Capital Argument$

A trademark of Paperitalo Publications

Published on the 15th of every month

October 2016

Bad Budgets guarantee Bad Projects

By Jim Thompson

This can be sometimes related to bad science, but often bad budgets stand on their own as a reason for a bad project.

How do we arrive at a bad budget?

There is enough blame to go around. Sometimes corporate gets in their head that a certain project can be done for a certain sum. Often they back into this, trying to achieve a given return on investment.

What starts out as an idle conversation in the hallowed halls of headquarters ends up being a budget some poor project manager has to live with. It has nothing to do with reality.

A proper budget is built from the ground up,using proven estimating techniques. It is not built from the top down.

In fact, here is the link to bad science: give a project team an unrealistic budget and they will start cutting out necessary equipment to meet budget. At the end of the day, it is hard to say what caused the disaster--bad science or a bad budget.

Project managers need to have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to budget bullies from on high. In fact, in some companies, this is expected--corporate low-balled the numbers to start with but expect project management to stand up to them if they are off base.

Build a solid estimate and stick with it. It just may save your career.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Dean Abrams Award

Here is the award we presented to Dean:

Deans Plaque

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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.

OpTest Official Solid Background

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 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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