"A path to 50 more years of newsprint?"

Jim,

The answer is Syzygy. And when yours line up right, the world is your oyster.

Mike Higgins
St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

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Jim: It's "syzygy". (Let your dictionary be your friend.)

Cheers,

Peter N. Williamson

***

Good timing with the riddle as today is the new moon. The answer is syzygy, which is the alignment of three or more celestial bodies in the same gravitational system along a straight line. The word is also applied to each instance of the new moon even though the sun and the moon are not precisely on one line with the Earth.

Eric Eisert

***

And then, Jim Atkins and I got into a long discussion about my micro newsprint machine idea:

Hi Jim,

The concept of a "compact" paper machine has been around for sometime. The corrugated box industry built some one-across machines near their box plants. Creative Papers is one example. The only problem was that one-across for that business is 100", which is not that compact, and unfortunately, not that cost effective.

Brian Attwood has been working on some really compact designs for other parts of the industry, but there are no takers so far. You will not likely have much luck with your newsprint idea given the over-capacity of the industry, even at a low capitalized cost for the compact mill. But it is still a fascinating idea, and perhaps might have some applications yet.

Jim Atkins

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Thanks, Jim. The issue is not capacity or over capacity, the issue is delivering quality to newsprint at the unwind stand of the printing press at a lower cost than competitors yet one that allows investors to earn a decent return. That is all one has to do to win. Do that and capacity is ignored. GM and Chrysler are learning this lesson right now (unless the US government continues to bail them out).

Jim Thompson

By the way, I prefer the term "micro" to distinguish from minimills and other such ideas that are nothing more than smaller versions of existing systems. It is key to get beyond the configuration of being built into a building's structure.

Jim Thompson

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Hi Jim,

You miss the point. The issue is not whether a compact paper mill (remember we have to include a recycling facility) can be cost effective against existing capacity, which by the way I am doubltful. The question is who would finance such a facility. The answer of course is no one in their right mind. But I still am drawn to the idea.

Jim Atkins

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Of course, that is impossible to do without a study.

However, I don't think it is at all out of the question. Motivated parties? New York Times (if they can find some money--their finances are in bad shape because of their own mismanagement), Rupert Murdock, Gannett, among others.

Please understand also that I am not talking about a machine, and as you rightly included, a recycling facility, built into a building at all. It will be prebuilt in monocoque framed sections that contain all pumps, drives, piping, etc. and simply bolts to the floor and connect to each other and to services. This is done all the time in other industries to the scale I am talking about here. Look at the metal surface preparation and finishing industry for examples of this scale. They have been building their equipment like this for over fifty years and it includes nearly every element we have in a pulp and paper line.

Jim Thompson

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Like I said, I am still drawn to the idea. But newsprint would be the hardest sell. On the other hand, it is the easiest grade (short of corrugating medium) to make and roll widths would be applicable to a "micro" machine.

Jim Atkins

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One thing I did not make clear in terms of size when discussing the above with Jim Atkins. I would use the standard forty foot international shipping container frame and its locking components as the module size. Not saying a machine has to fit within just one of these, but if this framework were used as the standard size, there would be quite a cost savings, for there are already trailers (for highway trucks) and crane lift components made to this standard. The places where the modules lock into the production floor could be equipped with these standardized pockets as well. Heck, Google has revealed they use shipping containers to hold their server farms.

Jim Thompson


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