Finding purpose and getting restarted

"start with the end in mind" is how Steve Covney encourages you to develop the habit of having a focus and a vision on where you want to be. With out that you will be floundering around with no direction and getting no where.

My problem of late has been this lack of focus. Whist I have a lot to do, around the house, work and the MSc dissertation I am supposed to be working on I have lost the ability to focus. I've lost interest particularly since work got very hectic trying to keep things afloat and on top of things only to get no support from the parent company and in the end I was made redundant. Which is particularly frustrating as I'd put a lot of other things on hold (MSc) to focus on work.

Now I need to get restarted and it's very hard to get motivated. Family life keeps the days busy but my evening are free again so I really have no excuse. My barrier is the question of what I want to do with my life, more of the same (there are offers) but it didn't leave me satisfied and I don't know that it will cover the costs. or do I do something different?

But I am coming to believe that I need to take a similar approach to finding focus by starting with something. I remember being told or reading that an author starts by getting their words and thoughts down on a page and that once started it was easier to go back and fix the bit at the start.

So thats what I start to do, I'll restart the dissertation and hopefully that will get me back into it. I'll talk with tr course director and see what needs to be done about handing it in at some point and that will hopefully lead me to being able to focus and develop other things and find out my direction in life. And for the rest of my time I'll enjoy spending it with my kids who won't be kids for ever.

Composite Decking- Point’s to be aware of

I've just had a read of Aston dot's Blog (http://www.astondot.com/aston-dot/the-reason-people-should-think-about-composite-plastic-decking/) on composite decking also known as Wood Plastic Composite (WPC) Decking. 

It's a good discussion on the advantages of Composite Decking over traditional timber decking. I worked with Earth-wood and the lower maintenance costs, non- slip and the quality of finish made it an attractive proposition to customers.

Unfortunately Aston Dot is wrong on a number of points that he makes.


Composite decking for structural components-

I'm afraid as yet I wouldn't recommend Composite materials for structural components. While a lot of research was going into their use, it's something you'll need to be very sure about. The problem with WPC as used in decking is that they use Thermoplastic materials such as High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Polypropylene (PP) or Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC). From recollection Ecodeck referenced in the article use HDPE. These materials are susceptible to a phenomena known as creep where they distort over time when exposed to pressure (either constant or occasional).

Hence if WPC is used for load bearing applications they are susceptible to warp and distort which could be potentially dangerous.


Composite decking is NOT dimensionally stable

While timber decking will expand when wet, and will shrink again during a dry summer. WPC decking is the opposite; it will expand in warm weather and shrink during the colder winter. We had a customer who ignored our installation guidelines and did not leave a 5 mm gap at the either end of plank. After a few warm weeks 2 planks butted up against each other and created a ridge in the deck.


Composite decking is NOT 100% environmentally friendly

I'm afraid nothing man made is, from the energy required to make the plastic in the first place, the energy required to recycle it and the energy and additive required to manufacture the WPC decking. I don't know if it is more environmentally friendly than timber sustainably managed forests, but then the life span is significantly better than the softwood timbers from these forests.


Final word

Don't get me wrong, WPC decking is a great product, we had a really good business supplying into marinas and public walkways as well as for domestic & commercial decks. It is long lasting, easier to maintain and keep clean, will not splinter from drying out. It will crack due to "Stress Crack Propagation" over time, especially if poorly installed but it's better than timber for crack resistance and you know nothing is completely perfect.

Waste Minimisation at Start-Up

In every industry, workplace or environment there are levels of waste which are above what they need to be. Whilst I doubt that the elimination of all waste is economically viable, companies (and individuals) can save money by cutting their waste levels.

In the polymer sector the biggest single way of reducing your waste level on a daily basis is to not switch off. The reasons are easy to be seen, by not stopping;

• Time isn't lost waiting on machinery to warm up
  
• Material isn't lost trying to get the production running correctly and within spec
  
• Material isn't lost when shutting down.
  

This isn't always an option for companies, for example in Earth-wood we didn't have the orders to make it viable to run 24 hrs a day or 7 days a week. So initially we ran 8 hrs a day- 5 days a week and as production increased we worked overtime depending on orders.

"If you don't measure it, you can't control it"

We kept daily production records and consistently had quite high waste levels; we could also see that we could do better. Looking at the production process and using a process flow diagram we highlighted areas where material waste could be formed.

The next stage we carried out was to monitor and record the waste levels from the different causes of waste.

This clarified what our major sources of waste were and we then used cause and effect analysis to identify the possible causes of these waste streams and identified what actions could be taken to reduce the waste levels.

One of the sources was an easy hit- Start up.

In the morning was taking up to 2 hrs, between getting the die up to temperature, and then getting some of the material in the die melted to enable us to get material flowing, and a large lump of un-melted material out before production could begin properly.

So our first remedial action was to change the shut down procedures for the line, instead of just shutting down the line, operators changed to continuing to pull material out of the die and then using a pry-bar ensure that it was fully cleaned out inside. This reduced the material waste from typically 150 kg down to 15kg during the production start up.

