Styrofoam Plant
The longest time I spent in an operating unit at Dow, I spent in the Styrofoam Plant, where I was for the final 5 years of my Dow life.
Getting the Job
I took the job. I think it was the fact that it was a new plant, with good potential for remaining, whereas EO was old and possibly too small a producer for the markets that were opening up. I figured that since Herbicides was closing down, EO could be next. Also, new plant meant new knowledge and at this point I was really interested in learning. (In high school, I was so bored, that I would skip classes in the afternoon so I could go home and watch People’s Court with Judge Wapner...).s
Monday, October 26, 2020
I remember when the call came out for operators for the plant and in particular, the notice for 2 Supervising Technicians. Two SuperTechs, Big Bob and Reg had already been moved into that area from Herbicides Plant. They were allowed some say in who was hired for the other 2 spots. One of them went to Randy, formerly from the Chlor-Alkali Plant. When I didn’t apply for the job, I got a phone call telling me that I was selected, and would I please apply if I wanted the job. Basically the job was mine. I was apprehensive because I had just completed my SuperTech relief at EO, pretty well guaranteeing me the job of SuperTech if one came up. The complex was growing, people were moving around, so I knew I wouldn’t have to wait too long.piI took the job. I think it was the fact that it was a new plant, with good potential for remaining, whereas EO was old and possibly too small a producer for the markets that were opening up. I figured that since Herbicides was closing down, EO could be next. Also, new plant meant new knowledge and at this point I was really interested in learning. (In high school, I was so bored, that I would skip classes in the afternoon so I could go home and watch People’s Court with Judge Wapner...).s
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Portable Plant
Since none of the trailers had been delivered yet, all the operators and Supervising Technicians sat in some temporary offices that served as a classroom and took training offered by a couple of guys from our Weston, Ontario, Styro Plant. Getting training this way was not too effective: it was like teaching someone how to drive a car, when they’ve never seen a car in their life. But we lived through it.
Monday, October 26, 2020
The first Styro plant was a portable unit, a complete Styrofoam Plant built on trailers capable of being pulled around from place-to-place by tractor units. The idea was to see if a Styrofoam plant was feasible: something that could be moved around to where the markets were, instead of making the product here and shipping it half way across the world. Then, if a market proved fruitful, a full- scale static plant would be built.Since none of the trailers had been delivered yet, all the operators and Supervising Technicians sat in some temporary offices that served as a classroom and took training offered by a couple of guys from our Weston, Ontario, Styro Plant. Getting training this way was not too effective: it was like teaching someone how to drive a car, when they’ve never seen a car in their life. But we lived through it.
Trailers
We ran this plant for a year, made new markets where there were none before, then started building a new static plant. The portable plant was dismantled to the "trailer-level", (still keeping most of our enhancements) and sent to Abbu Dhabi in Saudi Arabia.
As the startup date for the static plant crept closer and closer (we HAD to start up before the end of the year, for tax purposes) we had about 10 people on each of two 12 hour shifts working without days off for about 1-1/2 months. If someone wanted a day off he could take it, but if he wanted to work, as I did, he worked straight through. Dow paid us overtime for anything past 40 hours in a week, so we essentially were all being paid time and half or double time. I made a whole bunch of money. They also supplied us with catered meals on shift, and breaks when we wanted them. We worked our butts off, but we did it for an appreciative employer who recognized our efforts. After a successful startup, the company took us all out for a dinner at one of the best restaurants in Edmonton.
I used to venture over to the new plant (under construction while we were running the portable plant) every time I was on shift, to see what was going on. I remember huge holes, 3 feet in diameter and 60 feet deep being drilled for piles for the cement floor to be poured. When it rained heavily for one week, these holes, and there were lots of them, were full to the brim with water. It was kind of scary stepping on wet plywood sheets placed around these holes as a temporary floor.
The installers of the metal cladding on the building had slippery fingers, because all around the perimeter of the walls I found hundreds of plastic-coated self-tapping screws. Of course I picked them up and took them home. Even now, 20 years later, I reminisce every time I see the glass jar in my garage with these screws inside.
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
The trailers didn’t all come in one bunch, in fact I think it was the recycle trailer that came first. It was a trailer with a vertical extruder on it and equipment to cool a hot string of plastic then chop it up into little pieces. It also had a large storage bin that held chopped up Styrofoam. When this trailer arrived, it was obvious that it needed work. The trailer had all the equipment on it, but there were electrical connections to be made, water for the water bath, a drain for the water bath, guard rails and such. We had something like 7 trailers total and they came in every other week. I think they were still building the things back in Michigan while we were modifying them for our own needs.We ran this plant for a year, made new markets where there were none before, then started building a new static plant. The portable plant was dismantled to the "trailer-level", (still keeping most of our enhancements) and sent to Abbu Dhabi in Saudi Arabia.
As the startup date for the static plant crept closer and closer (we HAD to start up before the end of the year, for tax purposes) we had about 10 people on each of two 12 hour shifts working without days off for about 1-1/2 months. If someone wanted a day off he could take it, but if he wanted to work, as I did, he worked straight through. Dow paid us overtime for anything past 40 hours in a week, so we essentially were all being paid time and half or double time. I made a whole bunch of money. They also supplied us with catered meals on shift, and breaks when we wanted them. We worked our butts off, but we did it for an appreciative employer who recognized our efforts. After a successful startup, the company took us all out for a dinner at one of the best restaurants in Edmonton.
I used to venture over to the new plant (under construction while we were running the portable plant) every time I was on shift, to see what was going on. I remember huge holes, 3 feet in diameter and 60 feet deep being drilled for piles for the cement floor to be poured. When it rained heavily for one week, these holes, and there were lots of them, were full to the brim with water. It was kind of scary stepping on wet plywood sheets placed around these holes as a temporary floor.
The installers of the metal cladding on the building had slippery fingers, because all around the perimeter of the walls I found hundreds of plastic-coated self-tapping screws. Of course I picked them up and took them home. Even now, 20 years later, I reminisce every time I see the glass jar in my garage with these screws inside.
Fatality
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
The warehouses were built first so that we could continue production with the old plant and have storage space readily available. A fatality occurred in one of these warehouses during construction. A metal worker was working on a girder for the roof of the building which was about 35 feet from the concrete floor. He was wearing a safety line as dictated by the rules, but as he moved, he had to move his line. He reached over and disconnected it on one side of a perpendicular support, then reached again to get the hook on the other side of the same support. In so doing, he over-stretched and fell to his death. This happened on the day shift. I worked night shift that night and got all the details from a very upset SuperTech who had been the first to respond to the incident. When I went to investigate the area, there was a large red stain on the concrete. The man who died was only in his 20’s.
New Plant
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
When the new plant was built, the old plant area was turned into a training center. When I see pictures of the old plant next to the new plant with it’s big warehouses, the area where the portable unit was looks so tiny! It was no wonder then why we had to store the foam outside. We just didn’t have the warehouse space in the portable plant. Styrofoam, like most plastics, deteriorates under sunlight (try telling that to the environmental bleeding hearts), turning from a light blue to a pastel yellow. The colour change also indicates structural change: the yellow parts crumble into dust like termite-infested wood. We had the Styrofoam covered with plastic, for protection from rain but it didn’t offer protection from the sun. Styrofoam is water-proof so I wasn’t sure why it was covered in the first place. The trailers were not anchored to the floor; in fact the wheels were left on to help support the back end of the trailer, with big jacks handling the bulk of the weight. The wiring and the piping had to be flexible so that vibration of the equipment wouldn’t dislodge or break the connections. One night I was sitting at the desk on the production floor near the extruder trailer when a 4 inch rubber hose connecting cooling water to the trailer broke off. At 85 psig, there was more flow than the sewers could handle and the floors rapidly became flooded. When I saw the first wave coming at me from under the trailer, I ran around to see what the problem was, then shut the plant down quickly. Without cooling water we could not produce Styrofoam.
The Mole People
The most obvious solution to connect them was to cut a channel from A to B and put a trough or piece of pipe between them. Well, "they" didn’t want to wreck the cement floor so they came up with a plan to send a "bullet" from one hole to another, creating a channel for the pipe to follow. This bullet looked like a torpedo, was about 3" in diameter and 3 feet long and was driven by compressed air. First they had to dig a hole big enough so they could place the torpedo level within it. Since the desk sat where the hole would be dug, this was deemed appropriate sacrifice of the concrete at this spot. So they jack-hammered a 3 foot square hole, not a very nice one, and dug down in the sand and clay about 2 feet. They were ready for the mole.
First try, the bullet went far enough but it took a left turn and missed the target by 6 feet. They had much difficulty pulling the bullet back, because it was pointy at the front, not the back. This was not the normal direction of flow. How easy does a boat travel backwards?
Second try, the bullet went far enough but it took a right turn and missed the target by 6 feet. Once again it was difficult to retrieve the bullet. One attempt per day is all they could do.
Third try, they were too short, but retrieved the bullet. The problem this time was too little air pressure, which they increased for the next try.
Fourth try, they went too far by 20 feet.
Fifth try, they went short again but were right on target. This time they could not retrieve the bullet, no matter what they did. So....they had to jack-hammer a 3 foot hole in the middle of the floor, 10 feet away from both drains, to rescue the torpedo.
I was off shift for 3 days. When I returned there were 3 patches where 3 holes were dug, and a long narrow patch 6 inches wide that connected all of them together. They had given up with the torpedo idea and just dug the channel out of the cement. It took them about 8 days to do a job that a concrete cutting machine could have done (nicely) in about an hour. Heh heh heh.
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Because we were almost flooded out in this situation, it was obvious we needed more drainage. There was a drain by the extruder trailer, the one mentioned in the previous paragraph. This one was in the middle of a long sump, basically just a trough cut out in the cement, with a metal grating on top. There was another drain, just a floor drain, about 20 feet away from the trailer. These two drains were not connected together and someone came up with the idea to connect them, thereby giving us more draining capacity.The most obvious solution to connect them was to cut a channel from A to B and put a trough or piece of pipe between them. Well, "they" didn’t want to wreck the cement floor so they came up with a plan to send a "bullet" from one hole to another, creating a channel for the pipe to follow. This bullet looked like a torpedo, was about 3" in diameter and 3 feet long and was driven by compressed air. First they had to dig a hole big enough so they could place the torpedo level within it. Since the desk sat where the hole would be dug, this was deemed appropriate sacrifice of the concrete at this spot. So they jack-hammered a 3 foot square hole, not a very nice one, and dug down in the sand and clay about 2 feet. They were ready for the mole.
First try, the bullet went far enough but it took a left turn and missed the target by 6 feet. They had much difficulty pulling the bullet back, because it was pointy at the front, not the back. This was not the normal direction of flow. How easy does a boat travel backwards?
Second try, the bullet went far enough but it took a right turn and missed the target by 6 feet. Once again it was difficult to retrieve the bullet. One attempt per day is all they could do.
Third try, they were too short, but retrieved the bullet. The problem this time was too little air pressure, which they increased for the next try.
Fourth try, they went too far by 20 feet.
Fifth try, they went short again but were right on target. This time they could not retrieve the bullet, no matter what they did. So....they had to jack-hammer a 3 foot hole in the middle of the floor, 10 feet away from both drains, to rescue the torpedo.
I was off shift for 3 days. When I returned there were 3 patches where 3 holes were dug, and a long narrow patch 6 inches wide that connected all of them together. They had given up with the torpedo idea and just dug the channel out of the cement. It took them about 8 days to do a job that a concrete cutting machine could have done (nicely) in about an hour. Heh heh heh.
Learning from Old Plant
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
We learned quite a bit from running the old plant, like safety considerations, operating procedures, what equipment worked and what didn’t. For example for two streams of blowing agent (gases that "puffed up" the styrene into Styrofoam) we had electric control valves instead of the traditional pneumatic valves common in the process industry. These valves had large stepper motors with linear actuators on them that moved up and down, opening or closing the valve. These never worked properly, especially when they were closed. In this position, they would sit in that one spot and slowly shake or vibrate because the motor was still getting a small signal to keep the valve closed. This wore out the valve plug and seats quite rapidly, so that when the valve was supposedly closed it would pass gas into the mixer where the hot styrene was. When the plant was started up, this gas came out in one big blast, blowing up the board, destroying the Teflons, creating havoc. Then too, with worn valve parts we never really knew how much blowing agent we were really adding. When Dow started design of the new plant we insisted that these valves be pneumatic so that the continuous "hunting" for a position wouldn’t happen. With a pneumatic valve, when the valve was closed, the valve WAS closed.
How it is Made
Styrofoam is basically puffed up styrene and styrene is just a type of plastic. It is somewhat distinct from "bead-board" which many people call Styrofoam. Those white peanuts used for packing? That’s bead board. Coffee cups? Beadboard. Insulation for houses and commercial buildings (roofs and walls), and blue? That’s Styrofoam. (When I was making Styrofoam, it was always blue, but I have seen Styrofoam with the Dow trademark on it, that was PINK!)
Bead-board or that white pseudo-styro-stuff is made by blasting beads of styrene with hot steam or air, puffing them up like a popcorn popper does to popcorn, or puffing up rice to make rice cakes. The hot molten plastic is then put into forms like cups, flat board, or packing for your new computer equipment. The stuff you buy in a can and spray into crevices or to make your own packing is a chemical process and is actually urethane foam.
Styrofoam uses two chemicals, called blowing agents, that are mixed in with hot styrene. When the foam comes out of the die, the sudden depressurization causes the gasses to come out of the solid "gel" and in so doing, "foam" the material. Some of the gases stay in the Styrofoam, supposedly for up to 25 years, and this is what gives Styrofoam its strength.
Both types of foam have a cellular structure. Bead board is considered an "open cell" and Styrofoam is "closed cell". The closed cell holds in the gases and under a microscope looks similar to a honeybee’s honeycomb.
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
This is how Styrofoam is made. The techniques are quite well known, but the actual operating parameters are not, so to protect Dow’s patents I won’t divulge any trade secrets. I can’t remember all the exact details anyway.Styrofoam is basically puffed up styrene and styrene is just a type of plastic. It is somewhat distinct from "bead-board" which many people call Styrofoam. Those white peanuts used for packing? That’s bead board. Coffee cups? Beadboard. Insulation for houses and commercial buildings (roofs and walls), and blue? That’s Styrofoam. (When I was making Styrofoam, it was always blue, but I have seen Styrofoam with the Dow trademark on it, that was PINK!)
Bead-board or that white pseudo-styro-stuff is made by blasting beads of styrene with hot steam or air, puffing them up like a popcorn popper does to popcorn, or puffing up rice to make rice cakes. The hot molten plastic is then put into forms like cups, flat board, or packing for your new computer equipment. The stuff you buy in a can and spray into crevices or to make your own packing is a chemical process and is actually urethane foam.
Styrofoam uses two chemicals, called blowing agents, that are mixed in with hot styrene. When the foam comes out of the die, the sudden depressurization causes the gasses to come out of the solid "gel" and in so doing, "foam" the material. Some of the gases stay in the Styrofoam, supposedly for up to 25 years, and this is what gives Styrofoam its strength.
Both types of foam have a cellular structure. Bead board is considered an "open cell" and Styrofoam is "closed cell". The closed cell holds in the gases and under a microscope looks similar to a honeybee’s honeycomb.
Feed the Stock
to fall out.
Similarly, we had a reclaim silo that held previously melted and pelletized Styrofoam that used the same method. Reclaim was about 30% of the total feed stock, styrene about 60% and 10% was additives. The styrene was little clear pellets, while the reclaim, which was concentrated, melted, Styrofoam was a dark blue color..
Moving the reclaim into the plant to the feeders was done with a slightly different method than using cyclones. A "star" valve was a 4 vane gate that turned slowly, admitting a certain amount of material on each turn. This was like those candy vending machines where you turn a crank to open up a port just enough to let a measured amount of candy drop out. In our case though, this was not necessary for measurement, just solids dispensing. A blast of air would push the material out of the star gate and into the feed hoppers on the second floor of the building. This was a continuous process. At times we could be off-loading styrene, and moving the silo contents into the plant hoppers at the same time.
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Styrene beads were imported from the Dow plant in Sarnia, Ontario, and shipped to us in hopper cars. We off-loaded the material using a suction wand connected to a device called a cyclone. This cyclone was a large hopper that had a continuous diameter on top, but an increasingly smaller diameter on the bottom; in other words, cylindrical on top, conical on the bottom. When air containing solids in suspension entered into the top of this thing, the beads would swirl around the inside until they slowed sufficiently to drop out at the bottom. The air, being lighter would exit through the top. So the styrene would be transported right up to the top of the tall styrene storage silo by this method. Really it was a big vacuum cleaner with a hole in the bag for the dust to fall out.
Similarly, we had a reclaim silo that held previously melted and pelletized Styrofoam that used the same method. Reclaim was about 30% of the total feed stock, styrene about 60% and 10% was additives. The styrene was little clear pellets, while the reclaim, which was concentrated, melted, Styrofoam was a dark blue color..
