In my column last week, we asked, "What are your tricks for breaking out of the daze and seeking real solutions to your problems?"
Here are the responses:
>Contacting other papermakers and experts.
>I try to use the space between my ears for more than just a hat rack! I tend to be like the 4 year old across the street...I ask a lot of questions and "why"...or maybe "why not" seems to be one of my favorite ones.
>Start asking specific questions. If no "real" answers are forthcoming from the "authorities", I start researching on my own. Usually stems from "we have never done that here" mentality.
>Talk to vendors Web searches Industry contacts
>Google key words, websites of government organizations, websites of universities (global)
>I bet that nothing is new. The company has a strong, searchable data base of the research done since the mills were built. I start there.
Then, we asked, "What are your favorite resources?"
Here are the responses:
>TAPPI Papermakers Committee - other TAPPI Members. Other compadres in the paper industry. Vendor personnel with mill experience.
>A known expert on the subject ... or two.
>Other old farts like me and (not to plug them) Google...the good old internet, you would be surprised what you can find out there.
>Google is amazing...typically on my laptop although I have used my iphone as well.
>Google Wikipedia Engineering handbooks
>USDA Forest Products Lab, IPST historical (IPC) reports, my personal filing cabinets
>Internal library in our intranet, TAPPI, PAPTAC
You may take this week's quiz here.
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