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In his senior years, my Dad was a modelmaker at Kenner Toys in Cincinnati. If I remember correctly, they were on the 13th floor of the Kroger Building in downtown Cincinnati. Before 3-D printing, CAD, and long before AI, these model makers made all the prototype toys by hand (with the aid of machine tools when appropriate). Dad could work in any medium--plastic, steel, aluminum, clay, hard rock maple, you name it. He was always good with his hands. I currently have a bowling ball (child size) and a folding pocket knife he made out of deer antlers and old files (which he said were very good steel). A friend of mine has one of his landscape paintings hanging in his bedroom.
Maybe I reflected this month's topic, Energy Trends, correctly in my columns. I have been all over the place with my writing, and, if you take the time to look out the window, or drive to Aunt Matilda's in Odessa, you will find energy trends are all over the place, too. It seems like we have suddenly gone from a totally environmental focus, e.g. windmills and solar panels, to "WE NEED A LOT MORE ENERGY NOW!"
Last week, this column was titled, "The New Competitor for Power." I discussed the proliferation of data centers and their huge demand for power and cooling water. My thoughts were that we in the paper industry could see them as competitors, or, if we are clever enough, collaborators. My column straddled the fence and left the reader with a "on the one hand, on the other hand" wishy washy set of conclusions. Sorry. Yet it does leave each mill with a difficult set of decisions.
It wasn't that long ago you could list the big consumers of electrical power on one hand. They were refineries, other chemical plants, steel mills, mines and pulp and paper. Retail use in homes and shopping, were big in aggregate, but small granularly. All of a sudden, we have a new giant-sized consumer--data centers.
When the Fourdrinier Brothers invented continuous paper making in the early 1800's they needed an energy source. Sources say they first used waterwheels, gradually moving to steam engines as they became available.
An AAR is an "After Action Review" or "After Action Report." The concept was developed by the military but is now used in many venues. Your capital project is not complete until you write an AAR.
I am old enough to precede the Construction Industry Institute (CII) which was established in October 1983 at the University of Texas at Austin. For reference, my career started in 1970. Many engineering and construction companies have adopted the phased approach of CII to their work.
Rushing off into a new capital project of any size is a mistake. If you are the lead engineer, your first thing you need is an understanding of the project, an understanding that is bought into by your customer, mill production. How do you get this cooperative understanding of the project? You write what is called a "design basis." I have been writing these for over fifty years. They are vital to a successful project.
It would be presumptive of me to say I have a definitive answer to the title today. It is just too early, and many other creative minds must be engaged to answer this question.
There have been many distinct phases to the pulp and paper industry since the dawn of the industrial revolution. In this column, I want to focus on the three that have taken place since 1994 (I can count at least five pre-1994 which we will ignore for the moment). The first two of these modern phases have been sales or demand driven. The one we are in right now is technology (quality and efficiency) driven. It is Phase VIII.
By Fos, the Rat: Bang! Bang! Sounds of sawing and hammering, dust everywhere. Then Head Supreme Rat bangs her gavel, more of a thunk sound. Head Supreme Rat, "Clerk, what is going on?"
By Fos, the Rat: Actually, I am Priscilla Rhodent, the DA in last week's column. Fos asked me to take over for this week and describe the background research that had been completed before this case went to trial.
By Fos, the Rat: After a brief recess, the Court of Superior Rats reconvened and got back to work. The Head Supreme Rat called the Court back into session. "What is next on the docket, clerk?"
By Fos, the Rat: I am delighted to be back with you again, thanks to Mr. Jim. This is the eleventh year of Pulp Rats! August seems to come earlier and earlier each year. I have been given permission to open up the world of rat adjudication a bit further this year.
This month we have talked about using housekeeping to find what is important in our mill or area of responsibility (week one). Then we talked about formalized housekeeping with GMP (week two). Last week we discussed abandoning equipment and structures in place (week three). Let's wrap up, shall we?
If you are keeping up with the housekeeping series this month, as you read the first two columns, you were in a posture of looking down or looking at eye level. Admit it. There is plenty of items up in the air, big items, that are housekeeping hazards as well.
While many paper and paperboard products are used to package food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics (all products either ingested or applied to living beings), I seldom see GMP, or cGMP applied to their manufacture. I once worked at a facility where when we made a certain poor-quality board, we actually sold it to a local pizza chain for boxes that directly touched the product! Why? Because it wouldn't pass the test for a major food company. If you are not familiar with GMP or cGMP, these are widely adopted standards originally developed by the bakery industry. They have been adopted and formalized by the FDA and the World Health Organization.
If one could put housekeeping in a pipe and pump it around the mill in circles, not only would it be assigned an operating budget, but it would also be assigned a maintenance budget, too. As it is, housekeeping gets even less respect than maintenance--at least maintenance has a line item in the budget. I am going to go way out on a limb here...
If you hang around me more than five minutes, you will likely hear me say "spin the invoice printer." Or the invoice printer is the most important machine in any business, government or charity. I say it because it is true. If you cannot produce an invoice demanding payment in exchange for goods or services, you don't have a business. The only other choice is to use a gun, but society tends to frown on collections accomplished at the point of a gun. The hard to execute part is doing those things necessary and in the precise order to deserve the honor of producing an invoice.
When we talk safety, we often go immediately to an industrial setting. Well, industrial settings like offices, have their own safety hazards. Personnel in offices are usually not wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), either.
There are many emotions that don't mix with safety, anger is one of the most dangerous. As I recently read, Anger is one letter short of Danger.
I want to impress upon you the need to know how your PPE works and to wear it all the time. I want to impress upon you to look out for your colleagues and make sure they are wearing their PPE all the time.
Safety is not something that can be compartmentalized. Break your arm on a jet ski on Saturday, and I will guarantee you it will still be broke the next Monday. Your safety awareness has to be constant awareness.
Otherwise known as walking or running, perhaps bicycling. Lieutenant Dan to Forrest Gump and Bubba, "Take care of your feet and try not to do anything stupid! Always change your socks!" If this goes in the swamps of Vietnam, it goes doubly in pulp and paper mills.
Paper Mills require a lot of vertical transportation. The first clue is to encounter a building where the "basement" is at ground level! If the "basement" is at the ground level, it is obviously only up from there. Elevators, ladders, cranes, stairs are all vertical transportation devices laden with hazards.
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