Moving the reclaim into the plant to the feeders was done with a slightly different method than using cyclones. A "star" valve was a 4 vane gate that turned slowly, admitting a certain amount of material on each turn. This was like those candy vending machines where you turn a crank to open up a port just enough to let a measured amount of candy drop out. In our case though, this was not necessary for measurement, just solids dispensing. A blast of air would push the material out of the star gate and into the feed hoppers on the second floor of the building. This was a continuous process. At times we could be off-loading styrene, and moving the silo contents into the plant hoppers at the same time.
Feeding the Masses
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
All feed-stock had a hopper that dropped material onto the drive belt of a "mass-feeder". These high tech devices had a scale under the rotating belt so that it weighed the material and adjusted the speed of the belt accordingly. Full feedback control. If a big clump of matter fell on the belt, the belt would slow down, and conversely, if the hopper outlet became plugged, the feed belt would jump to top speed, to try and match our setpoint for feed required.
Vibrators, Ooohh I'm Tingling Already
Thursday, October 29, 2020
The powdery additives had electric vibrators mounted to the side of the hopper to keep the material from bunching up inside the vessel, instead of flowing freely. Styrene and reclaim which were hard plastic granules flowed quite well unless there was moisture present. The styrene hopper cars all had vibrators mounted on their outlets for just this reason: moisture in the car made the styrene particles stick to each other. Many times, for all feeds, for cars or in-plant hoppers, we would have to beat the hell out of the cars or in-plant hoppers with a sledge hammer to get the feed going again. The vibrators sometimes had the opposite effect: making the powders more dense in the bottom of the hopper. I have since read about a scientific study done about this effect and indeed, vibration packs down solids rather than "loosening" them up.
Fire Retardant
One day management was evaluating vacuum cleaners and floor sweepers and they asked me to go through the trials since I was the SuperTech on shift. The salesman had brought a couple different types and was extolling their virtues when I decided to challenge him. Or his machines. Sure, the machines picked up the usual dirt and dust, and did a good job of reclaim chunks on the floor, but how would it work on FR-651? I poured some on the floor and ran the sweeper over it. Failure! Failure! The machine didn’t pick up on the first pass or the second pass, much to the chagrin and embarrassment of the salesman. My supervisors were happy that I put the machine through it’s paces and found a failure. We eventually got a sweeper that was self-propelled and had a fine enough brush that it would pick up the retarded dust. Self-propelled meant one just had to walk behind it because it had motive power to the wheels. Sometimes a person could sit on the unit and hit the control to get a free ride and sweep the floor at the same time. More than once I sat in my wheeled swivel-chair behind the sweeper and let the machine pull me around.
Another additive was indigo. This was the coloring agent that made the Styrofoam blue, and was itself, purple-colored. This is the same material that is used to make blue-jeans blue. Indigo also affected the cell size of the foam so we had to take into account it’s effect when we added it to the mix, because cell size affected density and R-value. Reclaim already had indigo in it, so if we upped the reclaim, we decreased the indigo. Then, to keep the cell size correct, we modified the flow of another additive that was there just to control cell size.
This dusty concoction was dumped into a small hopper that fed a tube connected to the inlet of the extruder. The extruder was a massive machine and was the heart of the entire process. Basically a big, heavy duty, screw auger, it compressed the chemicals, melting them together in the process. To control the production rate, we varied the speed of the 500 HP DC motor that drove the extruder screw, which in turn varied the feed-rates of the feeders. The extruder barrel was heated with electric heaters so that we could heat the unit up before a startup and melt any material still in the barrel. The outlet of the extruder was double-wall pipe heated with hot oil. This was special pipe that required careful welding, because the oil was at 230 degrees C, and the pressure at the extruder outlet was over 2000 psig.
Thursday, October 29, 2020
One of the additives we mixed in with the styrene and reclaim was a product called FR-651 which was a fire-retardant made by Dow at another plant in the USA. This made the Styrofoam fire-retardant, not fire-proof, but when I put an acetylene torch to a piece, it never caught fire, so I would call it fire-proof. The latter term I think is in reference to an item not being destroyed in a fire, which of course Styrofoam did, by melting. Fire-retardant meant it did not support combustion. This FR-651 was terrible stuff to work with, causing all kinds of skin rashes, was terrible to breathe in, made one’s eyes water. This is when we were wearing the proper safety equipment! It was a very fine dust, smaller particles than flour, and was slippery such that one could actually slip on this material when it was on the floor. It was very difficult to sweep up because of it’s cohesive properties. You would be correct in saying that this material would be one of the most difficult to handle in the hoppers and feeders. One day management was evaluating vacuum cleaners and floor sweepers and they asked me to go through the trials since I was the SuperTech on shift. The salesman had brought a couple different types and was extolling their virtues when I decided to challenge him. Or his machines. Sure, the machines picked up the usual dirt and dust, and did a good job of reclaim chunks on the floor, but how would it work on FR-651? I poured some on the floor and ran the sweeper over it. Failure! Failure! The machine didn’t pick up on the first pass or the second pass, much to the chagrin and embarrassment of the salesman. My supervisors were happy that I put the machine through it’s paces and found a failure. We eventually got a sweeper that was self-propelled and had a fine enough brush that it would pick up the retarded dust. Self-propelled meant one just had to walk behind it because it had motive power to the wheels. Sometimes a person could sit on the unit and hit the control to get a free ride and sweep the floor at the same time. More than once I sat in my wheeled swivel-chair behind the sweeper and let the machine pull me around.
Another additive was indigo. This was the coloring agent that made the Styrofoam blue, and was itself, purple-colored. This is the same material that is used to make blue-jeans blue. Indigo also affected the cell size of the foam so we had to take into account it’s effect when we added it to the mix, because cell size affected density and R-value. Reclaim already had indigo in it, so if we upped the reclaim, we decreased the indigo. Then, to keep the cell size correct, we modified the flow of another additive that was there just to control cell size.
This dusty concoction was dumped into a small hopper that fed a tube connected to the inlet of the extruder. The extruder was a massive machine and was the heart of the entire process. Basically a big, heavy duty, screw auger, it compressed the chemicals, melting them together in the process. To control the production rate, we varied the speed of the 500 HP DC motor that drove the extruder screw, which in turn varied the feed-rates of the feeders. The extruder barrel was heated with electric heaters so that we could heat the unit up before a startup and melt any material still in the barrel. The outlet of the extruder was double-wall pipe heated with hot oil. This was special pipe that required careful welding, because the oil was at 230 degrees C, and the pressure at the extruder outlet was over 2000 psig.
Pipe Puzzle
Thursday, October 29, 2020
When the new plant was built, all the engineering and pipe fabricating was done off site and the parts were shipped to the plant site for us to put them together. The extruder and spline mixer were put in place, and two sections of the special double-walled pipe were attached on each machine. The pieces were supposed to meet in the middle where they would be attached to each other. They didn’t. In fact, they didn’t, they didn’t, they didn’t: the pipes were out of alignment in all 3 planes! Because of time constraints, it was decided to rebuild the pipe right there, using our own engineers and welders, rather than send the pipe back for re-work. Our guys did a formidable job because they built it right the first time, and that pipe stayed in there for the 5 years I ran the plant.
Hot OIl
Oil also circulated around the spline mixer which took the molten plastic, called gel, and mixed it with blowing agent, injected at high pressure of about 2500 psig. The mixer looked like a big section of 24" pipe, but at either end one could see pieces that were rotating in the center of the vessel. This was the splined mixer shaft. (The mixer was always called the spline mixer, never just "mixer"). To keep the hot gel from pushing out between the moving parts and the stationary parts, we employed special seals that were water-cooled. This froze the gel into hard plastic.
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Dealing with hot oil could have been a dangerous task, but there were enough controls and safeguards that it never became a problem. It was pretty well all self-enclosed and because of the necessary preparations made to keep it leak-proof, we never experienced leaks, spills, or accidents. Occasionally the oil temperature would be set too high, like around 235 deg C. and the oil would begin to smoke but that was as bad as it ever got.Oil also circulated around the spline mixer which took the molten plastic, called gel, and mixed it with blowing agent, injected at high pressure of about 2500 psig. The mixer looked like a big section of 24" pipe, but at either end one could see pieces that were rotating in the center of the vessel. This was the splined mixer shaft. (The mixer was always called the spline mixer, never just "mixer"). To keep the hot gel from pushing out between the moving parts and the stationary parts, we employed special seals that were water-cooled. This froze the gel into hard plastic.
Because I'm Blind, I Broke the Spline
The gel, with blowing agent mixed in with it was then sent to special plate coolers. This was the essence of Dow’s patents, these coolers, and the reason other competitors couldn’t duplicate our methods. We were told basically how they worked but were never shown any diagrams of how they were really built. (Although one night shift I snuck into the foreman’s office and found the plans.) They were special because they cooled the gel very evenly so that there were no hot-spots which would have created density zones in the board. The last "flat-plate cooler", the 3rd in the series was the most important. Here we had to control the gel temperature within 1 degree C or better just before it exited the die.
Thursday, October 29, 2020
One day in the old plant, I screwed up royally with these seals. After a plant shutdown when the spline mixer was not running, the cooling water to the seals would be shut-off so that the heat from the hot oil would heat the seal, allowing for startup of the mixer. If the seal was too cold and brittle, the mixer would not start because of the friction created by this solid plug. On this day, I had shutdown all the equipment, but since startup was now imminent, I turned the water off the seal. Since this was more or less standard operating procedure, I never mentioned it to the on-coming shift. Well, the SuperTech coming on shift didn’t start up until a couple of hours after I thought he would, and he started up thinking the water was still on the seal. When he put the full 2000 psig pressure on the end of the mixer, the gel came squirting out, making one hell of a mess. He turned the water onto the seal but it was to no avail: the seal just kept leaking. He had to shut the plant down so the millwrights could pull the seal out and replace it. This was a major job and took a couple man-days to complete. I was taken on the rug, but defended my actions as I have done here. However, my lack of communication still put me behind the eight ball. I screwed up.The gel, with blowing agent mixed in with it was then sent to special plate coolers. This was the essence of Dow’s patents, these coolers, and the reason other competitors couldn’t duplicate our methods. We were told basically how they worked but were never shown any diagrams of how they were really built. (Although one night shift I snuck into the foreman’s office and found the plans.) They were special because they cooled the gel very evenly so that there were no hot-spots which would have created density zones in the board. The last "flat-plate cooler", the 3rd in the series was the most important. Here we had to control the gel temperature within 1 degree C or better just before it exited the die.
A Board to Die For
The gel coming out of the die immediately foamed up, making a low frequency buzzing sound. Of the two blowing agent gases, one came out of the board immediately and was sucked away by a large overhead fan hooked up to a hood. This was the methyl chloride. The freon stayed in the board to form the cell structure. As the foam progressed out of the plates, it encountered another much larger, not adjustable flat plate, followed by a 6-foot long piece of metal conveyor rollers that prevented the foam from looping at that point. The rollers rolled on top of the foam, and in an emergency like a foam loop between the plates and this section, could be lifted in ½ second by tripping an air valve. This would allow us immediate access to the area to clear the mess. The SuperTechs had to measure the board numerous times in a shift right at that point, between the flat plate and the upper conveyor. A few times I got the measuring tape stuck and it went under the conveyor for it’s full length of 6 feet getting crushed into the hot foam. The emergency trip to lift the conveyor could have been used, but this could have caused a "loop" and it wasn’t worth the hassle. Now if that would have been my arm under there, that would have been a different story!
Thursday, October 29, 2020
The die was about 16" wide, for making 24" board. It could be smaller in width because of the expected expansion on exit. (I did that on purpose so I could have 3 words in a row with X in them..). The die was hard chrome and had to be perfectly flat, not only to create flat board, but also to keep the gel pressure up if we closed the die completely off. There was a top and bottom piece of the die, the top being the moveable section. On either side were the "shoes", big aluminum (for weight considerations) wedges covered with Teflon to guide the Styrofoam out of the gate. These were fixed and not adjustable, and could not be pulled out when there was material coming out of the die. There were also upper and lower plates that were adjustable. To open the die we had a large wheel, not as big as that on a ship, but similar in looks. Mounted somewhere on the moveable die was a dial indicator that read in thousandths of an inch. A typical die opening for making a 2-inch thick board was about 0.125" (an eighth of an inch).The gel coming out of the die immediately foamed up, making a low frequency buzzing sound. Of the two blowing agent gases, one came out of the board immediately and was sucked away by a large overhead fan hooked up to a hood. This was the methyl chloride. The freon stayed in the board to form the cell structure. As the foam progressed out of the plates, it encountered another much larger, not adjustable flat plate, followed by a 6-foot long piece of metal conveyor rollers that prevented the foam from looping at that point. The rollers rolled on top of the foam, and in an emergency like a foam loop between the plates and this section, could be lifted in ½ second by tripping an air valve. This would allow us immediate access to the area to clear the mess. The SuperTechs had to measure the board numerous times in a shift right at that point, between the flat plate and the upper conveyor. A few times I got the measuring tape stuck and it went under the conveyor for it’s full length of 6 feet getting crushed into the hot foam. The emergency trip to lift the conveyor could have been used, but this could have caused a "loop" and it wasn’t worth the hassle. Now if that would have been my arm under there, that would have been a different story!
Loop de Loop
At this point it was one long board of Styrofoam. The foam was pulled into the sawline by 4 air-craft tires riding on the top of the board. These were adjustable as well, so we could apply different pressure for different boards. The speed of the draw, that is, of the motor pulling the foam, was adjustable at the die end by the SuperTech. By pulling it faster, we stretched the board, making it slightly thinner and narrower. By slowing it down, the board got wider. This is how we roughly controlled the width of the board. I say "roughly" because the sawline would do the final trim to exactly the right size. If we slowed the draw-rollers down too much, the foam would bunch up near the flat plates and the board would loop. It wasn’t unusual for the board to loop 30 feet into the air before someone noticed it, or it fell over sideways onto the floor like Charlie Chaplin in those silent movies.
Occasionally, if the pull by the tires was steady enough I would jump up on the conveyor and sit on the warm board for a ride to the other end. Only a few times did this cause a loop and to much disdain and disgust from my operators who had to handle the loop.
When a loop occurred, whoever noticed it first would sound an alarm, and a bunch of doors would suddenly open, like some game show or slapstick comedy, and a forklift would come racing in from the warehouse. All these guys running with a sharp knife in their hand like they are going to attack Frankenstein, converging before and after the loop to cut out the non-flat part. Quite humorous at times. When this was done, the piece still coming out of the die was guided back into the rollers. The long cut out piece was cut into manageable chunks of say 20 feet long, and dragged to the Styrofoam shredder for recycle. I had upsets that were so bad that we couldn’t clean the floor off fast enough and had to shut down the plant to do so! We’re talking about 3000 or 4000 square feet of concrete floor totally obliterated with bent, twisted, off-spec Styrofoam. Even if it was on-spec, we would recycle it; there was no provision for running it through the saw-line, nor was it worth the effort. If the foam was straight enough we could chop it up and put it on pallets, store it in the warehouse, then retrieve it when we needed more reclaim.
We had a number of alarms, five I think, for different areas, so that by sound alone we could determine where the problem was. Each would be triggered automatically by jam-ups or time-outs, and they could also be manually triggered. One such alarm was the one by the control room that I would use to signal operators for various tasks. It was quite noisy in the plant so phones were not that effective on the plant floor. I would give one big blast to signal a loop or jam-up. Two short blasts meant attention, e.g. start-up is imminent, or I need a sample. My job was to keep the Styrofoam on spec, and if it ever went off spec, or if I had changed a particular feed rate, analysis was necessary about every 15 minutes. Once I gave the attention signal the operator would look my way and I would then resort to hand signals. We became quite good at communication this way. We had hand signals for "check density", "check cell size", "there’s a piece of crap in the board that has to be carved out". For the last example I think I pointed at the board, then pretended to throw up. I had other signals for "board too wide" or "board too narrow". A board that was too wide would jam up at the entrance to the sawline, causing a loop, so the operator had to trim the edge with his knife before that happened. Too narrow a board meant the board would miss the cutters and therefore was scrap. Better to see it now and take the boards off now, than after they were strapped and palletized.
Sunday, November 08, 2020
AAhh. Looping. I remember it well. This was an effect where the soft board would suddenly have tension removed at one end, causing it to loop up in the air. Sometimes putting the upper conveyor down, or raising it would cause this to happen. Changing the angle of the flat plates near the die could have the same effect. Hell, more than once, just spreading an arm across the moving board so I could measure it’s width would cause a loop. This board traveled down a conveyor about 100 feet to the sawline.At this point it was one long board of Styrofoam. The foam was pulled into the sawline by 4 air-craft tires riding on the top of the board. These were adjustable as well, so we could apply different pressure for different boards. The speed of the draw, that is, of the motor pulling the foam, was adjustable at the die end by the SuperTech. By pulling it faster, we stretched the board, making it slightly thinner and narrower. By slowing it down, the board got wider. This is how we roughly controlled the width of the board. I say "roughly" because the sawline would do the final trim to exactly the right size. If we slowed the draw-rollers down too much, the foam would bunch up near the flat plates and the board would loop. It wasn’t unusual for the board to loop 30 feet into the air before someone noticed it, or it fell over sideways onto the floor like Charlie Chaplin in those silent movies.
