Capital Argument$

A trademark of Paperitalo Publications
Published on the 15th of every month
June  2015
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Horizontal PL II

Money, Space and Time.

Let's talk about Time this month.

   

When we started this series in February, we said all capital projects can be distilled into these three words--money, space and time.

  

We talked about money in February and space in April; now it is time to talk about time.

Generally, in my experience, problems with time in capital projects fall into two camps.
 
In the first camp are those who take a lackadaisical approach to scheduling a project. They act as if they have all the time in the world for both the prework and the shutdown. Either they don't understand what is required or they have low standards.  They end up in trouble due to poor planning or lack of thoroughness.  Further, they do not investigate what others have done and do not challenge themselves to do better than what has happened in the past.  Challenging people to do better is the reason the Engineering Manger of the Year Award exists and why we have so much trouble finding good candidates.
 
The other time problem is being too optimistic about the time needed to complete a project.  This usually comes from pressure from on high to minimize downtime.  The lead engineer acquiesces to the pressure but fails to do the prework necessary to make the project happens in the scheduled time.
 
To pull off aggressively timed projects, every last detail has to be examined, planned and prepared for proper execution. When I say details, I mean nuts, bolts, gaskets and shims.  I have seen more than one start-up delayed by the lack of pre-made shims.  No joke.  I saw another delayed by not properly accounting for weather conditions when curing field fiberglass pipe seams.
 
In order to be successful with the time element, one must plan for everything, down to the very last, tiniest item.
 
Once a shutdown starts, it is too late to fix your time problems.  They are baked in the cake, so to speak at that point.  You may not be aware of them yet, but you will be soon.

 

Engineering Manager of the Year, call for nominations

We are looking for an individual who has done an extraordinary project, one that almost defies belief.  Its extraordinary features can be schedule, technology, cost or all three.

 

We have often gotten nominees that go something like this, "I nominate Joe because he has done a great job of running our engineering department for the last fifteen years." Quite frankly, we are not interested in such nominees.

 

However, if you know someone who has led a very exceptional project in the recent past (the last two or three years), we want to know about it.  We want to honor them and hold them up as an example for Engineering Managers in every pulp and paper mill around the world.

 

Just send your nomination, with as much details as you can provide, to [email protected].  We will seriously consider it.
 
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Current Patent Activity is available here.
 
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Capital Arguments Engineering Manager of the Year
Hall of Fame

CA LogoSince 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.



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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 the Pratt Industries mill in Shreveport, Louisiana which took 13 months from piling to paper on the reel.  His reward?  They made him mill manager!

Peter Flynn and Steve Roush

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. 
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Not Awarded 2010

You have to be really good to get this award.  We did not receive any qualifying nominations in 2010.

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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.

Dean Abrams Award 
 
Here is the award we presented to Dean:

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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.

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And here is Mike's award:

OpTest Official Solid Background













We normally accept nominations in the November-December time frame.  They can be sent to [email protected] with "EMOY Nomination" in the subject line. 
 
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