Paperitalo Point of View

We've come a long way - from disintegrating paper straws to being on the verge of having plastic-free packaging, and a fully recyclable beer bottle with a wood fiber outer lining. Cellulose and pulp are in the forefront of the away-from-plastic movement (as it should be).

Giving allowances is easy, but those expenses add up alarmingly quickly. Not a great solution. So to use returns and allowances to boost sales in your mill, let's take a page out of an experienced consultant's book and learn about the changes made at one mill, which led to significant mill-wide improvements in just three months. The strategy was quite simple.

One of the best managers I ever had the privilege of working with was in charge of our pulp mill. We'll call him V.C. He was an unassuming fellow, but when V.C. stepped into the control room to address an issue - anything at all - things got done. Best management practices can fill volumes of books and occupy weeks of classes, but V.C. had three characteristics in particular, finely honed, which kept employees in the pulp mill working extremely well together.

So what's the real story about the EPA and power plant regulations?