Occasionally, if the pull by the tires was steady enough I would jump up on the conveyor and sit on the warm board for a ride to the other end. Only a few times did this cause a loop and to much disdain and disgust from my operators who had to handle the loop.
When a loop occurred, whoever noticed it first would sound an alarm, and a bunch of doors would suddenly open, like some game show or slapstick comedy, and a forklift would come racing in from the warehouse. All these guys running with a sharp knife in their hand like they are going to attack Frankenstein, converging before and after the loop to cut out the non-flat part. Quite humorous at times. When this was done, the piece still coming out of the die was guided back into the rollers. The long cut out piece was cut into manageable chunks of say 20 feet long, and dragged to the Styrofoam shredder for recycle. I had upsets that were so bad that we couldn’t clean the floor off fast enough and had to shut down the plant to do so! We’re talking about 3000 or 4000 square feet of concrete floor totally obliterated with bent, twisted, off-spec Styrofoam. Even if it was on-spec, we would recycle it; there was no provision for running it through the saw-line, nor was it worth the effort. If the foam was straight enough we could chop it up and put it on pallets, store it in the warehouse, then retrieve it when we needed more reclaim.
We had a number of alarms, five I think, for different areas, so that by sound alone we could determine where the problem was. Each would be triggered automatically by jam-ups or time-outs, and they could also be manually triggered. One such alarm was the one by the control room that I would use to signal operators for various tasks. It was quite noisy in the plant so phones were not that effective on the plant floor. I would give one big blast to signal a loop or jam-up. Two short blasts meant attention, e.g. start-up is imminent, or I need a sample. My job was to keep the Styrofoam on spec, and if it ever went off spec, or if I had changed a particular feed rate, analysis was necessary about every 15 minutes. Once I gave the attention signal the operator would look my way and I would then resort to hand signals. We became quite good at communication this way. We had hand signals for "check density", "check cell size", "there’s a piece of crap in the board that has to be carved out". For the last example I think I pointed at the board, then pretended to throw up. I had other signals for "board too wide" or "board too narrow". A board that was too wide would jam up at the entrance to the sawline, causing a loop, so the operator had to trim the edge with his knife before that happened. Too narrow a board meant the board would miss the cutters and therefore was scrap. Better to see it now and take the boards off now, than after they were strapped and palletized.
Shreddies
The shredder was a monstrous machine, the equivalent of a Great White Shark or Grizzly in the mechanical world. The unit was a solid steel drum with large, very sharp claws mounted on it called appropriately enough, "bear claws". As the drum rotated rapidly from the force of a 100 horsepower electric motor, the claws would dig into the foam and force it through a tough metal screen. Small pellets about ½" in diameter would fall out of the screen and get sucked up by a cyclone into the recycle bin. This bin had a large paddle inside to keep the foam chips from settling or forming bridges that would hold the foam up.
The shredder was a machine that could chew up a human body as well as it did the foam. Because of that, many safeguards were in place to prevent such a situation. As a standard there were emergency stop buttons on the outside of the conveyor feeding the shredder. The shredder itself, because it generated so much noise during operation, was set inside a sound-proof room, with thick plastic flaps allowing the boards to enter from the conveyor. To get into the room required a key, and once this key was turned, it would shut off AC power and turn on the DC brakes for the shredder motor. This would stop the motor quickly. A time-out feature would then be employed to make sure the brakes had enough time to stop the motor, after which the door was able to be opened. When the cover was opened to the bear claw drum, another switch was activated that removed power once again, so that even if a person were locked in the enclosure, with the cover up, the machine would not start.
Have you ever taken your kids to McDonalds and let them play in the caged area with all those colored balls? At Styro, we would have situations that were quite similar! One day the 10 foot by 10 foot room that the shredder was in became filled halfway up the walls with shredded foam when the cyclone became plugged. We had a hose inside the enclosure, so once the cyclone was running again, we could just suck up the room contents like we were using a big vacuum cleaner.
Sunday, November 08, 2020
The foam that went to the shredder had to be clean. If there was any wood from a pallet stuck in a piece of foam, it ended up in the reclaim. Then it went through the process and could get stuck in the die. Same could be said of dirt and rocks. So we had to keep the floors fairly clean. Night shift typically swept and washed the floors, broken pallets were set aside, not to be used until repaired.The shredder was a monstrous machine, the equivalent of a Great White Shark or Grizzly in the mechanical world. The unit was a solid steel drum with large, very sharp claws mounted on it called appropriately enough, "bear claws". As the drum rotated rapidly from the force of a 100 horsepower electric motor, the claws would dig into the foam and force it through a tough metal screen. Small pellets about ½" in diameter would fall out of the screen and get sucked up by a cyclone into the recycle bin. This bin had a large paddle inside to keep the foam chips from settling or forming bridges that would hold the foam up.
The shredder was a machine that could chew up a human body as well as it did the foam. Because of that, many safeguards were in place to prevent such a situation. As a standard there were emergency stop buttons on the outside of the conveyor feeding the shredder. The shredder itself, because it generated so much noise during operation, was set inside a sound-proof room, with thick plastic flaps allowing the boards to enter from the conveyor. To get into the room required a key, and once this key was turned, it would shut off AC power and turn on the DC brakes for the shredder motor. This would stop the motor quickly. A time-out feature would then be employed to make sure the brakes had enough time to stop the motor, after which the door was able to be opened. When the cover was opened to the bear claw drum, another switch was activated that removed power once again, so that even if a person were locked in the enclosure, with the cover up, the machine would not start.
Have you ever taken your kids to McDonalds and let them play in the caged area with all those colored balls? At Styro, we would have situations that were quite similar! One day the 10 foot by 10 foot room that the shredder was in became filled halfway up the walls with shredded foam when the cyclone became plugged. We had a hose inside the enclosure, so once the cyclone was running again, we could just suck up the room contents like we were using a big vacuum cleaner.
Don't Step on the Cow Patties
If dirt got caught in the die, and since this was recycled foam this was always a certainty, one or more strings would fall out and make little patties. If left too long, or if the entire strand collapsed because of strings falling and pulling on them, then it could make a BIG pattie. I saw some that were the size of a desk, and about 6" thick, so big that we almost couldn’t extract it from under the extruder because it flowed around the legs of the water bath, like some kind of lava. These would take many days to cool. Patties were allowed to cool for several hours so that they would harden into dense, brittle plastic. If they were big patties, they would be broken up into manageable chunks with a sledge hammer, then stored in barrels. Small ones were simply thrown in. These were then taken over to the pattie grinder where they were ground up into chips about the same size as the chocolate ones in Mr. Christie cookies. This reclaim was sucked up by the same cyclone as the pelletizer output. The pattie grinder shared the room with the Styrofoam shredder. We didn’t waste anything. This was such a neat process, almost nothing went to landfill, except for broken pallets or pieces of them.
Sunday, November 08, 2020
From the recycle bin, the foam dropped into the top of the reclaim extruder. Here the foam was compressed, heated and melted and allowed to exit the die as a strand of 8 separate strings of melted plastic. Allowed to fall on the floor just under the die would create a hot plastic pile called a "pattie" because of it’s similarity to cow patties out in the field! However this wasn’t normal operating practice; the strand was normally strung through an eight foot water bath where it was cooled and made very brittle. The end of the strand was then fed into the pelletizer which ground the strand up into small pellets like the styrene pellets. Just before it entered this grinder, a hot, very strong blast of air would strip the water off the strand so that the pellets would be dry, and transportable. Once again, a cyclone sucked up the pellets and dropped them off in the reclaim silo. By adjusting the extruder and bath temperatures, one could get just the perfect strand that was soft at the beginning and just brittle enough at the other end to get ground properly.If dirt got caught in the die, and since this was recycled foam this was always a certainty, one or more strings would fall out and make little patties. If left too long, or if the entire strand collapsed because of strings falling and pulling on them, then it could make a BIG pattie. I saw some that were the size of a desk, and about 6" thick, so big that we almost couldn’t extract it from under the extruder because it flowed around the legs of the water bath, like some kind of lava. These would take many days to cool. Patties were allowed to cool for several hours so that they would harden into dense, brittle plastic. If they were big patties, they would be broken up into manageable chunks with a sledge hammer, then stored in barrels. Small ones were simply thrown in. These were then taken over to the pattie grinder where they were ground up into chips about the same size as the chocolate ones in Mr. Christie cookies. This reclaim was sucked up by the same cyclone as the pelletizer output. The pattie grinder shared the room with the Styrofoam shredder. We didn’t waste anything. This was such a neat process, almost nothing went to landfill, except for broken pallets or pieces of them.
Playing the Strand
Since it was hot (200 deg C) and sticky, one could not use gloves, but had to use bare hands. The trick was to wet your hands first, grab the strand and plunge it underwater immediately, all the while pulling it gently and consistently through the trough. The trough had two barriers in it, like the barrier in a wall-paper water box, to keep the strand below the surface of the water, so stringing it out took a little bit of two-hand dexterity. A few times even a pro like myself had to do it more than once. If the bath temperature or extruder temperature were not right, the strand just would not flow, or it would be so brittle that as it tried to make the last bend just before entering the grinder, it would break right at that point. The graphic at right shows the process. Our extruder was vertical and rather than wind the strand, we chopped it up into little bits.
Sunday, November 08, 2020
Getting the hot strand going again took a little practice initially to develop a technique.Since it was hot (200 deg C) and sticky, one could not use gloves, but had to use bare hands. The trick was to wet your hands first, grab the strand and plunge it underwater immediately, all the while pulling it gently and consistently through the trough. The trough had two barriers in it, like the barrier in a wall-paper water box, to keep the strand below the surface of the water, so stringing it out took a little bit of two-hand dexterity. A few times even a pro like myself had to do it more than once. If the bath temperature or extruder temperature were not right, the strand just would not flow, or it would be so brittle that as it tried to make the last bend just before entering the grinder, it would break right at that point. The graphic at right shows the process. Our extruder was vertical and rather than wind the strand, we chopped it up into little bits.
Now That your Mine, I Saw the Line
Sunday, November 08, 2020
The sawline took the long continuous board that was coming out of the die and chopped it up into 8 or 4 foot lengths, whose sides were then trimmed. We could do a straight flush cut so the Styrofoam, when installed, would simply be butted together or a "ship-lap" cut where the foam had an off-set edge on both sides that would overlap each other when installed. The saws used for the edges were large massive cylinders with many tiny teeth on the surface that cut the board smoothly without tearing. The cut-off saw that cut the boards to rough length was like a big bread knife: it was reciprocating and moved to and fro at the same speed that the foam line was moving so that it could cut the board without binding.
What a Cool Tower
Sunday, November 08, 2020
The boards then went to a cooling tower, a huge piece of machinery that accepted about 50 boards, one board at a time. It was built like a Ferris wheel, with each "car" taking one board. The Styrofoam at this point was still hot in the middle, making it difficult to trim properly, or even stack properly because the boards would stick together. The tower was designed to give the boards enough time to cool. If the board was real thin, this tower appeared to rotate almost continuous, but then the board was thin, not requiring much cooling. If the board was thick, say 3-1/2", the thickest we made, it would rotate much slower because it required lots of cooling. One night shift a large bearing that supported the bottom shaft of the tower broke and the whole tower stopped. It wasn’t possible to keep the plant running because all the boards would have had to be removed just after cutting to rough length, and we couldn’t stack them on a pallet without them sticking together. So I shut down the plant at about 3 AM and called out a millwright. It took him and the other millwright who came in at 8 AM all day to fix it. This was unfortunate because that meant I would start up the plant that evening. (I hated startups, not because of the work involved, but because it was tough not to make scrap for many hours, and I hated making scrap. The longer the plant was down, the better the chance that good board would not be made for hours.) There was a fairly long process lag, or latency, i.e. from the time a process change was made to the time it affected the output was about 10-15 minutes, depending on production rate.
My Grade 7 Teacher was a Strapper Too
Friday, November 27, 2020
After the pile was cut, it dropped down to a waiting conveyor that could be operated continuously or single step. The pile changed direction and was sent to the strapper that put tough plastic straps on the ends of the bundles. We only called the grouping a "bundle" after it was tied together, before that it was just loose pieces of Styrofoam. This strapper was always breaking down. It was a complicated piece of machinery that basically had to wrap a strap completely around the foam pieces, then cut-off and seal the ends of the strap. The biggest problem was plastic dust or small pieces of strapping that would jam up the mechanism that did the cutting and sealing. The conveyor that was just before this machine could be put on single-step to allow us some latency so we could fix the strapper. If we couldn’t and the outlet conveyor filled up, then operators would have to take the loose pieces off and stack them on a pallet for strapping later on. This was a pain. After a number of years operating like this, the plant purchased another strapper, and put both of them on wheels so we could just do a swap, and work on the broken one at a later time. The problems weren’t always easy to fix, requiring the services of a millwright, but this method allowed us to keep running and not have to call out a millwright in the middle of the night.
Palltetizer
The palletizer which we obtained for the new plant was a huge piece of equipment, operated by a PLC (programmable logic controller), that interfaced to a hydraulic system. When an 8 foot bundle, or pair of 4 foot bundles entered the palletizer, they were elevated to the top of the palletizer where large forks pushed them from the conveyor to a flat, metal bed the size of a pallet. The fork would return to repeat this event for the next bundle. When the table was full, three 8-foot-bundles-worth, the table would drop by the height of a bundle, ready for another stack. When the table was full, it moved laterally over the stack of empty pallets where the load was deposited by a gate coming down to stop the foam as the table returned to it’s position. The loaded pallet was supported by large hydraulically operated forks that entered on both sides, and these in turn were connected to large cylinders that moved the entire system up and down. When the pallet was fully loaded with foam the cylinders would drop to the bottom, allowing the pallet to sit on an angled roller conveyor. The forks would come out and the pallet would roll down the conveyor ready to be picked up by the operator sitting on the forklift, reading a book. Yes, the palletizer sure saved a lot of manual labor. Being interested in machinery, I used to watch all this automated equipment in amazement. It was so well designed.
Friday, November 27, 2020
After strapping, the bundles moved down a 20 foot piece of roller conveyor (that is, a non-powered conveyor) and were allowed into the palletizer. In the old plant we didn’t have a palletizer and operators had to take the bundles off the conveyor and manually place them on a pallet that was 8 feet long by 10 feet wide. He had to pile them 8 feet high, then used the forklift to take the pallet to the warehouse. When he returned, he had a conveyor full of bundles to be palletized. If he was real late, the bundles could be backed up through the strapper back to the outlet conveyor.The palletizer which we obtained for the new plant was a huge piece of equipment, operated by a PLC (programmable logic controller), that interfaced to a hydraulic system. When an 8 foot bundle, or pair of 4 foot bundles entered the palletizer, they were elevated to the top of the palletizer where large forks pushed them from the conveyor to a flat, metal bed the size of a pallet. The fork would return to repeat this event for the next bundle. When the table was full, three 8-foot-bundles-worth, the table would drop by the height of a bundle, ready for another stack. When the table was full, it moved laterally over the stack of empty pallets where the load was deposited by a gate coming down to stop the foam as the table returned to it’s position. The loaded pallet was supported by large hydraulically operated forks that entered on both sides, and these in turn were connected to large cylinders that moved the entire system up and down. When the pallet was fully loaded with foam the cylinders would drop to the bottom, allowing the pallet to sit on an angled roller conveyor. The forks would come out and the pallet would roll down the conveyor ready to be picked up by the operator sitting on the forklift, reading a book. Yes, the palletizer sure saved a lot of manual labor. Being interested in machinery, I used to watch all this automated equipment in amazement. It was so well designed.
Safety
Besides running the saw-line on manual using all the photocells the interlocks and PLC control, we could switch any section for full manual control. For example, every step of the complex palletizer was capable of being accomplished by pressing individual buttons. On the palletizer, this was quite necessary to have because of the pallets we used. They weren’t always the same thickness of boards. They weren’t always in good shape, with pieces broken off and hanging by a bent nail. The photocells sometimes went out of alignment. All these things usually meant some kind of jam-up, making it necessary for us to clear the jam by "jogging" the various systems. After fixing the problem we would switch it over to automatic, ready to switch back to manual if we saw an impending problem. If it worked on auto for a couple passes, we knew it would be okay.
em ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Friday, November 27, 2020
All of the equipment was interlocked with others so that jam-ups could not occur. Many photocells determined the position of the board or bundle at all times, shutting off conveyors or motors until any back-log was cleared. However there was a limit to how long we could spend in any one area before we had to resort to manual control, like stacking boards by hand. But the conveyors were long enough that it gave us some capacity for fixing minor problems without having to do that. If a problem was serious enough (like the cooling tower was ) we would have to shut down.orBesides running the saw-line on manual using all the photocells the interlocks and PLC control, we could switch any section for full manual control. For example, every step of the complex palletizer was capable of being accomplished by pressing individual buttons. On the palletizer, this was quite necessary to have because of the pallets we used. They weren’t always the same thickness of boards. They weren’t always in good shape, with pieces broken off and hanging by a bent nail. The photocells sometimes went out of alignment. All these things usually meant some kind of jam-up, making it necessary for us to clear the jam by "jogging" the various systems. After fixing the problem we would switch it over to automatic, ready to switch back to manual if we saw an impending problem. If it worked on auto for a couple passes, we knew it would be okay.
em ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Testing and Quality Control
We had a thickness monitor there as well. Of all the specs we had to watch, density was the most important, so in the old plant that did not have a densitometer, we would do an analysis minimum every hour. During startup, an upset, or a production rate change, we could do these continuously, until we reached spec. With the densitometer, we could read the value continuously, but still, for a record, do the analysis every hour. This was an easy test: cut a block of Styrofoam from a board off the line, measure the exact dimensions, then weigh it on a very sensitive scale. Doing some simple math gave us the density in pounds per cubic foot. I think our spec was 1.5 lb./cu.ft. There was nothing wrong with the value higher than that (denser), but it meant we were giving extra product away. If it was less, then the compression strength wouldn't be there, so we tried to keep it over 1.5. A sample of 1.45 was just passable if we made immediate corrections, i.e. we were not allowed to make a bunch at that value. All pallets that went into the warehouse had information on it that included the density value.
