Email Jim at jim.thompson@ipulpmedia.com

Maybe I am just catching up, but YouTube is a great resource for instructional videos in the paper mill, particularly for maintenance. Look up "installing a paper machine doctor blade" and you will find many videos. Same for "rewinding an electric motor" or "rebuilding a gate valve."

You name it and there is likely multiple videos on how to do most any maintenance task.

If you choose to use this resource, I suggest a senior maintenance person vet and choose the videos. Then, present them in a class room setting with a mixture of newbies and senior hands.

Of course, another great source of such videos is your own suppliers. Most of them these days have produced their own videos.

You can find YouTube videos for nearly any subject.

If you are an ambitious young person, early in your career, you can learn nearly any subject, from pipe installation to the most complicated derivative bond offering structure on YouTube.

At my age, I am in awe at what you can find for free. All you need is a computer and an internet connection, which you can get at your local library.

Which brings us to a subject that I want to sneak into this maintenance month column.

In days of old (I started my career in March of 1970), we depended on our employer for training like I describe above. Why? Because training was expensive and limited in availability. For instance, when I started as an engineering co-op, the first thing my employer had me do for two weeks was look at drawings of previous machines they had designed (they were a custom fabricator). No explanation, no guidance, just review these drawings. Then the third week, I got my first assignment.

Now, this was not AutoCAD or anything computer based. That was a decade away. This work was on a drawing board with vellum, pencils and French curves (you may need to look up French curves). I had been there two years when the boss walked in with a Texas Instruments calculator that did basic math functions but had no memory.

So, no whining about your limited training resources. Today they are abundant and virtually free leaving you to expend the time and the energy to use them.

Be safe and we will talk next week.

You can dig deeper here.

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