Concerning Some Maintenance Thoughts

Jim, E-1 Evaporator, installed in mid-60's, had all spare pumps. They figured that with only one evaporator, we couldn't afford the downtime. Then we swapped pumps every week so they all wore out at about the same time. And we had unscheduled outages due to upsets during swapovers. E-2 and E-3 evaporators, installed in late 70's, had no installed spares. They figured we could afford the downtime. And in reality we could. Late 90's precision pump alignment became vogue. This ment rebuilding the base so precision was possible; retraining mechanics; ensuring they had the proper tools; etc. I like your ideas better. Installed spares seemed to give a false sense of security. Is the riddle answer the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College at Greenwich? Unfortunately we've never been there. Peace, Gene Canavan Prattville, Alabama, USA --- Gene: Installed spares can be a false sense of security. I was in charge of a powerhouse once where we had four installed feedwater pumps. We managed to mess up all of them and put a mill in northern Ohio down for two days in the middle of January. Not a pretty sight, and I thought for sure that I would be fired. Surviving, afterwards I bought a refurbished pump that would blow the tops off the boilers, put it in a special room, painted the room white and had bright lights shining on it day and night. It was our pump and we took care of it. By the way, for those of you that know Gene, you may have heard that a severe tornado ripped through Prattville, Alabama this past Sunday night (17 Feb 08). I have heard from Gene and he tells me it missed them by two blocks. Over 150 houses were totally destroyed and over 860 damaged. Jim *** I suspect that "PH" means that I am heading for a pint of bitter! Otherwise known as a Public House, or pub. I, too, have found you again recently, and enjoy your stuff. Keep it up. David Paterson, CPPA, retired Canada ***

An Announcement from the Cellulose Community

Dear Readers: I am charged with spreading the news, so I thought this might be a good place to do so. Please read the following press release. Thanks, Jim For Immediate Release...

Cellulose Community establishes Board of Directors, sets course

Atlanta, Georgia 21 Feb 08 The Cellulose Community has established a provisional Board of Directors: Jon Kerr, Loveland, Ohio Chuck Klass, Redington Beach, Florida Mike Ryan, Chillicothe, Ohio Jim Thompson, Duluth, Georgia Thompson will serve as Chairman. Jon Kerr is currently a Director at Andritz, Inc. Formerly, he was director of Marketing at Black Clawson--Shartle Division. Previously, Jon has served on the board of directors of TAPPI. Chuck Klass is currently President of Klass Associates, Inc. and serves as Adjunct Professor of Paper Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Imaging at Western Michigan University. Chuck has also served on the board of directors of TAPPI. Mike Ryan is currently President of Process Laboratories Corporation. Earlier, he had been Manufacturing Technology Manager for The Mead Corporation and served on the board of directors of Terasbetoni, OY. Jim Thompson is currently CEO of Talo Analytic International, Inc. and the G. W. Mead Associate for Industry Relations at IPST@Georgia Tech. Earlier, he was Executive Vice President of Jaakko Poyry, Inc. Further profile information on these individuals can be found on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com). The Cellulose Community was founded in January 2006 as a safe haven for those with ideas outside the norm: practical people discussing intellectual problems. The new board reaffirms several founding principals. The Cellulose Community -is a non-commercial free or nearly free association of pulp and paper professionals world-wide, exploiting the Internet’s explosion of services for fast and easy linkage amongst the members. These professionals may be technical, managerial or financial in focus. -obeys all known laws in the countries in which it has members, focusing particularly on appropriate anti-trust and non-commercialism behavior. -is about members and their needs for education and sharing experiences for the improvement of their careers and their companies in a pre-competitive setting. -provides an environment where fundamental research on cellulose and its derivative products is encouraged and new ideas can be explored concerning its use. Membership is available simply by joining at www.cellulosecommunity.org. One may also identify themselves as a member by joining the Cellulose Community group on Linkedin. Committees with specific interests are being formed, with Kerr and Klass in charge of this effort. Ryan is focusing on membership. Connections to the board members are as follows: Jon Kerr jkerr@fuse.net Chuck Klass chuck@klassassociates.com Mike Ryan mikeryan@process-labs.com Jim Thompson jthompson@taii.com Contact any of the board members for further information. ### Have a comment? Send your email to jthompson@cellulosecommunity.net. Unless you tell us otherwise, we will assume we can use your name if we publish your letter.