Another test that we performed "once in awhile" was the R-value test. We would cut a 4" square piece of foam and put it in an oven with a temperature sensor on one side. Measuring how fast the heat moved from one side to the next was a indication of R-value, or the insulation value of the foam. Styrofoam was superior to all other insulations in this regard; it had an R-value of 5 per inch. Nothing else comes close. Well, maybe the insulating tiles on the Space Shuttle would, but who wants to pay $1000 per tile? Besides, they'd probably fall off your roof.
We did a compression test, once in awhile. (I think the "once-in-awhiles" were really every day-shift, that is once a day, day-shift only). Here we subjected a piece of foam to a manual press and measured the deflection using a dial indicator.
Another very important test was for cell size. This test was fraught with error and required much skill to perform. A small block of foam was cut out of a board and a section was shaved off using a commercial meat-slicer. The thinner we made the slice, the more accurate the cell count would be, but trying to get it thin with the WRONG piece of equipment was very difficult. I say "wrong" because I know that medical labs can slice human tissue by cell thickness using the right equipment, e.g. a microtome. (In fact, having just undergone a laser eye operation, I know the equipment exists to slice small sections of the cornea, as was done to me). After we sliced the sample in this crude fashion we put it under a microscope and counted the number of cells to determine cell size. I think the units in tenths of a millimeter as in "the cell size is .31 mm." (C'mon man, it's been 20 years, I can't remember everything!)
Friday, November 27, 2020
We had a small, non-chemical lab where we did product testing. In the new plant we had a radio-active densitometer that measured the density of the board as the board passed above it on the long cooling conveyor. When the board wasn't passing over the densitometer, a little shutter was triggered that covered the radioactive source to keep it away from personnel. Well, ever the experimenter and VERY curious of WHY we needed the shutter, I defeated the trigger mechanism to keep the shutter open. Then I looked inside. Nothing to see. No green rays or anything. I think I was hoping the radiation would give me super powers like The Green Hornet, or Spiderman. (My last eye examination pointed out the need for -8.5 diopter correction, which means lenses the size of Coke bottle bases.)We had a thickness monitor there as well. Of all the specs we had to watch, density was the most important, so in the old plant that did not have a densitometer, we would do an analysis minimum every hour. During startup, an upset, or a production rate change, we could do these continuously, until we reached spec. With the densitometer, we could read the value continuously, but still, for a record, do the analysis every hour. This was an easy test: cut a block of Styrofoam from a board off the line, measure the exact dimensions, then weigh it on a very sensitive scale. Doing some simple math gave us the density in pounds per cubic foot. I think our spec was 1.5 lb./cu.ft. There was nothing wrong with the value higher than that (denser), but it meant we were giving extra product away. If it was less, then the compression strength wouldn't be there, so we tried to keep it over 1.5. A sample of 1.45 was just passable if we made immediate corrections, i.e. we were not allowed to make a bunch at that value. All pallets that went into the warehouse had information on it that included the density value.
Another test that we performed "once in awhile" was the R-value test. We would cut a 4" square piece of foam and put it in an oven with a temperature sensor on one side. Measuring how fast the heat moved from one side to the next was a indication of R-value, or the insulation value of the foam. Styrofoam was superior to all other insulations in this regard; it had an R-value of 5 per inch. Nothing else comes close. Well, maybe the insulating tiles on the Space Shuttle would, but who wants to pay $1000 per tile? Besides, they'd probably fall off your roof.
We did a compression test, once in awhile. (I think the "once-in-awhiles" were really every day-shift, that is once a day, day-shift only). Here we subjected a piece of foam to a manual press and measured the deflection using a dial indicator.
Another very important test was for cell size. This test was fraught with error and required much skill to perform. A small block of foam was cut out of a board and a section was shaved off using a commercial meat-slicer. The thinner we made the slice, the more accurate the cell count would be, but trying to get it thin with the WRONG piece of equipment was very difficult. I say "wrong" because I know that medical labs can slice human tissue by cell thickness using the right equipment, e.g. a microtome. (In fact, having just undergone a laser eye operation, I know the equipment exists to slice small sections of the cornea, as was done to me). After we sliced the sample in this crude fashion we put it under a microscope and counted the number of cells to determine cell size. I think the units in tenths of a millimeter as in "the cell size is .31 mm." (C'mon man, it's been 20 years, I can't remember everything!)
Big Bertha
Friday, November 27, 2020
The startup of the both plants (the small portable and then the larger fixed plant) each produced a big ball of crud that we named Big Bertha, and I do believe Reg took both of them home for souvenirs. (He lived on an acreage). Because all the piping was new and could contain all kinds of foreign material like grease, oil, pieces of metal, or Jimmy Hoffa, we purged the system with polyethylene plastic first followed by styrene. I think there may have been some kind of lubricant mixed in with the whole she-bang. Like giving castor oil to your cat with the hairball. In any case, when this gross conflagration exited through the wide open die, operators stood by and stuck all the stuff together forming it into a big ball like they were making bread dough. This ball was about 4 or 5 feet in diameter. Reggie probably uses the Berthas for a tourist attraction. Phone him up and see.
Ear Muffs in Summer?
All the saws were enclosed in sound-proof enclosures, not for the safety considerations (although they did provide this function), but in order to cut down the noise. These were metal boxes with the inside panels full of little holes, the outside very solid. In between the 4 inch walls was Fiberglass insulation. Yes, competitor product. Of course the board had to enter and exit these enclosures, and despite the heavy plastic sheeting acting as "doors", there was still sufficient noise to warrant wearing hearing protection. All the operators, including myself had head phones attached to our hard hats.
Friday, November 27, 2020
It was noisy in the plant, with all the fans, cyclones and saws running. In the old plant there wasn’t as much noise control because the plant was meant to be portable. In fact, the "control room" wasn’t even a room. The SuperTech desk sat by the extruder and related control panel equipment and it was right out in the open. When I sat there to eat my lunch during an upset or a startup, I did so with hearing protection (ear muffs) on. I’d return to my lunch to find it dusty with some kind of dust. No wonder I’m sick! In the new plant we had a control room that was sound proof. Much better.All the saws were enclosed in sound-proof enclosures, not for the safety considerations (although they did provide this function), but in order to cut down the noise. These were metal boxes with the inside panels full of little holes, the outside very solid. In between the 4 inch walls was Fiberglass insulation. Yes, competitor product. Of course the board had to enter and exit these enclosures, and despite the heavy plastic sheeting acting as "doors", there was still sufficient noise to warrant wearing hearing protection. All the operators, including myself had head phones attached to our hard hats.
Collecting
I also used the rolls to make a light sculpture. I mounted different-length cylinders on a ½ sheet of plywood, then hung it upside down from the ceiling. I then put different color lights in each column which I could control by switches or computer, turning on different colors at any one time. It was really neat and looked quite nice. I left it there when I moved.
Friday, November 27, 2020
People that know me know I’m a collector. I think I started collecting things with this job. First of all there were the empty spool center-sections from the strapping material. These were cylindrical, about 6 inches long, 5 inches outside diameter and 4 inches inside diameter. They were made of very dense, compressed cardboard material and were as strong and heavy as an equivalent wood piece would be. We generated 1 or 2 of these things every day and they were just thrown in the garbage. Seeing that I could get a "lot" of these things over the years, I decided to collect them for some use later on, like maybe a Great Wall of Founda. I had no idea what to do with them until I had a whole bunch. The other shifts collected them for me as well, so I was bringing home maybe 10 a week so that I had hundreds of them by the time I quit. By then I was at my new home on an acreage that had an unfinished basement, so I decided to use them there, to make a wall by glueing the spools together end to end into a column about 8 feet long. I then glued the columns together and stained the light-brown cardboard surface with a dark walnut stain. The wall was about 6 feet wide, so I used quite a few rolls there. Looked like hell when I was finished, but I put too much work into it to take it down. It was unique, so hopefully that factor off-set the awful looks of it.I also used the rolls to make a light sculpture. I mounted different-length cylinders on a ½ sheet of plywood, then hung it upside down from the ceiling. I then put different color lights in each column which I could control by switches or computer, turning on different colors at any one time. It was really neat and looked quite nice. I left it there when I moved.
Big Boxes
Friday, November 27, 2020
Occasionally we received styrene and reclaim in huge 1000 pound boxes that we would place on the production floor near the control room and use a suction wand to suck it up into the feed hoppers. The boxes were usually thrown out or used to store junk. I brought ½ dozen of these home and carved holes into them to make a large interconnecting "village" for my kids. Each box could hold a standard size kitchen table, so the boxes were quite large, so that the village took up lots of space in the rumpus room. I recently saw a Larson cartoon where two Army scientists are arguing over who should get the box from the latest ICBM missile shipment for their kids. Obviously my idea was not unique.
This is Art
The same can be said about the Styrofoam. Whenever there was crud in the die that split or otherwise mutilated the board I would save it, again with the criteria that it had to "look like something". I have about 50 of these pieces, most smaller than a bread-box. These are as beautiful as the gel. I have pictures of all of them in a book I call "Styro-Art", and someday will try to get an art studio to display them. The pieces are not for sale so don’t ask. Buy another one of my books instead.
Friday, November 27, 2020
I also began collecting scrap Styrofoam and reclaim waste. Well, "one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure", I always say. And "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". When the reclaim extruder dropped it’s strands it would generally make a pattie. Nothing exciting there. But sometimes when the gel just oozed out of the die after a shutdown, the object it created was sculpture, art so to speak. I would check these out every once in awhile, and even check the pattie barrels to see what others threw out, and if the gel resembled something in real life, that is I could put a name to it, I kept it. I have about 100 such sculptures, all named and catalogued. Most people who have seen them are in awe because they look like something that was created by man, or I guess to be really correct, totally by machine! I cherish my collection, because I’m not an artist, but consider myself an art collector. The same can be said about the Styrofoam. Whenever there was crud in the die that split or otherwise mutilated the board I would save it, again with the criteria that it had to "look like something". I have about 50 of these pieces, most smaller than a bread-box. These are as beautiful as the gel. I have pictures of all of them in a book I call "Styro-Art", and someday will try to get an art studio to display them. The pieces are not for sale so don’t ask. Buy another one of my books instead.
Why Do You Have A Phallus In Your Luggage?
Getting the phallus past the border proved a challenge, as one could imagine... First of all Canada Customs insisted on searching my bags, probably because I looked guilty for something. It was my first trip outside Canada by air and I didn’t know all the right answers to their questions and was quite nervous about answering them. Sweating as I did didn’t help either. So I got to dump all the contents of my suitcases on their inspection tables: dirty socks and underwear, nudie magazines, and this phallus-thing. (If you don’t know what a phallus is, look it up in a dictionary. You don’t think I’m going to put THAT in the glossary do you?) It was so embarrassing! When the GIRL (to add to my humiliation) picked up the organ, she asked: "What’s this?"
I should have said "what does it look like, honey", but instead replied, "It’s a sample from a chemical plant". WRONG answer!
She looked at me as if I had answered, "It’s a kilo of cocaine that I’m smuggling back so I can become rich", and asked in an incredulous voice, "You’re bringing back samples from a foreign country?"
Now I was really nervous, like "what’s wrong with a gawd-damn sample!?" I didn’t really know what to say but managed to stutter out, "Well, it’s not a sample, it’s a piece of art!" WRONG answer!
She looked at me as if I had answered, "It’s a kilo of cocaine that I’m smuggling back so I can become rich", and asked in an incredulous voice, "You’re bringing back art from a foreign country?"
Whew! Now I was on the verge of peeing my pants! I was sure she would draw her gun next, or get out the rubber gloves. What answer did she want anyway? "Well, it’s not really art, (and it hurt me to say that) it’s garbage."
Well all this flip-flopping really had her concerned now! First it was a sample, then it was art, now as the passenger is getting more and more nervous, he’s calling it garbage! So I started at the beginning: what I was in St. Louis for, where I found the thing, and why I considered it "art". Finally my explanation seemed to work and she let me go. She sure handled the nudie magazines slowly though, as if to say, "You men are such pigs". Either that or she saw the "art" in the pictures, as I did.
Ever since, I’ve been afraid of customs. I wash my clothes before I get home, and hide the magazines in my computer bag or my pants…
Friday, November 27, 2020
I once went to St. Louis, on Dow’s behalf, to a large Styrofoam Plant to investigate it’s operation. While there I was taken through a lab where they tested styrene, the main constituent of Styrofoam. They made samples ("coupons") with a small extruder which were then analyzed for purity, strength and whatever. These little slabs of clear plastic were about the size of a credit card and twice the thickness. They gave me a couple dozen to use as ice-scrapers up in the frozen north. I still have some! I use them for little windows in my project boxes whenever I make some electronic device. I looked in their garbage too, because after all, where there’s an extruder, there is art! Sure enough, in the barrel beside the unit was this large clear plastic "thing" made up of hundreds of visible single strands of extruded styrene. (Since this was a research extruder, the die only let one strand out that looked like cooked spaghetti). It actually looked like a phallus, but I took it anyway because it was unique and different from my other art because of it’s clear, glassy, nature.Getting the phallus past the border proved a challenge, as one could imagine... First of all Canada Customs insisted on searching my bags, probably because I looked guilty for something. It was my first trip outside Canada by air and I didn’t know all the right answers to their questions and was quite nervous about answering them. Sweating as I did didn’t help either. So I got to dump all the contents of my suitcases on their inspection tables: dirty socks and underwear, nudie magazines, and this phallus-thing. (If you don’t know what a phallus is, look it up in a dictionary. You don’t think I’m going to put THAT in the glossary do you?) It was so embarrassing! When the GIRL (to add to my humiliation) picked up the organ, she asked: "What’s this?"
I should have said "what does it look like, honey", but instead replied, "It’s a sample from a chemical plant". WRONG answer!
She looked at me as if I had answered, "It’s a kilo of cocaine that I’m smuggling back so I can become rich", and asked in an incredulous voice, "You’re bringing back samples from a foreign country?"
Now I was really nervous, like "what’s wrong with a gawd-damn sample!?" I didn’t really know what to say but managed to stutter out, "Well, it’s not a sample, it’s a piece of art!" WRONG answer!
She looked at me as if I had answered, "It’s a kilo of cocaine that I’m smuggling back so I can become rich", and asked in an incredulous voice, "You’re bringing back art from a foreign country?"
Whew! Now I was on the verge of peeing my pants! I was sure she would draw her gun next, or get out the rubber gloves. What answer did she want anyway? "Well, it’s not really art, (and it hurt me to say that) it’s garbage."
Well all this flip-flopping really had her concerned now! First it was a sample, then it was art, now as the passenger is getting more and more nervous, he’s calling it garbage! So I started at the beginning: what I was in St. Louis for, where I found the thing, and why I considered it "art". Finally my explanation seemed to work and she let me go. She sure handled the nudie magazines slowly though, as if to say, "You men are such pigs". Either that or she saw the "art" in the pictures, as I did.
Ever since, I’ve been afraid of customs. I wash my clothes before I get home, and hide the magazines in my computer bag or my pants…
Bunnies, Bunnies Everywhere
While in St.Louis, we took a trip to see the Gateway Arch. I expected to see some little concrete structure maybe 50 feet high when I got there, but boy was I surprised. This thing was 600 feet high and about 30 feet square at each base. It was huge! It was also a very hi-tech sculpture, covered with stainless steel panels. Inside was a ride of sorts up to the top. Bob (the other Bob, not author Bob) didn’t want to go up there, so I went alone, but shared a little car with 3 other people (a black mother and 2 children - didn't matter). I think these cars only held 4 people and it was very cramped in there. There was no air conditioning, not even fresh air in the car that had just a little window on one side. All we could see out the window were stairs along the side of the ride, meant no doubt to rescue us if the car jammed. I almost got claustrophobic, and I’m not "that way" so to speak. I couldn’t wait until we reached the top because I was close to having a panic attack. Once at the peak, we could get out and look out much bigger windows to the Mississippi River below us, and the paddle wheelers in dock.
We crossed the Mississippi into Illinois, and I bought my first digital watch at the local mall. It was a Texas Instrument LED watch (the type with the bright red display). It was quite large and very heavy on the wrist and cost me about $50 in US dollars. It only lasted about a year.
