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Published on the 15th of every month
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$500 Million per Year
This is my current estimate of the amount of capital being misappropriated, misspent and underestimated -- in only the United States -- in pulp and paper capital projects each and every year.
This is not scientific, this is merely an extrapolation from a few projects in which I know the gory details. Of course, I will not identify them in order to protect the guilty.
Here are my perception of the top reasons this happens.
1. Unrealistic estimates approved by boards of directors. Boards of directors are not qualified to judge the accuracy of capital project estimates. They rely on others, often internal professionals, to prepare estimates. These estimates are often poorly done and drastically underestimated either because of (a) incompetence or (b) pressure to produce a number low enough that the board will approve.
2. Poor scope. Especially on rebuilds, the scoping of the work to be done to accomplish the rebuild effectively is grossly underestimated on nearly every project.
3. Poor scheduling. If you don't know your critical path, you don't have a schedule. It costs money to schedule on the fly for parts missed or done out of sequence.
4. Poor contracting. Completely inadequate contract development is a leading cause of underestimating and overages.
5. Bad equipment buying practices.
Managers are fired every year for these failures. It is really simple. Nothing gets done by magic, and if you think you have some great and innovative way to save money, you had better check it out thoroughly before you are disappointed and find yourself on the outside looking in.
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
 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.________ Engineering Manager of the Year 2015
We have a winner and will be announcing them shortly. ________
Not Awarded 2014
You have to be really good to get this award. We did not receive any qualifying nominations in 2014.
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Not Awarded 2013
You have to be really good to get this award. We did not receive any qualifying nominations in 2013.________
Not Awarded 2012
You have to be really good to get this award. We did not receive any qualifying nominations in 2012.
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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!
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.
 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 [email protected] with "EMOY Nomination" in the subject line.
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