The time taken for the die to warm up still too high, around 90 min. We observed that in the morning the die was warming up from room temperature 15-20 ^oC. An investment in a specially designed insulation jacket to fit around the die and melt pump to keep reduce the heat loss from them over night. As a result the die was at 50^oC in the morning and keeping the insulation jacket on while the die heated up meant that more of the heat from the heater bands went into the die rather than the air around it.

This simple action reduced warm up time to 30 minutes in the morning. Hence by the time woodflour was loaded, equipment checked, and everything else set up, there was no further waiting around for the line to get up to temperature. So operators would then remove the jackets and get production underway.

These few simple actions helped reduce a significant cause of waste, it hasn't been entirely eliminated but a 90% reduction is a good start.

 

 

Interview performance- could do better

On Wednesday I had an interview for a research associate/fellow position in Queen’s University, Belfast. The position is part of research being carried out on an all island basis to do research into applications for the transport applications.

I’d been asked to prepare a 5 minute presentation on “how my experience prepared me to do research in the high performance thermoplastic composites.”

I had learnt off the presentation and happy I knew what I was going to say.  As this was an academic position I looked at the people I thought were leading the research so I looked at their areas of research and revised up on finite element analysis and did a review of high performance thermoplastics and their composites and methods of manufacture.

I’d prepared a few questions in relation to the position; we there plan’s to extend the research beyond April 2011, was the position part of the new “Institute for a Sustainable Future” and about their facilities.

I have to admit I didn’t get as much research done as I would normally have liked. I could blame my 3 week old son for not letting me get any sleep at night, and busy evenings. Or my 2 ½ yr old daughter for not letting me get any peace during the day to spend a few days doing the research work.

So on the day I got there 20 min early to relax and compose myself. I’m happy the presentation went Ok. I hindsight think I should have stood up. I normal do during presentations standing and I feel it flows much easier for me when I stand up.

So what was I asked about?

I know where in transport applications high performance thermoplastics are being used? I have to admit, I had to mostly rely on previous experience and knowledge rather than my research but  was able to give an answer if not as good I would have liked.

Had I worked in teams? I elaborated on one of the projects I mentioned in the presentation so this was well answered I think.

I was asked about the processing of Wood Plastic Composites, but this was more to educate the interviewer rather than to test my knowledge. I was then asked about crack propagation and how it could be prevented. I was able to answer this question, but I don’t think I as fluid as I would have liked. I also forgot one method of preventing it by using fibres perpendicular to the direction of the crack direction.

I floundered on my own questions, I had made assumptions, but the research was not part of the new Institute, so this threw me a little. So the question on facilities went straight out of my head.

The interview was quick, 25 min with no casual, social conversation you would normally get in other interviewers where they are trying to find out a bit about you as a person.

I’m not overly happy with how the interview went.  I could have been prepared better and should have been. I’ll hopefully find out what they made of it.

Lesson’s for next time?

My 2 ½ yr old is going to a new crèche, it’ll give me a chance to get work done. So I’ll get my research done better. I didn’t use a mind map like I normally would. It would have helped me cover all the areas I needed to research for the interview.

I have contacts in Queen’s I should have used them to try and find out more about the role and the people doing the research so I knew the panel better. The Personnel dept in Queen’s wouldn’t even tell me how many were on the panel never mind who was on it.

Hopefully I'll get some news next week, as I try to set up more possibilities.

Being Green is getting easier

On the 17th October 2009 the Irish Times published an article by Ita O’Kelly, “It’s not easy being green”. An interesting article, but a little ill informed. (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2009/1017/1224256876843.html)


Ita first questions us what ever happened to bringing bottles back to the shop. There are very simple issues as to why we cannot simply return our bottles and jar’s . From my recollection it was only the drink’s companies which in the past operated the return’s policy. Now a days we have such a wide range of products all in their own packaging that returning them to the shop would be a logistical nightmare especially since so few of these products are now made in Ireland. What we have now is that glass is collected in bottle banks, where it can be safely handled, centrally collected and compacted to minimise shipping costs (and hence fuel consumption and CO2 production.)

Ita reminisces when “butter came in foil paper, water came out of the tap, the butcher wrapped meat in paper and courgettes did not come in a plastic three-pack. Today everything is prewrapped and prepackaged, and unless you can afford to shop at a farmer’s market, there is little choice about any of this.”

*Ita you can still get this if you want it, butter still comes in foil paper (you don’t have to buy margarine), water surprising still comes out of our taps, you might even be able to drink it in some parts of the country. If you go to your local butcher you can get your meat wrapped in simple plastic packaging and most supermarkets or even better farmers market will sell individual vegetables. But most people don’t want this, they want convenience and lowest costs, which means the meat is packed in factories and need to last sufficiently long on the shelf to be sold and we want our favourite vegetables at anytime of the year regardless of wither they are in season here or where they are grown.

I’m disappointed that Ita seems to have done little research into the recycle market to understand how it is working in practice. Ita questions what’s so eco-friendly about transporting our rubbish halfway around the world to China or Asia for recycling? The real question she should ask is why this is happening.