Friday, November 27, 2020
While in St. Louis with a 55 year old colleague, Bob Yerex, we went to the Playboy Club. (It was actually in our hotel, so it was hard, REALLY hard, to miss visiting the place). That was kinda neat, watching the good-looking girls in their bunny costumes serving drinks. Kinda timely too, because most of the Playboy Clubs were closed in the United States not too long after that. Being relatively naïve, but still wanting "some action", every time a Bunny would walk by the table, I would drop my hotel keys off the table onto the floor. I had heard that this is what one did if he was looking for a pickup. If the girl, any girl, picked the key up she was supposed to look at the room number and smile. Then you went to your room, awaiting the knock from Heaven. All I got was exercise picking up my own keys. Geez, and I was wearing my Buddy Holly-style glasses too.While in St.Louis, we took a trip to see the Gateway Arch. I expected to see some little concrete structure maybe 50 feet high when I got there, but boy was I surprised. This thing was 600 feet high and about 30 feet square at each base. It was huge! It was also a very hi-tech sculpture, covered with stainless steel panels. Inside was a ride of sorts up to the top. Bob (the other Bob, not author Bob) didn’t want to go up there, so I went alone, but shared a little car with 3 other people (a black mother and 2 children - didn't matter). I think these cars only held 4 people and it was very cramped in there. There was no air conditioning, not even fresh air in the car that had just a little window on one side. All we could see out the window were stairs along the side of the ride, meant no doubt to rescue us if the car jammed. I almost got claustrophobic, and I’m not "that way" so to speak. I couldn’t wait until we reached the top because I was close to having a panic attack. Once at the peak, we could get out and look out much bigger windows to the Mississippi River below us, and the paddle wheelers in dock.
We crossed the Mississippi into Illinois, and I bought my first digital watch at the local mall. It was a Texas Instrument LED watch (the type with the bright red display). It was quite large and very heavy on the wrist and cost me about $50 in US dollars. It only lasted about a year.
Movie Made in St. Louis
Saturday, November 28, 2020
Oh yeah, the Styrofoam Plant in St. Louis. Sorry for my digression. While there I shot about 20 or 30 rolls of Super 8 movie film. Yes film! Video hadn’t been invented yet. I brought the movies back, edited them into sequence and some kind of story, added titles and showed them to everyone in the plant when I got back. I was trying to narrate the film as I showed it, but Alex figured he knew more about the shot than I did and kept interrupting. I talked louder than him, to show his rudeness and stupidity
Come in for an Interview Honey
This was a fun part of the job. I remember one interview I did where the other two guys (the "pros") decided the last interviewee was worthy of hiring. I said "What? This guy told me he only wanted to be around for a couple years so he could earn some money while working on his pilot’s license! So we spend all that money training him and then he leaves!" The other two saw the error of their ways, agreed with me, and we never hired the guy. It’s really strange that 20 years later in the company I work for now that they haven’t learned anything: they don’t ask the pertinent questions that determine what an applicant really wants to do. We train them, give them safety equipment, confidential price lists, etc,., then they quit. Plus ca change, plus ca change pas.
Saturday, November 28, 2020
When I first started work at Dow, I was interviewed by 3 people. I know one guy was an engineer of some sort, another interviewer was the Employee Relations manager. This trend of multi-interviewers continued to the time I was in the Styrofoam Plant, and I became one of those 3 people. The thought was that by getting a good cross-section of people to talk to potential employees, Dow would be able to get the best person for the job. So, whenever a potential operator was being hired, a SuperTech was asked to go over and do one of the 3 interviews. If the Styro Plant was running well, or in some cases, shut down for maintenance, then one of our SuperTechs would get the call.This was a fun part of the job. I remember one interview I did where the other two guys (the "pros") decided the last interviewee was worthy of hiring. I said "What? This guy told me he only wanted to be around for a couple years so he could earn some money while working on his pilot’s license! So we spend all that money training him and then he leaves!" The other two saw the error of their ways, agreed with me, and we never hired the guy. It’s really strange that 20 years later in the company I work for now that they haven’t learned anything: they don’t ask the pertinent questions that determine what an applicant really wants to do. We train them, give them safety equipment, confidential price lists, etc,., then they quit. Plus ca change, plus ca change pas.
Safety
Every starting shift we would have a "tail-gate" safety meeting. I don’t know why they called it that but it was basically a 15-minute meeting to discuss safety issues, or results from other safety meetings. It wasn't at the tail of the shift and there was no gate in sight. At Dow, every plant, every shift, had a tail-gate meeting. Once a month we had the plant-wide meeting, and about every 6 months we had a site-wide meeting with managers and SuperTechs only. We also had safety drills, the operators had to go to safety and fire training monthly, and I had to do safety inspections regularly. I was responsible for "sniffing" out areas before any "hot" work was done. Sniffing is the act of using a gas detector to detect flammable gases in areas where welding, burning, or open flames would be employed. I also had to make sure the detection equipment worked, by calibrating the unit using a known flammable gas. After sniffing, I would complete a Safe Work Permit, checking off other safety considerations, then give it to the tradesman. Both of us signed the document signifying that we understood the content of the permit.
Saturday, November 28, 2020
My job as the SuperTech was to supervise a crew of 3-5 people in the safe production of Styrofoam. That’s what I put on my resume. I was responsible for production, so that if any scrap was made, I took the heat. If someone was hurt because I let him do something unsafe, I took the heat for that as well.Every starting shift we would have a "tail-gate" safety meeting. I don’t know why they called it that but it was basically a 15-minute meeting to discuss safety issues, or results from other safety meetings. It wasn't at the tail of the shift and there was no gate in sight. At Dow, every plant, every shift, had a tail-gate meeting. Once a month we had the plant-wide meeting, and about every 6 months we had a site-wide meeting with managers and SuperTechs only. We also had safety drills, the operators had to go to safety and fire training monthly, and I had to do safety inspections regularly. I was responsible for "sniffing" out areas before any "hot" work was done. Sniffing is the act of using a gas detector to detect flammable gases in areas where welding, burning, or open flames would be employed. I also had to make sure the detection equipment worked, by calibrating the unit using a known flammable gas. After sniffing, I would complete a Safe Work Permit, checking off other safety considerations, then give it to the tradesman. Both of us signed the document signifying that we understood the content of the permit.
What a Gas
One day a forklift was backing up in the parking lot and hit a 2" high-pressure natural gas line, severing a joint. The extreme noise of the gas escaping was enough for the operator to get the hell out of the area. When the day shift SuperTech (Steve) heard the news, he didn’t perform a "graceful" shutdown, by shutting things down sequentially. He went to the MCC (motor control center) and tripped as many main breakers as he could. The entire plant went down, lights and all. Sudden silence except for the howl of the escaping gas outside. That was a smart move. I don’t know if I would have been that quick-thinking. Not even sure if I would have put out my cigarette…
Speaking about gas, even if it is out of context, I had a young Englishman working on my crew who demonstrated (in the safety of the lunch room) how to light up body methane. That’s right: he’d place a match or lighter near his butt, fart appropriately and light up a blue flame! I saw it with my own eyes; I never would have believed it otherwise. He also brought in some 100% alcohol that he distilled himself at home, proceeded to fill his mouth with same, then spit it out in the present of a flame. Wow! Just like those circus performers that shoot flame out of their mouths. Now I know how it is done. Don't try this at home!
A potential accident that involved me happened in the old plant. I was jumping off the trailer bed, about 2 feet above the ground, after a jam-up. To steady myself, I put my hand on the fence that surrounded the saws, and when I jumped down the ring on my hand caught on one of the pointy parts of the chain-link fence, holding my hand back. Luckily it wasn’t as tall as my hand could extend, meaning my feet were on the floor and my hand was up in the air, caught on this fence. Had the distances been greater , I might have lost a finger, or pulled the tendon out all the way back to my elbow! Ouch. No more racquetball for me. None of the typing of this manuscript would have the letters s, w, and x in it.
Saturday, November 28, 2020
We had methyl chloride in the plant which was flammable, the freon was not. We also used natural gas. In either case, a small leak could get into the sewers or floor drains and accumulate there, creating a potential problem. On a shutdown, where much work had to be done, I could be expected to write 20 or 30 safe work permits, about ½ dozen of them hot permits.One day a forklift was backing up in the parking lot and hit a 2" high-pressure natural gas line, severing a joint. The extreme noise of the gas escaping was enough for the operator to get the hell out of the area. When the day shift SuperTech (Steve) heard the news, he didn’t perform a "graceful" shutdown, by shutting things down sequentially. He went to the MCC (motor control center) and tripped as many main breakers as he could. The entire plant went down, lights and all. Sudden silence except for the howl of the escaping gas outside. That was a smart move. I don’t know if I would have been that quick-thinking. Not even sure if I would have put out my cigarette…
Speaking about gas, even if it is out of context, I had a young Englishman working on my crew who demonstrated (in the safety of the lunch room) how to light up body methane. That’s right: he’d place a match or lighter near his butt, fart appropriately and light up a blue flame! I saw it with my own eyes; I never would have believed it otherwise. He also brought in some 100% alcohol that he distilled himself at home, proceeded to fill his mouth with same, then spit it out in the present of a flame. Wow! Just like those circus performers that shoot flame out of their mouths. Now I know how it is done. Don't try this at home!
A potential accident that involved me happened in the old plant. I was jumping off the trailer bed, about 2 feet above the ground, after a jam-up. To steady myself, I put my hand on the fence that surrounded the saws, and when I jumped down the ring on my hand caught on one of the pointy parts of the chain-link fence, holding my hand back. Luckily it wasn’t as tall as my hand could extend, meaning my feet were on the floor and my hand was up in the air, caught on this fence. Had the distances been greater , I might have lost a finger, or pulled the tendon out all the way back to my elbow! Ouch. No more racquetball for me. None of the typing of this manuscript would have the letters s, w, and x in it.
Slaughter Gloves
Saturday, November 28, 2020
We couldn’t wear gloves in the plant because of the moving equipment. Nor could we have loose clothing, long hair, beards, or loose women. We did have special gloves in the new plant, for use only when cutting board in case of a jam-up. This was mandated after an operator cut through a board and part of his hand because of the way he was holding the board for cutting. These gloves were thin, lightweight Kevlar fibre with metal fibers interspersed in them, used in the meat cutting industry. They were something like $20.00 a pair. We kept the gloves at various places under the conveyor, and were expected to put them on when a jam-up occurred. What really happened was that we cut out the big loop first, before it had time to affect the saw-line or the output from the die, then, having a little breathing time would put on the gloves for the remainder of the jam-up clearing. Of course I had to test the gloves so I took a sharp knife and vigorously sawed at the finger. No fleshy finger was in the glove at the time, but no matter: I could not cut through the glove with a reasonably sharp knife. I never tried the ax or band-saw tests.
Learning Electronics
Saturday, November 28, 2020
Two years before I left Dow, I sent away to California for a correspondence Electronics course. You know, the kind that they always advertise in the trades magazines? I checked out all the schools that had bingo cards in my electronics mags and settled with National Technical Schools of Los Angeles. I chose them because they offered more equipment with their course, which cost $550 US. Dow always paid for any extra-curricular courses taken by its’ employees whether they were related to the work or not. In fact, Steve took a furniture upholstery course and Dow paid for it. So they paid for mine. What I got was about 100 little books each of which was a lesson in itself and I got a bunch of parts which I would use to make test equipment and electronic devices to use with the lessons. I made a vacuum tube voltmeter (it was called a VTVM but it was totally solid-state), a logic probe, and an oscilloscope. This was all supplied by Heath Electronics, the king of electronic kits before they folded about 15 years ago.
NAIT
I was given old exams from the first semester of the first year by the Department Head of Electronics, Ron Kachman. I looked at them and tried to answer just ONE question! Boy, was I surprised. I couldn’t answer any of them because mostly engineering-type mathematical solutions were required. This was WAY beyond Ohms’ Law. That’s when I decided to make a career change.
I talked to Ron to see what he could offer an "older student" like myself in his program. I was married, had two kids, and was 29 years old. The math I learned in school was different than the math of the 18 year-olds just out of high school. He suggested the "Pre-Tech" Program which was designed for mature students like me, but I didn’t like that because it meant an extra year of schooling. I had picked a technology school because I could get a trade in 2 years, instead of going to university for 4, so the option of going to Pre-Tech was not a good one. What Ron did allow me to do was to take a few courses over the next semester to see how I would handle them, and if I did okay, he would allow me into the program.
Saturday, November 28, 2020
I read and studied the lessons at work, took notes. I built the kits and did the lab assignments at home. It was a 2 year course but took me only about 1-1/2 years. When I finished I wrote the exam they sent which I believe was "open-book". After all, how else could they do it? I received good marks, but I thought the course too easy, it was about high school level. So I met with the department head of the Electronics Technology program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton and told him I wanted to compare his program with the one I took. How could I do that? The answer was in the old exams previously given to his students; I could try and do the exams to check my understanding. I was given old exams from the first semester of the first year by the Department Head of Electronics, Ron Kachman. I looked at them and tried to answer just ONE question! Boy, was I surprised. I couldn’t answer any of them because mostly engineering-type mathematical solutions were required. This was WAY beyond Ohms’ Law. That’s when I decided to make a career change.
I talked to Ron to see what he could offer an "older student" like myself in his program. I was married, had two kids, and was 29 years old. The math I learned in school was different than the math of the 18 year-olds just out of high school. He suggested the "Pre-Tech" Program which was designed for mature students like me, but I didn’t like that because it meant an extra year of schooling. I had picked a technology school because I could get a trade in 2 years, instead of going to university for 4, so the option of going to Pre-Tech was not a good one. What Ron did allow me to do was to take a few courses over the next semester to see how I would handle them, and if I did okay, he would allow me into the program.
20 Hour Days
I worked my first night shift then drove to Edmonton from Fort Saskatchewan (about 20 miles) at 7:00 in the morning, getting to my first class at 8 AM. I was able to stay awake for my first class. Because I had taken my camper-truck to school, I slept in it while it was parked in the parking lot, before my next class. I would invariably fall asleep in this latter class, not having slept that well in the camper.
I continued this routine for about 4 months, going to class, sleeping in the camper between classes, falling asleep in class, then going home, eat dinner and go to work. I had an insulated and heated camper, insulated, not surprisingly, with 1" Styrofoam (which I knew had an R value of 5…). When it was -35°C I found out just how winterized my camper was. Before I went to class, I turned on the propane heater, and when I returned an hour later to sleep, it appeared nice and toasty. I slept on the bed that was over the cab, about 5 feet higher than where the heater was. Despite having a fan in the furnace to distribute the warm air, up on the top with only R5 between me and Mother (Nature) it was a little frigid. I even had 2" Styro cut to shape of the windows to retain some heat, but the roof itself was pretty thin. I had a couple big comforters on the bed and I knew I’d be warm under there, which I was, but my nose would freeze. So I’d put my head under the blankets to keep from getting frostbitten on the face, lasting about 20 minutes until I couldn’t breathe. Not a very restful sleep. I should have worn a snorkle.
I fell asleep on the road a couple of times. Totally irresponsible I know. I awoke one time on the road just in front of NAIT, on the wrong side, with some guy coming towards me flashing his lights and sounding his horn. How rude I thought, this guy making such a ruckus so early in the morning. I woke up, swerved to the proper side of the road, then went to class, a little more awake than usual. I was still shaking.
I’d review my notes for an exam and couldn’t read what I had written. There were lots of vertical strokes in my notes, where I dozed off. I fell out of my desk many times. I’d drop my pencil half a dozen times in class. Worst of all was being asleep when the instructor asked a question. "Huh? You talkin’ to me?"
When I was awake, I heard praise from my instructor about my quality work. My mother always said, "If you’re going to do a job, you may as well do it well". When the end of the semester came, I was honored with two marks in the high 80’s. I was in the top 3 or 4 of the class. I could do it. Just think what I could have done had I been awake most of the time!
That was proof enough for me, and over the protest of my mother and brother who thought I was nuts, I submitted my resignation to Dow Chemical. When I left, I had made $48,000 up to August of that year, had 6 weeks holiday, and was a supervisor. In addition, management had been asking questions about whether I’d be interested in a foreman’s job. I said no, I was going back to school.
Saturday, November 28, 2020
I didn’t want to quit my job then find out after a week that I couldn’t handle school. After all, I couldn’t handle high school, although the reasons were a little different. Before accepting his offer, I made an offer to Reg, one of the other SuperTechs. I asked if he would trade all his night shifts for my day shifts. Despite day shift being a little more work, usually, because of the bosses around, he jumped at the opportunity. After all, it was night shift that shortened your life span.I worked my first night shift then drove to Edmonton from Fort Saskatchewan (about 20 miles) at 7:00 in the morning, getting to my first class at 8 AM. I was able to stay awake for my first class. Because I had taken my camper-truck to school, I slept in it while it was parked in the parking lot, before my next class. I would invariably fall asleep in this latter class, not having slept that well in the camper.
