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At 432 Park Avenue, Manhattan, New York, a new building is under construction. It will be 1,396 feet tall. The top penthouse apartment has already been sold for $95 million.

Couple this with idea we promulgated last spring at the Light Green Machine® Institute of the vertical paper machine. The idea is simple, yet revolutionary--build a paper machine standing on its head, forming at the top, winding at the bottom. Make this machine a recycled tissue machine with converting subterranean and we have a complete tissue grade facility in the heart of tissue consumption--downtown Manhattan (or any other major city in the world).

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The machine occupies the least valuable space in the building (almost if not free?)--the core of floors one through twenty. Do this in a building like 432 Park Avenue and you have just eliminated long distance logistics related to tissue paper manufacturing. Put the converting operations in a subterranean space extending out under the streets, and you will have plenty of converting space.

The transportation distance for raw materials is measured in blocks, not miles. Likewise, the distance to the most distant customer is measured in blocks, not miles.

This is the kind of idea that is met with scoffing and derision when first brought forth. That was the reaction we received last spring when we first mentioned vertical machines. That idea simply came out of a mind experiment starting with the question: "What would be a different way to build a paper machine?" It was only in the early maturity of this idea that the second "Aha!" moment was reached--place this machine in a high density urban skyscraper. Then it came together and started making real sense.

Add to this mix a building like 432 Park Avenue which is selling space based on emotion--a view of Manhattan--rather than return on investment. Couple this with a real return on investment asset--a paper making facility, and we have real synergies (sorry about using the worn out word--synergies).

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This idea characterizes the kinds of breakthroughs we need in the pulp and paper industry if we truly hope to succeed in the future. We have beaten incremental improvements to death in recent years, it is time for some serious innovation.

The modern golden age of innovation in the pulp and paper industry seems to have been the 1960s and the 1970s--about the time the pulp and paper schools really hit their stride. We have not seen such a period of total innovation since the Internet knocked the breath out of the printing and writing grades in the 1990s. It is time to recapture this excitement--now.

What do you think? Do we have the energy to move forward with bold new ideas? Please take our quiz this week and let us know what you think. You may take it here.

For safety this week, we think the vertical machine may actually be safer than conventional designs. Reason? Properly designed, a vertical machine will allow up close work by maintenance and operating personnel, ironically, without having to be elevated above the floor. We will explain as we unfold our vision of the vertical machine in the future.

Be safe and we will talk next week.

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