September 15, 2022
Strong Construction Activity Continues


Your project is not an island. You depend on many suppliers and contractors to keep it moving forward.

In the past couple of weeks I have been made aware of several projects, hundreds of miles apart, experiencing concrete allocation constraints. This is not caused by an aggregate shortage (usually a local commodity), but a shortage of basic cement and other admixtures. Plan accordingly.

In Ohio, the new Intel Chip plant near Columbus says it will be needing 7,000 construction workers. Many of the new lithium battery plants are pulling in huge numbers of construction workers, too.

Expect a construction worker shortage on a line from Houston to Kansas City to Minneapolis and eastward to the Atlantic Ocean.

Motors, switchgear, and other components have also become very long lead items.

Make sure you are doing your homework before you submit your project budget and schedule.

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 jim.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