I continued this routine for about 4 months, going to class, sleeping in the camper between classes, falling asleep in class, then going home, eat dinner and go to work. I had an insulated and heated camper, insulated, not surprisingly, with 1" Styrofoam (which I knew had an R value of 5…). When it was -35°C I found out just how winterized my camper was. Before I went to class, I turned on the propane heater, and when I returned an hour later to sleep, it appeared nice and toasty. I slept on the bed that was over the cab, about 5 feet higher than where the heater was. Despite having a fan in the furnace to distribute the warm air, up on the top with only R5 between me and Mother (Nature) it was a little frigid. I even had 2" Styro cut to shape of the windows to retain some heat, but the roof itself was pretty thin. I had a couple big comforters on the bed and I knew I’d be warm under there, which I was, but my nose would freeze. So I’d put my head under the blankets to keep from getting frostbitten on the face, lasting about 20 minutes until I couldn’t breathe. Not a very restful sleep. I should have worn a snorkle.
I fell asleep on the road a couple of times. Totally irresponsible I know. I awoke one time on the road just in front of NAIT, on the wrong side, with some guy coming towards me flashing his lights and sounding his horn. How rude I thought, this guy making such a ruckus so early in the morning. I woke up, swerved to the proper side of the road, then went to class, a little more awake than usual. I was still shaking.
I’d review my notes for an exam and couldn’t read what I had written. There were lots of vertical strokes in my notes, where I dozed off. I fell out of my desk many times. I’d drop my pencil half a dozen times in class. Worst of all was being asleep when the instructor asked a question. "Huh? You talkin’ to me?"
When I was awake, I heard praise from my instructor about my quality work. My mother always said, "If you’re going to do a job, you may as well do it well". When the end of the semester came, I was honored with two marks in the high 80’s. I was in the top 3 or 4 of the class. I could do it. Just think what I could have done had I been awake most of the time!
That was proof enough for me, and over the protest of my mother and brother who thought I was nuts, I submitted my resignation to Dow Chemical. When I left, I had made $48,000 up to August of that year, had 6 weeks holiday, and was a supervisor. In addition, management had been asking questions about whether I’d be interested in a foreman’s job. I said no, I was going back to school.
All Play and No Work
Once the plant was going, the attitudes changed. We were working 12 hour shifts again, but this time, it was 3 days on, 3 days off, then 3 nights on and 3 nights off. Consequently there were two shifts that always worked back to back, except at shift change at the end of a 3 day jaunt. It was hard to pull tricks on the opposite shift, because they would know it was us, and get revenge. Same could be said about doing tricks to the maintenance people that worked only day shift. So…..When the shifts changed on the weekend, we knew we could pull tricks and have any of the 3 other shifts take the blame! We had to be funny, but we had to be smart too!
I had a thing going where one shift was blaming another shift for stealing their tools. Each shift had a locked tool box with color-coded tools, so that we would know who’s tools belonged to who. One day, I took the long rod that forms the center of the toolbox lid hinge apart. So, even though the front of the box was locked, the back was not. I did this to another tool-box and moved some tools from one to another. Naturally at shift change, the two shifts involved would discuss the shift events and the last thing to do would be to lock up your tool box before leaving the shift. This gave ample opportunity for the on-coming shift to see his tools in the other shift’s tool box! Yeehaw! There weren’t any fist fights, that I know of, but it got these shifts plotting revenge on each other. I never told anyone of this particular prank.
Sunday, November 29, 2020
For the first 6 months of construction, we had to get the Styro Plant up and running before the Company’s "year end". As a result, we were doubling up on 12 hour shifts, about 15 people on day-shift, and the same on night-shift. The shift included operators and maintenance staff, and we worked 12 hour shifts with very few breaks. I worked 18 night shifts in a row, and it was real hard, dirty work. Believe it or not, that big pail of water over the toilet or shower stall was quite refreshing! After awhile we had to stop because everyone was liking it.Once the plant was going, the attitudes changed. We were working 12 hour shifts again, but this time, it was 3 days on, 3 days off, then 3 nights on and 3 nights off. Consequently there were two shifts that always worked back to back, except at shift change at the end of a 3 day jaunt. It was hard to pull tricks on the opposite shift, because they would know it was us, and get revenge. Same could be said about doing tricks to the maintenance people that worked only day shift. So…..When the shifts changed on the weekend, we knew we could pull tricks and have any of the 3 other shifts take the blame! We had to be funny, but we had to be smart too!
I had a thing going where one shift was blaming another shift for stealing their tools. Each shift had a locked tool box with color-coded tools, so that we would know who’s tools belonged to who. One day, I took the long rod that forms the center of the toolbox lid hinge apart. So, even though the front of the box was locked, the back was not. I did this to another tool-box and moved some tools from one to another. Naturally at shift change, the two shifts involved would discuss the shift events and the last thing to do would be to lock up your tool box before leaving the shift. This gave ample opportunity for the on-coming shift to see his tools in the other shift’s tool box! Yeehaw! There weren’t any fist fights, that I know of, but it got these shifts plotting revenge on each other. I never told anyone of this particular prank.
Ambush
I had to make the control room off-limits for water pranks, because in that particular attack, the control panel got wet, and the desk papers and books were soaked. Besides I needed my sleep.si
Another fun thing to do was ambush the guy on the forklift as it came out of the warehouse and onto the production floor. The driver was totally blind as he came racing back into production to pick up another pallet of Styrofoam. Easy pickins’. Because of conditioning, (like Pavlov’s Dog) the operator would come through the doors, very very slowly, looking both ways, a pressurized water extinguisher by his side like it was some kind of shotgun. It was more entertaining watching these spooked guys than it was to actually get them with a water bomb!cin
When I realized that the forklifts ran on 550 Volts DC (from a 24 volt DC inverter), I thought it best that we also make the forklift off-limits as well. It’s bad enough a fork-lift going through a wall, but electrocuting someone would be REAL bad. g elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Sunday, November 29, 2020
iIt was about 3 AM and I was resting my head on the control room desk after some hard studying. Just then both side doors swung open. I pushed myself back in my chair, but there was no escape: two guys with 5 gallon pails of water got me. It was like a "hit" from The God Father. I was soaked to the bone!piI had to make the control room off-limits for water pranks, because in that particular attack, the control panel got wet, and the desk papers and books were soaked. Besides I needed my sleep.si
Another fun thing to do was ambush the guy on the forklift as it came out of the warehouse and onto the production floor. The driver was totally blind as he came racing back into production to pick up another pallet of Styrofoam. Easy pickins’. Because of conditioning, (like Pavlov’s Dog) the operator would come through the doors, very very slowly, looking both ways, a pressurized water extinguisher by his side like it was some kind of shotgun. It was more entertaining watching these spooked guys than it was to actually get them with a water bomb!cin
When I realized that the forklifts ran on 550 Volts DC (from a 24 volt DC inverter), I thought it best that we also make the forklift off-limits as well. It’s bad enough a fork-lift going through a wall, but electrocuting someone would be REAL bad. g elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Message on a Roll
One day while in there, I got this idea for another prank to pull on Reg. I wrote a 4 or 5-sheet note to Gail, signed by Reg. Heh heh. It was something along the lines of "I can't keep this a secret anymore, I have to tell you how I feel about you..." Heh heh. Boy was I was a bad guy.
I spoke to Reg a day or 2 later when he had the audacity to blame me for doing this! It was pretty hard to deny since my handwriting was well known because of all the log entries I had to put in the log book. Gail later approached me about the prank: she thought it was hilarious.
Sunday, November 29, 2020
Unlike the other plants at Dow, the Styrofoam Plant had a resident secretary whose job it was to perform all the accounting and shipping of raw materials and finished product. Because of this Gail had her own washroom that was located in the main hallway. On the off-shifts I would use this washroom because it was safe, that is, because it had a door, there was no way one could get ambushed with a pail of water over the bathroom stall.One day while in there, I got this idea for another prank to pull on Reg. I wrote a 4 or 5-sheet note to Gail, signed by Reg. Heh heh. It was something along the lines of "I can't keep this a secret anymore, I have to tell you how I feel about you..." Heh heh. Boy was I was a bad guy.
I spoke to Reg a day or 2 later when he had the audacity to blame me for doing this! It was pretty hard to deny since my handwriting was well known because of all the log entries I had to put in the log book. Gail later approached me about the prank: she thought it was hilarious.
Fake Death
Sunday, November 29, 2020
Doug, my senior guy on shift thought it would be "cute" to fake a death, so he laid down on one of the busy forklift drive-ways and I painted an outline of him with white spray paint. The supervisors were not amused. Once again, they didn’t know who did it because we did it on the weekend when any of the 4 shifts could be implicated. So many people thought it was so neat that I had to admit that maybe I had something to do with it.
Throwing in the Towel
One day, after trying desperately to make good product, I just ran out of ideas and admitted defeat. I went into Terry’s office where he was talking to Lionel, and threw a paper towel on the floor. Lionel got the joke right away and thought it rather entertaining, but Terry was not amused.
Sunday, November 29, 2020
Management wasn’t too hard on us for a couple reasons. For the most part, management was new people, or rookie engineers. They just didn’t know how to handle things like that. Also, I think they recognized that little "innocent" jokes (like the body outline) were tolerable because of the stress and most-of-the-time extreme effort we put in to keep the plant running, producing good product. Besides, since they had no proof of who did it, they couldn’t discipline anyone. If they would have come down hard, we may have stopped. But then again, since I was always the rebel, I probably would not have. Heh heh.One day, after trying desperately to make good product, I just ran out of ideas and admitted defeat. I went into Terry’s office where he was talking to Lionel, and threw a paper towel on the floor. Lionel got the joke right away and thought it rather entertaining, but Terry was not amused.
Running with the Pigs
A security-guard-turned-janitor was designated for our area and he once made the comment about how we
were living as pigs. He couldn't believe the mess we were surrounded by. (My defense is that I always ate my lunch on the plant floor, with the dusts and chemicals in the air. In other words, it was the operators' mess.)
Another time, another janitor, non-English speaking, was seen washing the floor with his big mop, then using the SAME mop to wipe the tables that we ate on. I guess he thought we lived like pigs too, and treated us accordingly.
Occasionally we really cleaned up the place, and got accolades for doing so.
Sunday, November 29, 2020
So many times we had interrupted dinners that the lunchroom became quite untidy. It didn't matter if we were having dinner or not, frequently there was just no time or energy left to clean up after the shift. It became quite comical to be sitting amidst a table full of newspapers, left-over pizza, and cigarette butts while on the floor was mud brought in from outside, dirty dishes were in the sink, and spilled food on the stove. There would be notes in the log book from management about keeping the room clean, but, as mentioned it was very difficult, and I think management actually understood why it was in that condition.A security-guard-turned-janitor was designated for our area and he once made the comment about how we
were living as pigs. He couldn't believe the mess we were surrounded by. (My defense is that I always ate my lunch on the plant floor, with the dusts and chemicals in the air. In other words, it was the operators' mess.)
Another time, another janitor, non-English speaking, was seen washing the floor with his big mop, then using the SAME mop to wipe the tables that we ate on. I guess he thought we lived like pigs too, and treated us accordingly.
Occasionally we really cleaned up the place, and got accolades for doing so.
Water Fights
Another favourite ambush was waiting for an operator to walk down the long tunnel formed by two 25-foot high rows of palleted Styrofoam. Usually he would do this to inspect the area where he was planning on starting another row of product, and would walk in front of the forklift to make sure the row was clean. That’s when two operators would follow him in with the extinguishers. The victim knew it was hopeless, he was trapped, there was no way out. He was dead. Another Mafia hit.
I went to visit friends at another plant on a night shift and came back to see my little compact car "missing". I found it, wedged into the maintenance shop, about 1 foot of space all around it. There’s no way they could have driven the car in there (for one thing, I had the keys); 4 of them actually picked it up and carried it inside. Cute. Revenge.
Sunday, November 29, 2020
We used to have lots of water fights. The 5 gallon pail efforts were one-shots, like giving someone the finger in a gesture of contempt. But the water fights were outright war, using water fire extinguishers and industrial-strength hoses and water pressure. Hoses weren’t everywhere though, so, if you were smart, you would rush very quickly past the areas where the hoses were hanging. There were attempts to re-plumb hose connections and these actually worked a few times. Where water was not expected, it was there in huge amounts. I admired my operators for their creativity when they came up with ideas like that. The water extinguishers were the best, because they could be re-pressured with air and re-filled with water as necessary, and of course, they were portable.Another favourite ambush was waiting for an operator to walk down the long tunnel formed by two 25-foot high rows of palleted Styrofoam. Usually he would do this to inspect the area where he was planning on starting another row of product, and would walk in front of the forklift to make sure the row was clean. That’s when two operators would follow him in with the extinguishers. The victim knew it was hopeless, he was trapped, there was no way out. He was dead. Another Mafia hit.
I went to visit friends at another plant on a night shift and came back to see my little compact car "missing". I found it, wedged into the maintenance shop, about 1 foot of space all around it. There’s no way they could have driven the car in there (for one thing, I had the keys); 4 of them actually picked it up and carried it inside. Cute. Revenge.
Fire Proof Styrofoam
Sunday, November 29, 2020
We had to watch a movie on the fire hazards of Styrofoam, as part of our safety meeting requirements. It was sooooooo boring. That’s because some research group at Dow corporate tried to simulate a fire, starting with a very small flame on a small surface of Styrofoam. The product has a flame retardant called FR651 blended into it making it supposedly fire proof. This boring film proved it because it took a good 40 minutes before there was even enough smoke to call it a fire! It was like watching someone sleep for 40 minutes, knowing that sooner or later he’ll wake up. The film prompted me to conduct my own test. I took a 2 foot by 4 foot piece of Roofmate© and clamped it into a vise. Then I fired up the acetylene torch and really put a flame to it. No candles for me. Well, I was impressed, and so were my superiors when I reported that the Styrofoam just refused to burn. It melted into a puddle, but it did not combust. Good stuff, just like advertised.
Dave the Millwright
So it was, that one day, being quite bored, I put the end of a grease gun up to the lock of his tool box, and pumped out a cartridge. I didn’t know a lock required so much lubrication! Again, it was done on the weekend, and on Monday when Dave opened up the drawer of his toolbox to some well-greased tools, he went ballistic. And he blamed Reg, one of our best SuperTechs, a reputation Reg earned by being able to do so many mechanical repairs. So it was that his reputation as a Mr. Fix-It put him in the spotlight as the only one capable of "opening" (they had no idea the grease went in through the key-hole) the tool box. In fact Reg was suspected of having a key to the box, so it was changed! I was just the egg-head with the Buddy Holly glasses, I could never be labeled a prankster.
Sunday, November 29, 2020
Dave, a millwright who was assigned to our plant was always getting on our case because of some tool in the shop that had been used was either damaged, not put away, or not cleaned. He was always trying to put the tools off-base for operations, but management would have none of it, because we operators would do lots of minor maintenance and repairs, and the tools had to be available. He treated the tools like they were his, not the "community’s", and this rubbed us all the wrong way. Dave actually had his own tool box that he stored his regular tools in, it was only the special tools like the big wrenches, or special drivers, welder, etc. that we would use. Even his regular tools were not his; they were purchased for him and owned by the company. The more he bitched the more we all resolved to "get him".So it was, that one day, being quite bored, I put the end of a grease gun up to the lock of his tool box, and pumped out a cartridge. I didn’t know a lock required so much lubrication! Again, it was done on the weekend, and on Monday when Dave opened up the drawer of his toolbox to some well-greased tools, he went ballistic. And he blamed Reg, one of our best SuperTechs, a reputation Reg earned by being able to do so many mechanical repairs. So it was that his reputation as a Mr. Fix-It put him in the spotlight as the only one capable of "opening" (they had no idea the grease went in through the key-hole) the tool box. In fact Reg was suspected of having a key to the box, so it was changed! I was just the egg-head with the Buddy Holly glasses, I could never be labeled a prankster.
Prank of the Century
It was Friday night shift and Doug and I were thinking of what we could do to Dave. We got the idea of somehow putting an alarm in his locker, but his locker was obviously locked and in the middle of a collection of lockers. We sized up the situation, and convinced ourselves we could pull it off. First thing was getting into the locker. We did this by taking the end plates and doors off 2 or 3 end lockers before getting to his. Then we pulled the hinge off his locker door and swung the door open.
using the lock as a pivot point (a technique I borrowed from the "shift tool box incident"). We could just get a hand inside to put "things" into the locker. What we put was a microswitch, the kind with a large wheel on it’s triggering arm, and a Klaxon horn. This is the type you hear in old submarine movies. This horn was a spare of the type used in the plant, usually mounted 20 feet up and well away from work areas because it was so loud. (It actually has a motor inside to make the sound). I wired the parts up in series, secured them with good old duct tape, then ran the power cable out the back of the locker by slightly bending the sheet metal back. We couldn’t test it, but figured it should work, so we put all the other lockers back together and finished our shift.
We expected to "hit" Dave on Monday morning, not that we’d be there or anything, but we expected to hear about it. Well, Saturday morning at about 3 AM, Dave was called out to do an emergency repair. Picture this: bleary-eyed Dave is barely awake, and he goes to his locker to change into work clothes. It’s real quiet, because the plant is down. Dave is thinking only of the tools he’ll require and of the job ahead. He’ll get 4 hours call-out even if he fixes the problem in 20 minutes. Life is good. He puts the key in the lock and removes the lock from the locker door. He swings the door open slowly because he’s still half asleep. WHAAAAAHHHHHHHH!
