Almost 4 Months Later
August 19, 2013 9:50 am Leave your thoughts
Well. Here it is. My last blog for this summer. What follows is a brief summary of everything I have done during my employment here at Millar Western. I have learned and done so much this summer that it is difficult to recall everything chronologically. But, I’ll try my absolute best to get everything correct, so bear with me.
So, my very first project this summer was to aid in choosing a consistency meter for use in the bio-energy project, employing a process of trialing the potential candidates. A couple weeks ago, upon my recommendation, the company purchased a meter for use though the engineering procurement company in charge of constructing the project. It was a fairly simple task, looking back on it now, albeit a time consuming one, as it took most of the summer for the final result to come into effect.
My corner mess of potential meters.
An updated set of pictures of the current state of the bio-energy project site. The top photo shows the 3 hybrid
digester tanks, and the second photo shows the start of construction of the building that will house other key components.
My second mini project, which I am still trying to cram more data into before my last day, was to collect pulp samples from 10 of our large presses in the mill. For this particular task, I was simply gathering an adequate amount of data so that the process technologist who is leading the project can come up with a solid conclusion. Hopefully, I managed to get enough samples for him to finish the trial he would like to run.
The 4th floor of the pulp mill. The presses I have been collecting samples from are located directly in the center of this picture.
The next project that I was marginally involved with was the centrifuge trial. Unfortunately, the supplier’s technicians did most of the trialing and work, so the mill’s role was mostly to facilitate the process. We set up the necessary tie-ins and changed the flow rates to what was desired by the two technicians. Unfortunately, the centrifuge was not able to meet our process requirements and, ultimately, did not work as we hoped it would.
The last trial that has taken up the majority of my time from mid-July until now has been the kiln trial. I recently finished collecting all of my data from the 3 different kinds of kilns and completed the associated data analysis. I initially expected a small to moderate potential for savings, but I was pleasantly surprised with how inaccurate my predictions were. Without naming any figures, my calculations indicated the potential for a significant financial benefit. I was so surprised that I redid all of my calculations multiple times and had other coworkers check my work over, because I thought I had done something wrong. Due to the promising results, I have now been preparing templates and procedures for future trials on this exact same issue, due to the need to repeat the results before a solid decision can be made. Hopefully, I will be able to make life easier for whoever takes over this project from me when I leave.
So, without going into too much detail, that was a general summary of the tasks I undertook this summer.
Some of the kilns I was trialing are located behind the large stack of lumber in the center of the picture — the large silver ‘shed’ like buildings.
As I write this, I have 5 days of work left at Millar Western before my time is up here for the summer. Next Thursday, the 22nd, will be my last day, and I have quite a bit to finish up before then. All the ongoing projects that, unfortunately, will not be completed before I leave must be handed off and explained thoroughly to the people who will be taking them over. Future trials arising from some of my data collection must be organized and prepared, and I must generally tidy up the work and summaries so they make sense to the next person. Ideally, I will not forget to tie up the loose ends, so it is a smooth transition, but I guess we will have to see.
I really need to organize all my summaries in the next 5 days…
Now, looking back on this summer, my most profound realization is regarding the level of experience I have acquired in so many areas versus what I had 4 months ago. I have simply learned so much just doing my day to day activities at work, becoming more proficient in areas such as decision making, time management, document organization, process optimization, data analysis and workplace knowledge. These are massively transferable skills, and I feel immensely more confident in all of them. I used so many different job skills so often this summer that they feel natural and straightforward now as opposed to the beginning of the summer, when they felt strange and foreign. It really is an interesting feeling to feel more assured in these areas.
A view of the town of Whitecourt from the roof of the pulp mill.
On the topic of transferable skills, Millar Western has given me the tools to be a useful employee to whoever hires me in my future careers. These are not only skills that employers search for in potential employees, but skills that will aid me immensely in the next 8 months as I wade through another 2 semesters of chemical engineering. I am sure that I will use each and every experience I had this summer at some point in the upcoming year.
Thanks Millar Western.
Another recurring thought is how great it was to be exposed to a completely new sector. The forestry industry really is something spectacular and awe inspiring. It may be one of the few industries that affects almost every single person out there, though most of us simply do not realize it. Anytime you retrieve your morning newspaper, build a fence or deck, or camp in the wilderness for a weekend, you are likely interacting with the forest industry in some way. As well as creating useful products and managing the forest in a way that allows for multiple uses, the industry gives back to communities and society in many ways. As well, forestry based companies (like Millar Western) offer advantages that others cannot providet – everything from the opportunity to live in beautiful forest-based towns and flexible lifestyles that allow you to indulge in your hobbies, to fulfilling careers that really offer lifelong satisfaction. These are some of the reasons why these companies are reputable and why they would be great places to work .
I would really like to take the time to thank everyone who helped in making this a great experience for me. First off, I want to say thank you to all the people I worked with this summer. I learned so much from them and thoroughly enjoyed them as well. They are an entertaining, intelligent and hard working group of people and valuable assets to Millar Western. Secondly, I would like to thank Millar Western for my employment this summer. I can really say that I will take away some lasting things from this summer job. I hope that, in my future endeavors, I will be able to work for a company as amazing as this one.
Additionally, I would really like to thank FPAC for creating this wonderful opportunity for me and the six others. The internship program really is a great idea, and I sincerely hope that I was able to provide an adequate amount of insight into the forestry industry and help some people make a decision to join this awesome field.
Finally, I would like to thank all the people who read my blog this summer. I hope I was able to enlighten and entertain you.
In conclusion, this summer was amazing. Thanks, once again, to everyone.
I got ambushed by everyone on my birthday with a surprise birthday cake.
So I suppose I will sign off for good this time. Unfortunately, I doubt I will be able to keep up this habit of blog writing once my school work starts piling up. I hope everyone had a great summer. Once again, thanks for reading.
Cheers.
Patrick Pickard