 Capital Argument$
A trademark of Paperitalo Publications
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Published on the 15th of every month
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How to approach an expansion/upgrade Project
Part 1
When I was a younger person and the head of corporate process engineering for a major packaging company, I was called to a mill to discuss how to "save" one of the mill's three paper machines.
That was the wrong question, although I did not know it at the time.
All projects need to be approached with a rigorous discipline. It is the same discipline the finance professionals use when evaluating your business, either internally or at your favorite investment bank .
There are three components to a successful project and they are ranked in this order: (1) Markets, (2) Raw Materials and (3) the Assets (including people assets) that fit between (1) and (2). Get these right and you can't go wrong. Get anyone one of them wrong and you will not have a successful project.
We have a dog whose name is Fred. Fred came from the shelter. He is what is known as a "rescue dog." Some people erroneously think rescue dogs are free. Our bank account stands testimony to the costs of this free dog over the last 8 years. I haven't added it up, but I'll guess this free dog has cost us over $5,000 thus far. Heck, his vet bills were over $500 in the month of June alone, and that was just for checkups, boarding and so forth.
So, this is where we start. Installed assets at your mill are not "free" for your new project, I don't care if they have been written off for ten years. All assets, regardless of book value have to fit into the 1, 2, 3 formula above. If you end up force fitting them, they will not work.
Next month we will start on Number 1--Markets.
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 jthompson@taii.com. 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
 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 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!
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 2010You have to be really good to get this award. We did not receive any qualifying nominations 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.
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Please write when we tickle your brain cells! Email jthompson@taii.com
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