We don’t know if Dave pissed his pants or anything, because when he went ballistic, no one was getting in his way. As we heard it the next day when we came in on day shift, he was so mad that he phoned up the supervisor of the plant, at 3 AM, to tell him he was phoning the RCMP! He wanted fingerprints taken and the perpetrators arrested! Heh heh heh.
Last year I wrote a letter to my former supervisor Terry, and told him to tell Dave that it was Doug and I that pulled it off. (There is a statute of limitations on these things isn’t there???)
Despite Reg always getting blamed for these things, he went on to another production plant in the same capacity, and because of Dow’s people-movement policy, this was considered a promotion of sorts.
Big Bad Doug, who helped me with most of the pranks and was at least 50% responsible for thinking them up, quit Dow before I did and became a church minister. Reverend Doug.
Sunday, November 29, 2020
The best trick I ever pulled was on Dave. I’m sure this one will go down as the best ever anywhere and the best of all time. If there was a Nobel prize for pranks, I'm sure this one would be considered. It was done on the weekend and Reg got blamed for this one too.It was Friday night shift and Doug and I were thinking of what we could do to Dave. We got the idea of somehow putting an alarm in his locker, but his locker was obviously locked and in the middle of a collection of lockers. We sized up the situation, and convinced ourselves we could pull it off. First thing was getting into the locker. We did this by taking the end plates and doors off 2 or 3 end lockers before getting to his. Then we pulled the hinge off his locker door and swung the door open.
using the lock as a pivot point (a technique I borrowed from the "shift tool box incident"). We could just get a hand inside to put "things" into the locker. What we put was a microswitch, the kind with a large wheel on it’s triggering arm, and a Klaxon horn. This is the type you hear in old submarine movies. This horn was a spare of the type used in the plant, usually mounted 20 feet up and well away from work areas because it was so loud. (It actually has a motor inside to make the sound). I wired the parts up in series, secured them with good old duct tape, then ran the power cable out the back of the locker by slightly bending the sheet metal back. We couldn’t test it, but figured it should work, so we put all the other lockers back together and finished our shift.
We expected to "hit" Dave on Monday morning, not that we’d be there or anything, but we expected to hear about it. Well, Saturday morning at about 3 AM, Dave was called out to do an emergency repair. Picture this: bleary-eyed Dave is barely awake, and he goes to his locker to change into work clothes. It’s real quiet, because the plant is down. Dave is thinking only of the tools he’ll require and of the job ahead. He’ll get 4 hours call-out even if he fixes the problem in 20 minutes. Life is good. He puts the key in the lock and removes the lock from the locker door. He swings the door open slowly because he’s still half asleep. WHAAAAAHHHHHHHH!
We don’t know if Dave pissed his pants or anything, because when he went ballistic, no one was getting in his way. As we heard it the next day when we came in on day shift, he was so mad that he phoned up the supervisor of the plant, at 3 AM, to tell him he was phoning the RCMP! He wanted fingerprints taken and the perpetrators arrested! Heh heh heh.
Last year I wrote a letter to my former supervisor Terry, and told him to tell Dave that it was Doug and I that pulled it off. (There is a statute of limitations on these things isn’t there???)
Despite Reg always getting blamed for these things, he went on to another production plant in the same capacity, and because of Dow’s people-movement policy, this was considered a promotion of sorts.
Big Bad Doug, who helped me with most of the pranks and was at least 50% responsible for thinking them up, quit Dow before I did and became a church minister. Reverend Doug.
Ian Didn't Mount this Pig
We decided to use a couple bundles of Roofmate® insulation. A bundle of 1-1/2" consisted of 8 two foot by four foot pieces, strapped together. Using water-based glue, we glued all the pieces of 2 bundles together, then drew out a rough 2-dimensional pig on the side of the block. We had started on a night shift but underestimated the work involved: this would definitely take us a few days. We hid what we had in the furnace room, where Reg found it. He didn’t say too much except ask us what the hell we were up to. We didn’t tell him until later.
On succeeding night shifts, we each brought electric knives from home. A number of days of work proved fruitful: we had a 4 foot long pig that stood 2 feet high, and was roughly 20 inches wide. For a tail we used a curled piece of spiral electrical conduit, a mop served as the hair, and we used 6 air mask filters for a brassiere. Hey, we were crude guys, but we knew the real Miss Piggy would never appear naked. We were gentlemen, after all. With suitable felt pen-work on the face and sides of our pig, she was looking kinda cute.
Doug, Reg, and I went out to Ian’s garage (he lived in a garage for about 8 years while he built a house on the same acreage property), and presented him first with the attaché case, then surprised him with the pig. He loved it. On future trips out to his place, we saw the pig standing guard out by the access road. A guard pig. Years later when I met Ian on the street I asked him about the pig. "Yes", he said, it was still out there, but because of the sunlight bleaching out the color, the pig was no longer Styrofoam blue, but a faded yellow. (Photo L-R: Bob, Reg, Doug, Ian)
Monday, November 30, 2020
We had a guy on our crew named Ian. Ian was talking to us one day in the lunch room telling us how, as a high school teacher, he once obtained a dead cat that he cleaned and treated the bones of so that he could remount just the skeleton. After this story, he indicated that he once "mounted a pig"! Well, the connotation of that statement was not what he intended and Doug and I roared with laughter. From then on, to the day he quit we would greet him with "Hi pig-f----er!:" Ian was a great guy and he took the ribbing in style . When he quit, Doug and I took up a collection and bought him a nice attaché case which he could use when he went back to teaching. We also thought of making him something a little more "thoughtful". That’s right, we made him a pig. We decided to use a couple bundles of Roofmate® insulation. A bundle of 1-1/2" consisted of 8 two foot by four foot pieces, strapped together. Using water-based glue, we glued all the pieces of 2 bundles together, then drew out a rough 2-dimensional pig on the side of the block. We had started on a night shift but underestimated the work involved: this would definitely take us a few days. We hid what we had in the furnace room, where Reg found it. He didn’t say too much except ask us what the hell we were up to. We didn’t tell him until later.
On succeeding night shifts, we each brought electric knives from home. A number of days of work proved fruitful: we had a 4 foot long pig that stood 2 feet high, and was roughly 20 inches wide. For a tail we used a curled piece of spiral electrical conduit, a mop served as the hair, and we used 6 air mask filters for a brassiere. Hey, we were crude guys, but we knew the real Miss Piggy would never appear naked. We were gentlemen, after all. With suitable felt pen-work on the face and sides of our pig, she was looking kinda cute.
Doug, Reg, and I went out to Ian’s garage (he lived in a garage for about 8 years while he built a house on the same acreage property), and presented him first with the attaché case, then surprised him with the pig. He loved it. On future trips out to his place, we saw the pig standing guard out by the access road. A guard pig. Years later when I met Ian on the street I asked him about the pig. "Yes", he said, it was still out there, but because of the sunlight bleaching out the color, the pig was no longer Styrofoam blue, but a faded yellow. (Photo L-R: Bob, Reg, Doug, Ian)
Monday, November 30, 2020
Besides making the pig for Ian out of Styrofoam, I made a jig-saw puzzle for my wife out of a 2 foot by 2 foot piece of foam. I wrote some message on the board with a felt pen, then I cut the section into about 30 pieces to make an interlocking jig-saw. Gave it to her for Christmas. For Easter I made each of my children a large bunny, drawn and carved out of an 7 foot tall piece of styro. I had to smuggle this out in my camper, because it would have been too visible in my small car, or on my back when I took the motorcycle. I also made them some Tyrannosaurus Rex feet that they strapped onto their shoes and walked around in the snow making monster prints.
Silly Silo Sojourn
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
When the Styrofoam Plant was under construction, there were certain areas that were off-limits to all non-construction personnel. This included the tall, 100 foot or so styrene silo, because until it was officially "turned over" to operations, it could be a safety hazard. Well, I looked at it, and saw nothing unsafe about it, except for the missing cage around the ladder, and no guard rail around the top. I think it had a top, I had to climb up to find out! I didn’t forget my felt pen either, and, finding there was a nice painted metal roof, proceeded to indicate who the first guy on top was. Hey, the guys that climbed Everest left their mark. The next day I was brought into the supervisor’s office and asked to explain my actions. "Because it was there", was my reply. The supervisor shook his head and waved me out of his office. Later that same day, a notice came out indicating the areas that were off-limits, and why.
Bean Explosion
Steve the SuperTech walked into the lunch room one day at lunch time and saw a can of beans sitting on the hot stove element. The can was deformed into a roughly round shape, because you see, the can was not opened or even a little vent hole punched in the top. Just as Steve made a comment to the worker what an idiot he was to put a sealed can on the stove like that, the can exploded and covered the ceiling, bulletin board and stove with brown crud. It really looked like shit on the walls. Only one person was burned, the bean owner, and he was sent to the medical facility for treatment. When I arrived for the night shift, there was signs of bean residue still on the bulletin board and the ceiling. A few days later the board was replaced, as were the affected ceiling tiles. The bean guy was the work’s manager’s son, the same guy who clipped the water cooler with the forklift.
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Sometimes the work at Styro was grueling. It was hot and humid in the plant, and when things went wrong we could work steady for the entire shift, and not even get to our lunch boxes. We had one water fountain in the plant until it was picked off the wall by a speeding forklift. The driver clipped it off like a car in a cornfield. The driver was the Site Manager’s son.Steve the SuperTech walked into the lunch room one day at lunch time and saw a can of beans sitting on the hot stove element. The can was deformed into a roughly round shape, because you see, the can was not opened or even a little vent hole punched in the top. Just as Steve made a comment to the worker what an idiot he was to put a sealed can on the stove like that, the can exploded and covered the ceiling, bulletin board and stove with brown crud. It really looked like shit on the walls. Only one person was burned, the bean owner, and he was sent to the medical facility for treatment. When I arrived for the night shift, there was signs of bean residue still on the bulletin board and the ceiling. A few days later the board was replaced, as were the affected ceiling tiles. The bean guy was the work’s manager’s son, the same guy who clipped the water cooler with the forklift.
The Coke machine meets the Forklift
The vendor finally smartened up and put a good machine in the upstairs lunchroom, out of the path of any forklift.
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
A used "Coke" vending machine was installed in the warehouse, but it wasn’t the most reliable, so when it refused to exchange a pop for the 75 cents put in, the thirsty and very angry operator would "put the boots to it". This usually shook a can or two down. I saw guys on day shift take a run at the machine, then jump in the air and smash the front of the machine with there steel-toed and steel-shanked safety boots . After awhile the box looked pretty beat up. The vendor repaired the machine, but it got beat up again, and again. The next time we saw the machine, it had a ¼ inch steel plate across the front. Try and beat on that for awhile! Well, not to be beaten, one of the crew (I’m not sure if he was on my crew at that time or not), a short-tempered Newfie took another run at it. With the forklift. He didn’t get the pop but he did put a dent in the plate, and wrecked the machine.The vendor finally smartened up and put a good machine in the upstairs lunchroom, out of the path of any forklift.
Feynman was my Teacher
So it was with me at Styrofoam. Besides wanting to find juicy documents about me or others, I broke through the security measures of the managers, just for the challenge. Face it, great minds DO think alike! I was careful, unlike some donkeys that just went to desk drawers with big pry-bars, leaving evidence of a break-in behind. I never broke anything; this was part of the challenge. I would try to figure out how the security worked using basic reasoning and my ability to figure out mechanical structures, then I would think of ways to defeat it. Just like Feynman. No brute force was necessary. Using these methods I was able to get past the locked doors of all the offices, get into most of the desks ("most" because some where a little more secure than others), and the file cabinets.
Remember I was the guy who figured out how to get into Dave's toolbox, all the SuperTech toolboxes, and Dave's locker to plant the Klaxon horn. I was good.
I don't recall finding anything too important (except the letter about the using of different blowing agents) or disseminating any information that I found, nor did I really care that much about this part of the mission. Unlocking the puzzle was the fun.
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
I read a few books on the legendary Richard Feynman (photo), an American Nobel-winning scientist who worked on the atomic bombs that ended the Second World War. While at Los Alamos, New Mexico, sequestered with 100 other scientists (so that they could concentrate on the bomb) he relaxed from the pressures of the job by doing "recreational break-ins". Using basic reasoning and his knowledge of probability theory, he found that breaking the code of a combination lock was rather easy. He tested his theories by opening file cabinets of highly-classified documents, leaving cryptic messages behind for security to find. He was making the point that despite all the security precautions (their mail was read by censors), there existed within some basic flaws. Sort of like a race car that is designed to go 200 mph, but the tires are only rated for 80 mph. He also did it for the challenge.So it was with me at Styrofoam. Besides wanting to find juicy documents about me or others, I broke through the security measures of the managers, just for the challenge. Face it, great minds DO think alike! I was careful, unlike some donkeys that just went to desk drawers with big pry-bars, leaving evidence of a break-in behind. I never broke anything; this was part of the challenge. I would try to figure out how the security worked using basic reasoning and my ability to figure out mechanical structures, then I would think of ways to defeat it. Just like Feynman. No brute force was necessary. Using these methods I was able to get past the locked doors of all the offices, get into most of the desks ("most" because some where a little more secure than others), and the file cabinets.
Remember I was the guy who figured out how to get into Dave's toolbox, all the SuperTech toolboxes, and Dave's locker to plant the Klaxon horn. I was good.
I don't recall finding anything too important (except the letter about the using of different blowing agents) or disseminating any information that I found, nor did I really care that much about this part of the mission. Unlocking the puzzle was the fun.
Basketball, Canuck style
We found an old peach basket somewhere, the kind Canadian James Naismith might have used the night he invented basketball in Boston. We cut the bottom of the basket out, and suspended it on the outside front of the control room wall. The floor area between the long cooling conveyor, the palletizer, about 3000 square feet, was our play area. We had 6 people on shift which gave us a perfect split of 3 per team.
Two of my crew, a Tanzanian named Ed (I called him Fast Eddie), and a guy ( Eduardo?) who emigrated from Chile were given soccer balls before they were given shoes when they were kids, so these guys were the obvious captains of each team. The rest of us Canadians who couldn't play soccer had to resort to cheating if we ever wanted to get the ball. The soccer-masters could balance that ball completely with their feet, while we would be running around them trying to kick the ball away. Since that didn’t work, because these guys were just too good, we would tackle them into the fence around the palletizer, push them into the conveyor, or grab their arms and pull them away from the ball. Then we’d run with the ball, as close as we could to the basket without getting tripped by an opposing player, and shoot for it. It was basketball, football, rugby, soccer, all wrapped up in one game. We had injuries and we understood that if anyone had to be bandaged up or brought to the medical center that the reason would be related to plant work. It was rough. Everybody bled at one time or another. We’d push someone into the conveyor, upsetting the board so that it went for a loop, and while the guy with the ball went in for a goal (we allowed only 1 attempt in this case), the others had their knives out to clear the loop. We needed the break anyway. Man, what a tiring game! We were just wiped, especially on those hot summer nights. It was humid in the plant, which didn’t help in the heat department. We did this every night when the plant was running well. No one ever caught us, but a couple times we left the basket up, bringing curious looks and probing questions about what the purpose of it was, from Lionel, the plant engineer. He had a good idea what it was, but not having any accident reports from the day before, he let it pass. He was a good guy.
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
One day someone was throwing balls of used packing tape into a pail, retrieving it, then throwing it back again. Basketball. Soon another operator joined in, taking bets as to who could make the most. I saw what was happening from the control room window, so jumped out and intercepted the ball, spun around and dropped it in the pail. This got one of the operators thinking and the next night shift he shows up with a soccer ball. Being the shift supervisor, I had to lay down the law: we would do all our routine work, and if the plant was running well, the basketball game would start at midnight!We found an old peach basket somewhere, the kind Canadian James Naismith might have used the night he invented basketball in Boston. We cut the bottom of the basket out, and suspended it on the outside front of the control room wall. The floor area between the long cooling conveyor, the palletizer, about 3000 square feet, was our play area. We had 6 people on shift which gave us a perfect split of 3 per team.
Two of my crew, a Tanzanian named Ed (I called him Fast Eddie), and a guy ( Eduardo?) who emigrated from Chile were given soccer balls before they were given shoes when they were kids, so these guys were the obvious captains of each team. The rest of us Canadians who couldn't play soccer had to resort to cheating if we ever wanted to get the ball. The soccer-masters could balance that ball completely with their feet, while we would be running around them trying to kick the ball away. Since that didn’t work, because these guys were just too good, we would tackle them into the fence around the palletizer, push them into the conveyor, or grab their arms and pull them away from the ball. Then we’d run with the ball, as close as we could to the basket without getting tripped by an opposing player, and shoot for it. It was basketball, football, rugby, soccer, all wrapped up in one game. We had injuries and we understood that if anyone had to be bandaged up or brought to the medical center that the reason would be related to plant work. It was rough. Everybody bled at one time or another. We’d push someone into the conveyor, upsetting the board so that it went for a loop, and while the guy with the ball went in for a goal (we allowed only 1 attempt in this case), the others had their knives out to clear the loop. We needed the break anyway. Man, what a tiring game! We were just wiped, especially on those hot summer nights. It was humid in the plant, which didn’t help in the heat department. We did this every night when the plant was running well. No one ever caught us, but a couple times we left the basket up, bringing curious looks and probing questions about what the purpose of it was, from Lionel, the plant engineer. He had a good idea what it was, but not having any accident reports from the day before, he let it pass. He was a good guy.
