July 15, 2020
A new vulnerability

 
Covid-19 has exposed a vulnerability to project schedules we have not seen before.

The situation is this: a new machine or a rebuild of a machine is moving along just fine. Suddenly, Covid-19 strikes and the machine manufacturer's technicians are recalled until further notice. This is, of course, dictated by announced travel bans coupled with employers watching out for the health of their employees.

In the two cases of which I am aware at the moment, the machine manufacturer will no doubt claim "Force Majeure." This leaves you, as the owner's representative, with few choices.

After a fifty year career, I had thought I had seen everything. But this is a new one. If you are caught up in one of these messes right now, give me a call and I will see if I can think of a way to help you.

If you are in the planning stages of a new project, henceforth and forever more, you'll need to be thinking of this potential problem.

What is your opinion? Drop me a line at  jim.thompson@ipulpmedia.com . I would like to hear from you.


 
Young Engineering Manager of the Year, call for nominations

We are looking for an individual who has done an extraordinary project, one that almost defies belief. Its extraordinary features can be schedule, technology, cost or all three. There is an age limit on the manager eligible for this award: they must be under 35 years old when they completed the project.
 
We have often gotten nominees that go something like this, "I nominate Joe because he has done a great job of running our engineering department for the last fifteen years." Quite frankly, we are not interested in such nominees.
 
However, if you know someone who has led a very exceptional project in the recent past (the last two or three years) and meets our age requirement, we want to know about it. We want to honor them and hold them up as an example for Engineering Managers in every pulp and paper mill around the world.
 
Just send your nomination, with as much details as you can provide, to  j im.thompson@ipulpmedia.com. We will seriously consider it.
Current Patent Activity is available  here.


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Please write when we tickle your brain cells! Email jthompson@taii.com