Web Handling & Converting Blog

Winder Expert Bob Lucas Retires

Bob has spent 47 years in winding at Beloit, its predecessors and its successors.  Beloit was the largest paper machinery builder in the world.  The name Bob Lucas was long known to anyone who knew anything about paper winders.  I have known and worked with Bob for all of my mere 27 years in the profession.  I have regarded him something like a father figure.  I try to learn from everyone I meet on every occasion.  However, learning from Bob is like trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant, it just keeps coming and coming.  A lot of it is right and some of it is original.  His search for the best understanding of his beloved subject of winding is unrelenting.  Also, he is not at all afraid to tell anyone what he thinks, including his bosses and customers – a trait I find refreshing.  I will offer a single story that I hope best captures his persona.

First Impressions

Many would call me a web handling expert.  However, I have other useful experiences as well.  I could also be considered a first impression critic.  My CV consists of visiting nearly a thousand facilities during my career.  Here are some points I believe are important to your business.

Shouldn't Those Operators Be Doing Something?

Whether it is urban legend or fact is unimportant.  In this case the truth is in the teaching.

A paper mill manager was walking the machine one day when he saw a bunch of operators sitting at a picnic table.  He grabbed the nearest foreman and said “Shouldn’t those operators be doing something?”  After thinking about it for a moment, the foreman walked over to the sheet and broke it down.  The operators leapt from the table to try to get the sheet rethreaded.  The foreman said “Now they are working, is that what you wanted?”

Passing Expertise

I was saddened to hear of the passing of coating expert Dr. Richard Podhajny last month.  Dr Podhajny’s three decades of work experience reads like a Who’s Who of coating.  More importantly, he has generously shared his expertise by teaching and writing.  He has authored scores of columns for both the Converting Magazine and Paper Film Foil Converter Magazines alone.  Yolanda has written a very nice eulogy editorial that also told of his incredible personal experiences as a prisoner in a Nazi work camp.  http://pffconline.com/mag/remembering_richard_0805/

An Interview with Dr. Roisum

This is an online interview from a student in Italy.  I thought the dozen questions were so good that I took the time to answer them all.  He agreed to share both the questions and the answers.  The subjects range from web handling, to business, to problem solving and includes a brief professional and personal bio.

David Roisum, Ph.D. & Giovanni from Italy

About Us

Brief introductions are in order as we enter cyberspace with this new blog.

AIMCAL, the host, stands for the Association of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators http://aimcal.org/  It is a nonprofit technical organization comprised of over 200 hundred well-known web companies including raw material suppliers, web makers, web converters and machinery builders.  Its mission is to promote information exchange in the industry.  Its many products include access to some of the world’s most renowned experts, a Summer School, a fall Technical Conference, a full-of-features website, this blog and much much more.