Jim Thompson

Email Jim at jim.thompson@ipulpmedia.com

And likely don't budget for either. It is a long list...

Perimeter Fencing

Driveways, landscaping, exterior building cleaning

And more!

True story which I may have told here many years ago...

I was visiting a mill in the eastern United States. It was about twenty years old, 100% recycled furnish and 100% purchased electricity. Parked my car, walked across the lot and into the administration building. My appointment was with the president, who was resident on site.

After the introductory pleasantries I commented, "You are a brave man!"

"Huh?"

"Well, you are relying on a twenty-year-old pine 2 x 4 to maintain your electrical integrity to the mill!"

What I had noticed on the way into the mill was that at the point the power lines came into the substation, the insulators were just mounted on what had been a construction 2 x 4. These were heavy lines and the 2 x 4 had sunk about two feet in the middle. It had to be close to breaking.

So, when you are finally out there, looking at the grounds outside your buildings, don't just look down, look up, too. This potential failure was about fifteen feet in the air, over top of the substation.

We tend to regularly examine the high value equipment inside our mills, sometimes we even do this on the frequency the suppliers recommend (sarcasm). But if it is not in these focused locations, we tend to forget it.

One other trick I used back when I worked in the mills...I varied my parking location and the path I walked from my car to the mill. Repeat the same path every day and you will miss things. Change your path irregularly and you will find things that need attention.

Some mills these days send teams out on a regular basis to look over the site. If you do this, assign team members to look at specific items (Jill--you look at electrical and Sam--you look at drainage ditches, etc.). On top of that rotate what they look at each time. This will give you a thorough and accountable view of your facility.

Be safe and we will talk next week.

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