The recycling industry works like any other, they sell product (eg. bales of collected waste) to whoever is willing to pay the most for it. For the last few years this has been the Chinese. What’s more the cost of shipping to china is relatively low. With so many products being shipped from China to Europe there are a lot of empty containers going back. The CO2 is being burned anyway shipping these empty containers are we not better off putting something in them to abate the insatiable demand from China for plastic? Believe me I’d prefer for the recycle not to be going to China. I’ve 10 yrs experience of having working with companies trying to source and buy recycled plastic, we’d love it, but the costs are crippling and sometimes make it uneconomical.

To interfere with this market is likely to require significant legal changes to our existing legislation with the government taking more responsibility for the collection programmes in the country. This would potentially face legal action from the major waste management companies who’s business it would impact.

The Waste Packaging Directive places obligations on companies to pay for the recovery and recycling of packaging they produce, use or import. Hence most companies try to keep packaging to a minimum. What they don’t want is products being damaged. How would you feel if your Easter Egg was cracked because someone dropped it when getting it to the shelf. Or do you want your bottle of bleach to burst if it gets dropped on the floor of your kitchen? This is part of the reason why so many drinks have moved to plastic packaging from heavier glass bottles, significantly less wasted products and more of the transported waste is product.

The breweries have spent years looking at moving to plastic packaging for beers. There have been problems not just with the permeation of gases to and from the beer spoiling the taste to problems with the recyclability of the bottles.

It is only in recent years that Erema a plastic recycling machine manufacturer have developed the technology which allows HDPE to be recycled back to a material which is suitable for use back into milk bottles. (The cost of getting material of this quality however is very high)

Ita concludes “there is no real virtue in recycling items that can be reused like glass and no merit in recycling unnecessary packaging that is ultimately shipped abroad. The onus is on the producer and retailer to deliver a 21st century solution.”

I agree the onus is on the producers and retailers to deliver a new solution, however to remove the need for recycling:

- people would need to stop being swayed by design of packaging

- Standard bottles and jars adopted world wide

- sufficient production capacity and product range in Ireland to use up the returned glass containers (e.g how would we reuse wine bottles?)

Currently recycling of plastic packaging, paper, glass and metal have progressed well and our recycling and recovery rates show this. There is a gap, film is a recycling nightmare. The introduction of renewable, compostable films is only making this harder. The materials used, HDPE, LDPE, PVC, EVOH, PET etc are not all easily recyclable together, and can only currently used for low value products of limited market size. In Ireland with it’s high cost of manufacturing these products are at almost uneconomical, if the recycled film waste has to be paid for.

Ireland is developing a multifaceted approach to dealing with it’s waste problem to cope with how we want to live today. It still has work to do, renewable and degradable films might hold the key, but will it be possible to get the vapour and gas barrier properties required to stop foods spoiling. Alternatively we could go back to the daily shop or get bigger freezers.

Getting Started

I'm going to kick this off with aspirations.

There are several things I intend to write about time permitting. I'm currently job hunting and looking after my daughter most of the week. I'm also doing a post grad and I intend to try and use some of my learning and study from the post grad in what I blog.

I'll also try and pick up on some of the issues that I feel I need to comment on.

Ireland is going through a major change at the moment, it's part way through and reached a crux as perpetuated by the recent crash in the housing and public finances are testiment to.

I believe there is a major change taking place as manufacturing shifts out of the country and the government tries to move us to a SMART high value economy. But where does this leave manufacturing in Ireland?

Recently we've had a glut of major international companies move their manufacturing operations over seas, Dell being one of the most promenant. I think the days of big manufacturing companies in Ireland is at an end. Even mid sized companies are under pressure, they are probably suffering the most in the current climate with little support from a strained banking sector reluctant to take risks.

What is probably going to happen is a growth in smaller companies, producing niche products which are either highly technical or have very short shelf life. Hence the Innovation supplement in Today's Irish Times focused heavily on Nanotechnology and the promenance it is playing in Irish R&D expenditure. The opening of the new Competence Centre in Nanotechnology based in Cork has a remit to do industry lead R&D which will belong with in the competence centre. There are other Competence Centres being planned and some of them will also have Nanotechnology interests.

The other big growth area seems to be in food. Alot of the jobs I see advertised are in Food processing companies. Now maybe there has been a startling number of retirements from this industry or there is still growth in this area. I've seen several advertisments for jobs and I'm finding this particularly fustrating. I'm sure that people find this strange, but I have absolutely no desire to work for a food company, particularly in meat processing. I'm squemish and whilst my good wife is able to put money in her account for me to buy some of that meat I don't feel inclined to make myself sick getting it into the shop. Besides, is this really the kind of high end jobs people are aspiring for when it's not what they love?

I'll try to pick up on these points later on as I try to gear and position myself better in the job market for the coming New Year.

Next time I'll try to take some of Ita Kelly's suggestions for going back on some of the developments in packaging in the Irish Times on the 17th Oct 09.