 Capital Argument$
A trademark of Paperitalo Publications
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Published on the 15th of every month
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Bad Projects start with Bad Budgets
Over the years, we have no doubt said this before, but we can certainly say it again.
Bad budgets have primarily two sources of origin. The first is a poor estimate. Things were missed, not priced correctly, not scoped correctly and on and on. This is just sloppy work on the part of the project manager and the engineer.
Back when there was serious inflation (and it will return), budgets were missed because they were old and inflation was not properly taken into consideration. Simply put, prices went up before the budget was implemented. This will happen again someday and the project managers then will have a problem, simply because they were not aware of this phenomenon. Those of us who lived through the 1980s knew this problem all too well.
The main problem in creating bad budgets, however, is CEOs and boards of directors. They simply can't believe that things cost as much as they do and refuse to authorize a budget that recognizes the true cost of projects. So, they authorize a budget they believe to be correct (I have always wanted to ask them where they got their information) and ignore the one supplied by experienced professionals.
At this point, all you can do is beat the heck out of all the suppliers in order to attempt to get within budget or descope the project and hope no one notices.
If you are a project manager and you see a bad budget thrown at you, I suggest you hoist up your asbestos underwear and do battle up front. Might as well get fired at the beginning of the project than wait until the end.
Otherwise, you are going to be operating in a fantasy world as you keep thinking you are going to make budget when in reality there is absolutely no way that can happen.
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.________Mac Switkowski--Engineering Manager of the Year 2015
Mac Switkowski, center, holds his Capital Arguments Engineering Manager of the Year Award that was presented by Paperitalo CEO Jim Thompson, left, as Luis Henao, right, vice president at Pratt Industries applauds. Mac brought the new mill at Valparaiso in on time and on budget despite a change of paper machine suppliers mid project.
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Not Awarded 2014
You have to be really good to get this award. We did not receive any qualifying nominations in 2014.
________ 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 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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