The ‘Earplug Theory’ Revisited

The “Earplug Theory” first came to mind after I’d spent about 30 years in the paper industry. I created the document and saved it on my laptop for a year before sharing it with anyone. I was a little concerned this was out of my league—more of an editorial than a technical article. It may have annoyed some people.

Eventually, I sent it to my good friend Floyd Lathbury, a former mill superintendent and corporate papermaking specialist at the Temple-Inland (now International Paper) mill in Rome, GA. He wrote back and said to send it to a magazine. The May 2007 issue of Pulp and Paper included the article, and no one told me they were upset about it; in fact, a few friends sent photos showing they’d torn out the article and displayed it on a wall or bulletin board.

Since 1975, I have visited almost 350 paper mills in 11 countries, which has provided me with a significant visual and mental database from which to draw conclusions. This knowledge relates to process design and operation, mill management, and safety practices.

Following a vacuum system study exit meeting a few years ago with mill personnel, I was asked, “Well Doug, how many earplugs did you find in our parking lot?”

Ear Plug Theory suggests that PM efficiencies are related to the number of discarded ear plugs found between the parking lot and operating floor.

I answered, “27 sets.” (That only included the pairs connected to strings, not the individual earplugs—I’m not picking those up.) I had collected these stringed pairs and, while passing the check-in point near the guard house, I deposited them on top of a concrete barrier. It looked like colored spaghetti. Maybe the mill manager would pass by and notice them.

EAR PLUG THEORY, DEFINED

Regardless of grade produced, geographic location, mill age or ownership, there are a few visual signs that can tell you immediately about mill management, mill culture, and likely paper machine performance. Mill housekeeping and process cleanliness have a direct impact on production, reliability, and safety.

Ear Plug Theory suggests that paper machine efficiencies are related to the number of discarded ear plugs found on the ground between the parking lot and paper machine operating floor. The more earplugs, the less likely this mill runs well. The theory gauges how deeply mill personnel really care about their working environment. At some mills, ear plugs scattered like popcorn can be seen in gutters, in the grass, along sidewalks, and even within sight of warning signs about keeping plastics out of the process systems.

Clean mills are typically safer… and here is visual proof.

If you agree with the concept of taking care of small problems so large problems never appear, then housekeeping is a basic skill to conquer. This includes providing enough trash cans (and emptying them occasionally) along with practices by top management, and down, toward keeping the place clean.

We’ve all seen trucks of OCC and various scraps of wastepaper blowing around from the highway to the storage warehouse. At the end of a two-day visit to a recycled containerboard mill in South Carolina, I was discussing the complete lack of all such trash with the mill manager. I asked how they kept the mill property so clean. He answered, “Well, we all deserve to work in a nice environment.” Later, I noticed the engineering manager picking up a pair of ear plugs while walking across the road back to his office.

At which type of mill would you expect to find someone pressure cleaning the operating floor, repainting equipment and structural steel, and brushing dust and stock off of mesh guards over motor and gear reducer fans? Before shift change, is the wet-end operator washing down the floor around the tending side of the machine, or just wetting it? Either process results in a wet, shiny floor for the next crew—but only one results in a truly clean floor (and requires more time and attention). Which mill would you prefer to work in?

SAFETY, TIME, ATTENTION, AND EAR PLUG THEORY

Your complex paper machine processes may be equipped with all the bells and whistles, automatic controls, and computers—but there is no replacement for wandering around, climbing the catwalks, and even hosing down obscure areas of the basement or mezzanine floor. This allows you to closely observe, feel, hear, and even smell the symphony composed of thousands of meshing gear teeth and spinning bearing rollers, maybe a hundred motors whining, and all the machine rolls conveying a fragile sheet from the headbox to the reel.

At the best operating mills, with or without luxurious and sophisticated control rooms, a big difference in efficiency lies in the amount of time spent on rounds, genuinely trying to find and eliminate small problems before they lead to serious downtime. Don’t allow your mill to cut staff to the point where no one has time to physically observe every motor, pump, or gear reducer daily. The North American paper industry is competing globally, whether we want it to or not. In Latin America or Asia, someone can be paid a few dollars per day to wipe the goo off a bearing housing, grease fitting, or handrail if the lube tech’s gloves leave grease on everything they touch. What is the real cost of not keeping up?

Clean mills are typically safer. That large mental database has been proof for me. When driving into a mill, there is a good feeling when noticing safety banners and plaques, the “safety traffic light” on green, or a notice stating, “This mill has worked 526 days since the last lost time accident.”

Besides confirming that this site has a good safety culture, I do not expect to see less than a highly productive mill, with engaged employees who are happy to be working there.