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Last week, we talked about the costs in transportation. There are technology advances on the horizon which should help with this.
The US interstate highway system is sixty-nine years old this coming June 29th. In many ways, this has been the most transformative change in the United States culture ever. Heck, I was even inspired to solo drive the 48 contiguous states in less than seven days, which I did in 2005. Small, local businesses and manufacturers were motivated to build larger factories to capitalize on the scale afforded by this highway system. We did so in the pulp and paper industry, at the cost or savings (depending on your point of view) of thousands of jobs.
Many years ago, I conducted a seminar on public relations as it deals with the pulp and paper industry's interactions with its local communities. In attendance was a young engineer whose job, among other duties, was to handle the calls from the nearby communities concerning smells and so forth. I asked him what his answer was when he received a call about smells. He said most of those complaints could be tracked to the non-condensable gases coming from the pulp mill and recovery boiler area. I then asked, what do you tell them?
Many years ago, I attended a seminar whose speaker was the CEO of a paper company in a distant land. He spent about an hour telling us how his company exceeded their local environmental regulations by a factor of two or three. My thought was--why?
On a trip to the Helsinki office of Jaakko Pöyry in 1989, Jaakko Pöyry (the man) grabbed me in the hall one day and we went to the auditorium. He had a tape in his hands and gave it to the projectionist. "Jim, I want you to see this." It was a news tape from Australia chronicling a large protest taking place in Tasmania over the prospects of a new pulp mill being built there. Both of us were left speechless, we had never seen anything like this before.
With a new administration in the US White House, where do environmental issues stand today? Notably, the United States has withdrawn from and ceased funding of the Paris Agreement. Many other deregulation initiatives are under way. So, what does that mean for the pulp and paper industry?
We started out this month admonishing procurement professionals to be honest in their dealings and we will end on the same note. The three departments most likely to become involved in corruption in a mill are procurement, engineering and maintenance. In these modern days, the IT department has become a new, susceptible entity as well.
Eh, maybe not. Unless you are buying a lock washer like I mentioned last week. Lock washers should be in your automatic ordering system and never show up as a human decision once reorder quantities are established. For the bigger stuff (say $500,000 and up), go reasonably slow. Use AI to gain knowledge, but don't use it to go quicker.
If you have bought anything larger than a lock washer, you've seen the documents. In paper form, reams and reams of paper describing every last thing possible in a purchase contract. In my fifty-five years in industry, I can't think of anything that has grown faster than the purchase "agreement." Yet, today, a significant portion of my income is from efforts as an "expert witness" in contract arguments. Something is amiss here. How did this happen?
For years I have said if you have an energy asset, keep it for the political world of what is in favor in energy constantly changes. The same flexibility is needed in purchasing.
Procurement is an area often talked about with a "wink-wink" and a "nod-nod."
Sorry, I can tell you a time not to innovate. It is when you are tempted to play with the financial books. This never turns out well.
Sometimes you can make innovation work by looking at other ideas far out of your field. Here is an example...
One of the worst statements I have ever heard is, "We have already tried that before." Give it its due, though, it is right out there to hit you in the face. More subtle and more dangerous is "innovation optimism." When you think of an idea, it is formed perfectly in your brain. It has no flaws in its execution, it runs forever on zero energy, and it cost nothing.
Want to innovate? Make sure you have a really good idea and make sure you have a way to protect it.
And likely don't budget for either. It is a long list...
Maybe I am just catching up, but YouTube is a great resource for instructional videos in the paper mill, particularly for maintenance. Look up "installing a paper machine doctor blade" and you will find many videos. Same for "rewinding an electric motor" or "rebuilding a gate valve." You name it and there is likely multiple videos on how to do most any maintenance task.
If you have read me for any length of time, you know I despise the maintenance budget slashers. They have this idea that if the cut the maintenance budget, profit will rise and so will their bonuses. Ask them if they miss the scheduled maintenance schedule on their BMWs. If they have a heart and common sense, there may be a better way to convince them that appropriate maintenance expenditures are desired and lead to more profits. How?
This is maintenance month, and I thought I would start off talking about the kinds of people that make ideal maintenance employees, from managers to the lowliest newbies. This will not completely fix maintenance problems, for idiots higher up in the organization can withhold vital maintenance dollars to protect their bonuses, but if you can get by them, this is a good place to start.
The best are like the one I talked about a few weeks ago. The worst are ones who participate in workplace gossip. The second worse ones seek recognition for themselves or their department. I think the most important attribute is to understand people and particularly to be able to tell when people are telling you the truth (or not).
When I was a little boy and dad came home from work talking about firing someone, I took it literally and was alarmed. His further explanation to clarify the firing comment was not of help. "What do you mean, you canned them?" Being burned or put in a can did not seem to be very humane to an eight-year-old. When it comes to your career, though, such actions are equivalent to the literal.
I was charged with building a professional office of one hundred plus people in the late 1980's. My boss and my intent was to do it quickly with the best we could find. Our starting point was less than half dozen long-term employees. I knew we were going to rock their world as we went from a small office to a moderately sized operation. The first person I hired was the human resources manager.
DEI has become so ubiquitous in the last couple of years that it probably needs no definition. But just in case, it stands for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. If it is not dead, to follow the old joke, it is at least on life support.
The Human Resources Department serves in a defensive role in most companies. Its purpose is to keep the company from being sued and to tamp down disturbances amongst the employees. At least that is the way I see it. But read on, there is a bit more.
The title of this column is playing out right now in the packaging segment. Lightweight recyclable packaging is winning out over traditional packaging--and this is being accepted in the markets as an improvement in quality. This column is something of a continuation from last week with a slightly different slant.
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