to maintain.
This does not cost money or sacrifice schedule. It just requires you to think. Heck, in this day of the Internet, you will probably be able to do five minutes of searching and find exemplary examples of what you need to do, down to the specific unit ops you are working on.
Create these little "flower beds" around your mill and they will spread and grow. And, a little secret--you will be the most in demand project engineer in your mill. Can't hurt for career longevity, can it?
|
________
Current Patent Activity is available here.
|
|
________
Capital Arguments Engineering Manager of the Year
Hall of Fame
 Since its inception, Capital Arguments has believed extraordinary projects are possible. They can be done safely, responsibly and offer a great advantage to their mills with lower capital costs and saved downtime. We established this award in 2008 to recognize those people and companies that follow this philosophy. This award is given once per year somewhere in the world. We honor our inductees permanently here.________
Ed Kersey--Engineering Manager of the Year 2011
 Jim presents Ed with the Engineering Manager of the Year for 2011. (L - R) Matt Nilsen, Jim Thompson, Ed Kersey and Wayne South. Nilsen is Account Manager and South is Business Development Manager for Kadant Black Clawson, underwriter of this year's award. Ed Managed the construction of Pratt Industries Mill in Shreveport, Lousiana which took 13 months from piling to paper on the reel. His reward? they made him mill manager! Kadant Black Clawson was a major sponsor of the 2011 Award. Here, on the left, Peter Flynn, President of Kadant Black Clawson, receives the company's duplicate of Ed's Award from Steve Roush, Publisher and Editor, Paperitalo Publications. ________
Not Awarded 2010You have to be really good to get this award. We did not receive any qualified nominees in 2010.________
Dean Abrams--Engineering Manager of the Year 2009
Now retired, Dean was an engineer at Corrugated Services, Forney, Texas, USA in the summer of 2009 when he completed his award winning project. Dean managed a team that installed a secondary headbox in 11 hours, 30 minutes, paper-to-paper. The experts had said it would take at least 3 days. In April 2010, we presented the award to Dean in the presence of a number of his colleagues.
 Here is the award we presented to Dean:
Mike Ahcan--Engineering Manager of the Year 2008
Mike works at the UPM Blandin Mill in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, USA. In 2008, the mill's sole effluent pipe, running outside a building, almost in the Mississippi River, was determined to be in a state of imminent collapse. The experts said it would take a week of total mill downtime to replace it. Additionally, there was a danger of leakage into the river. Mike and his team went to work and replaced the pipe without any downtime and with no spillage. We had a banquet in Grand Rapids for him in July 2009.
And here is Mike's award:
We normally accept nominations in the November-December time frame. They can be sent to jthompson@taii.com with "EMOY Nomination" in the subject line.
|
|
|
|
|
________
Please write when we tickle your brain cells! Email jthompson@taii.com
|
|
|
________
Currently in 3rd printing. Almost 500 copies in the field since 2006!
|
|