Hey Jack!
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Another fun thing we did was pallet jack races. These things were heavy-built devices on wheels that we would use to pick up a pallet of "stuff" and wheel it around manually. The jack part was also the handle that we pulled the unit around with; normally this handle was in the upright position to keep it out of the way. By stepping on one of the pallet-jack forks, we could reach over and hang on to the handle, making this thing a big steerable skateboard! With the large rubber wheels and very good bearings, we could really make these things roll. To execute a turn we’d shift our weight on the one fork we were standing on. This worked fine for turning one way, to turn the other way, we had to jump on the other fork and put our weight there. Just like skateboarders. Hell, we probably invented the sport and didn’t even know it! There was also a trick to stopping. The wimps would stick out their foot and drag it on the floor, but the experts like Reg and I would step quickly to the very outside edge of the fork, pull the handle toward us and drop our butts back to shift as much weight as possible. This had the effect of lifting the other fork up in the air and the whole pallet-jack would swing around 180 degrees. Instant stop. You had to execute this right or you could end up flying of the jack and hurting yourself. Or have the jack run you over, and this thing weighed 300 pounds!
Trade Marks
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
(A totally irrelevant observation that has (almost) nothing to do with this book: every time I type the word "Teflon", my word processor underlines it as a spelling mistake. This is because Teflon is a trade mark/name of Dupont Chemical, and as such, should be capitalized. Does it do this for styrofoam? Styrofoam. Yes! It does! Dow went through great pains to make sure that even when we operators wrote the word in the log book that it was capitalized. Many of us even went so far as to put the little copyright symbol after the word. Thus: Styrofoam©. Okay. Ohkkkaaayyyy! Enough already. Styrofoam is a trade mark of Dow Chemical Corporation.
Guttenberg Would be Unhappy
My point? Well, the printing we did on the Styrofoam with this piece-of-shit printer was so bad, it was hard to believe that Dow had ANY kind of printing expertise. I could never fathom the reason why we printed so bad, when the techniques to print perfectly were in another division of the Company!
A few years into the printing with this blue ink, we had to change, to another blue ink, that was "bio-degradable". In other words, vegetable based. Great, now I didn’t have to wash my hands before handling my sandwich.
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
We marked all Styrofoam sheets with blue ink. Go figure: Styrofoam is blue and the ink was blue. This ink was water based, so if you got some on your hands or on the equipment, it was washable. After it dried, one would have to scrape it off like it was water-based glue. The "printer" was a large magnetic drum about 16" in diameter that sat about midway down the cooling conveyor, the 100 foot section between the die and the draw rollers. The drum was magnetic so it would hold two half-circle rubber-surfaced print plates. As the board moved underneath, the rubber face would roll on top of the board, laying down information about the product, and who the trademark owner was. In Eastern Canada, Dow owned a business called "Flexible Packaging" which as the name implies produced labels that were flexible, labels like cigarette carton covers that were metal-foil or plastic based. Hang on, I’ll make my point soon….I visited the building where this was set up and was extremely impressed with the quality of the product. There were huge, and I mean HUGE, rolls about 5 feet in diameter and 3 feet across that must have weighed close to a ton. Each must have contained close to a million separate "labels", all just perfect, and in multi-color. The printing presses used were the size of a small house and cost millions of dollars. My point? Well, the printing we did on the Styrofoam with this piece-of-shit printer was so bad, it was hard to believe that Dow had ANY kind of printing expertise. I could never fathom the reason why we printed so bad, when the techniques to print perfectly were in another division of the Company!
A few years into the printing with this blue ink, we had to change, to another blue ink, that was "bio-degradable". In other words, vegetable based. Great, now I didn’t have to wash my hands before handling my sandwich.
Strippers
Oh yeah, the strippers. When we went out for lunch or go for a beer after work, we would frequent a bar close by that had strippers. This was the 70’s remember, so stripping was quite a novelty, and because it was rather "new", the girls didn’t take much off. Certainly not as much as they do now. We were having lunch one time and not paying much attention to the girl up on the stage. She wasn’t the youngest or the prettiest ( in other words, she was a dog) so we were more interested in food and the music (which I remember was "I Shot the Sheriff" by Eric Clapton). Man, did she get upset! She insisted we watch her dance, and being the Alberta gentlemen we were, we obliged. I don’t think we went back after that because there was no sense getting harassed into watching some old broad taking off some of her clothes.
The Weston plant was old and decrepit. Some of the safety features we expected were non-existent. In one area, around the cooling tower, there was a big net to catch any boards that fell off the tower platforms. We were expected to wear a hard-hat only there, and only when there was a problem. Elsewhere in the plant, where I thought we should wear hard-hats, it was not necessary. I made this comment to Alex, not in a very diplomatic way, and he wrote up a report to my supervisor back home, indicating I was a trouble-maker. I admit I was pretty arrogant and ignorant then, but Alex could have discussed it with me before he ratted me out.` (This was the same Alex who fired me, so I guess he carried a grudge for all that time.)
Reg and I had a bad habit of chewing on plastic stir sticks back home. It seems like we always had one dangling in our mouths when we were at work. When we went to Weston, Reg discovered a big tank car full of polyethylene pellets about the size of a small pea. And they were chewy! He pocketed some, gave some to me and all the time we were there we chewed on these things. We even called them "chewies".
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
The four SuperTechs that were hired for the Styrofoam Plant were sent to the Styrofoam Plant in Ontario (Weston) to help the guys there transition from 8 hour shifts to 12 hour shifts. We had been on 12’s for a year or so and everyone just loved it. The Weston plant was a union plant and there was a lot of controversy and opposition to going to 12’s so we were asked to go and spread the good word, as well as learn the process better and help the operators. This was a period when we were still waiting for the portable plant to be built, so there was lots of slack time. Alex, who would later become our boss in the new Styro Plant in Alberta, was the boss of this plant at the time. We were there for two weeks, a pair of us working alternate shifts, just as we would back at home. Two of us shared a room and when one was working the other would sleep in the bed. On days off, two of us would go out and see the sites. I flew my wife up there and we took the rental car to Niagara Falls. The CN tower was just under construction at the time so we couldn’t see it, well from the top anyway. I took a bunch of movies from the bottom and shot some scenes of the tourist information signs around the base of the tower. I remember one of my pans of a painting of the tower looking so realistic, it was as if I had shot the actual tower.Oh yeah, the strippers. When we went out for lunch or go for a beer after work, we would frequent a bar close by that had strippers. This was the 70’s remember, so stripping was quite a novelty, and because it was rather "new", the girls didn’t take much off. Certainly not as much as they do now. We were having lunch one time and not paying much attention to the girl up on the stage. She wasn’t the youngest or the prettiest ( in other words, she was a dog) so we were more interested in food and the music (which I remember was "I Shot the Sheriff" by Eric Clapton). Man, did she get upset! She insisted we watch her dance, and being the Alberta gentlemen we were, we obliged. I don’t think we went back after that because there was no sense getting harassed into watching some old broad taking off some of her clothes.
The Weston plant was old and decrepit. Some of the safety features we expected were non-existent. In one area, around the cooling tower, there was a big net to catch any boards that fell off the tower platforms. We were expected to wear a hard-hat only there, and only when there was a problem. Elsewhere in the plant, where I thought we should wear hard-hats, it was not necessary. I made this comment to Alex, not in a very diplomatic way, and he wrote up a report to my supervisor back home, indicating I was a trouble-maker. I admit I was pretty arrogant and ignorant then, but Alex could have discussed it with me before he ratted me out.` (This was the same Alex who fired me, so I guess he carried a grudge for all that time.)
Reg and I had a bad habit of chewing on plastic stir sticks back home. It seems like we always had one dangling in our mouths when we were at work. When we went to Weston, Reg discovered a big tank car full of polyethylene pellets about the size of a small pea. And they were chewy! He pocketed some, gave some to me and all the time we were there we chewed on these things. We even called them "chewies".
3 Supervisors
All 3 of these gentlemen were very fine people, and very talented. At the time, since I was between them and the operators, my allegiance was with the little guy, not management. So we went head-to-head on a number of issues. Now that I’m more mature, something that took 30 years, I can understand better what they were trying to do. If I had my life to live over again one thing I would change would be my attitude towards management. Years after my work at this plant, I sent a letter to Terry to thank him for being a good boss and apologize for my being such a jerk!
Friday, April 02, 2021
At the Styrofoam Plant, I was a "boss" because I was a Supervising Technician. But I also had 3 immediate supervisors. First there was the Plant foreman, Tom, an electrician by trade. He was responsible mostly for the interface or liaison between operators (the SuperTechs) and management. Being a technical guy (and farmer) he supervised the shop guys and allocated their time and maintenance work. Lionel, a young engineer right out of the University of Saskatoon was responsible for production and coming up with new ways to increase production or fix problems. Finally, there was Terry the Plant Manager who had overall responsibility for the entire Styrofoam Plant. (This is different than the "Works" Manager who had responsibility for the entire complex and therefore Terry’s boss.) All 3 had a say in day-to-day operations so that I would have to treat each one as my superior, although we all treated the young engineer as an inferior. We did this mostly because he was too eager, too young, and too high up the food chain. We had to cut him down a notch or two. Terry was also young and very ambitious, but he had more power: the power to fire you, while Lionel and Tom could only recommend that you be fired. There was a difference.All 3 of these gentlemen were very fine people, and very talented. At the time, since I was between them and the operators, my allegiance was with the little guy, not management. So we went head-to-head on a number of issues. Now that I’m more mature, something that took 30 years, I can understand better what they were trying to do. If I had my life to live over again one thing I would change would be my attitude towards management. Years after my work at this plant, I sent a letter to Terry to thank him for being a good boss and apologize for my being such a jerk!
The Grumpy Scotsman
We had had a bad month. For whatever reason we had not produced much good product when the plant was running and instead were producing a lot of scrap. This was costly because it took energy and man-power to produce scrap and then later to reclaim that scrap by recycling it in another process. On this one particular day-shift, the plant was shut-down when I arrived for work that morning due to some problem which had occurred an hour or so earlier. The maintenance crew repaired the problem and I started the plant up. For a number of hours I made scrap which was not unusual to do after a plant upset or shut-down. I then elected to shut the plant down again to do a routine procedure called "replacing the Teflons". These were Teflon strips we glued on to large pieces of angled aluminum (called "shoes") on each side of the die from which the hot Styrofoam gel would eject. These required frequent replacement because of the hot, rapidly foaming gel impinging on their surfaces, and also due to the action of these large metal plates on the top and bottom of the die that were used to form the foaming gel into a flat board we called Styrofoam insulation board. The plates would move vertically up and down, rubbing on the shoe Teflons. Normally the Teflons lasted for many days, which was fortunate because they could only be changed when the plant was shut-down. Even though a spare set was always available and ready to swap in, shutting down for 20 minutes was like going to the corner store for cigarettes in a white-out: it really wasn’t worth it. Chances of not making scrap for a couple of hours was slight. Sometimes we got lucky, but other times, we just couldn’t get the plant "lined-out" with the exact conditions we had before the shut-down.
Friday, April 02, 2021
Terry was replaced by the former manager of the Ontario Styrofoam operation, a Scotsman named Alex. Alex was a grumpy old man, not very well liked or respected because his decisions were based mostly on the need to have good production figures instead of considering all the factors. This came to a head, when many of our SuperTechs and some operators began moving out of Styrofoam. Some of the moves were because of the changing of the guard, some because the work at Styrofoam was extremely grueling at times (especially during an upset), but a lot were simply because new opportunities arose in other plants. The 3 SuperTechs I started in this plant with: Lanny, Bob, and Reg all moved out of Styro before me. Lanny and Reg went to the new Vinyl Chloride Plant, and Bob quit Dow to start his own business, cement coring. I was the last of the original bunch after 5 years and was only there because I had made the decision to quit and go to school soon. We had had a bad month. For whatever reason we had not produced much good product when the plant was running and instead were producing a lot of scrap. This was costly because it took energy and man-power to produce scrap and then later to reclaim that scrap by recycling it in another process. On this one particular day-shift, the plant was shut-down when I arrived for work that morning due to some problem which had occurred an hour or so earlier. The maintenance crew repaired the problem and I started the plant up. For a number of hours I made scrap which was not unusual to do after a plant upset or shut-down. I then elected to shut the plant down again to do a routine procedure called "replacing the Teflons". These were Teflon strips we glued on to large pieces of angled aluminum (called "shoes") on each side of the die from which the hot Styrofoam gel would eject. These required frequent replacement because of the hot, rapidly foaming gel impinging on their surfaces, and also due to the action of these large metal plates on the top and bottom of the die that were used to form the foaming gel into a flat board we called Styrofoam insulation board. The plates would move vertically up and down, rubbing on the shoe Teflons. Normally the Teflons lasted for many days, which was fortunate because they could only be changed when the plant was shut-down. Even though a spare set was always available and ready to swap in, shutting down for 20 minutes was like going to the corner store for cigarettes in a white-out: it really wasn’t worth it. Chances of not making scrap for a couple of hours was slight. Sometimes we got lucky, but other times, we just couldn’t get the plant "lined-out" with the exact conditions we had before the shut-down.
Setting the Stage
It was 11 AM. We had all been working like dogs, the sled type, since 7 AM. The operators were cranky, hot, sweaty, tired, hungry, thirsty. This was typical of startups when scrap was being made: no breaks, only hard, tiring work. So, before I installed the set of standby shoes, I told everyone to take a break of ½ hour. Once I started the plant up again, it could be that we would not see lunch until 4 PM, so it was important that they had at least one break in the day. (One of my operators was a Newfie, the guy who rammed the pop machine with the fork-lift because he didn’t get his drink. I didn’t need him any more cranky than he was.)
Friday, April 02, 2021
I had elected to do the replacement because during the longer shutdown, a hard piece of gel or a foreign particle (like a piece of wood from a pallet mixed in with the recycle material) had gotten into the die and was screwing up the board. I rapidly opened the die and the plates to dislodge it, and in so doing crushed the shoe Teflon. Damn! I had to shut-down.It was 11 AM. We had all been working like dogs, the sled type, since 7 AM. The operators were cranky, hot, sweaty, tired, hungry, thirsty. This was typical of startups when scrap was being made: no breaks, only hard, tiring work. So, before I installed the set of standby shoes, I told everyone to take a break of ½ hour. Once I started the plant up again, it could be that we would not see lunch until 4 PM, so it was important that they had at least one break in the day. (One of my operators was a Newfie, the guy who rammed the pop machine with the fork-lift because he didn’t get his drink. I didn’t need him any more cranky than he was.)
Telling the Boss where to Go
He came to the control room and asked me why the plant wasn’t running. I told him the story about having to change Teflons. "Yeah, so what? How come you’re not starting up?" Again I explained that my operators hadn’t had a break in 4 hours and needed a rest. My answers didn’t seem to sink in that they were fair and logical. Alex was relentless in his counter-questions, not really caring what my excuses were. "Start the damn thing up", he said. I lost it. I screamed at him: "Well get the f--- out of my control room and let me do it then!" He walked out and I gave the horn signal to the operators that a start-up was imminent. Of course they came to the control room wondering what the hell was going on and if they could at least finish their poured cups of coffee. I said yes, but in 10 minutes there would be foam coming out of the die. I never took a break at all that day. It was one where I left the plant with my lunch box pretty well undisturbed.
After telling my supervisor, Alex, to "get the f… out of my control room", the plant was started. As expected I made a lot of scrap, which was palletized and put in the warehouse where operators would retrieve it later for recycling. I finished my 3 day shift, had 3 days off, then came back for the last 3 days of my existence at Dow Chemical, because I had tendered my resignation effective at the end of that cycle. Returning the first evening of my shift I had brought my movie camera so I could take movies of the "saw-line", not because of some disloyal act, but just because I wanted a record, a memento, so to speak, of my time there. I was loyal to Dow to the final days and would never have sold any secrets to anyone, no less than I would sell out my country. I also brought along, in my truck-camper that I took to work that evening a case of beer for my operators. Okay, okay, that was probably bad, but my intention was just to have a glass for everyone, sometime early in the morning, like about 2 AM. I just wanted to say goodbye to my crew in "style". I never would have let them have more than a glass of beer, such that it would impair their work. That would have been criminal.
Friday, April 02, 2021
To set the stage of my last confrontation ("The Last Hurrah") with any Dow manager, it’s important to know that exactly 3 days previous to this day, on Aug 14, 1979 I tendered my resignation because I registered for full-time classes at the local college, beginning in September. So poor Alex was hit with another resignation, a plant that wasn’t running and had not produced much product in the last couple months. He was cranky.He came to the control room and asked me why the plant wasn’t running. I told him the story about having to change Teflons. "Yeah, so what? How come you’re not starting up?" Again I explained that my operators hadn’t had a break in 4 hours and needed a rest. My answers didn’t seem to sink in that they were fair and logical. Alex was relentless in his counter-questions, not really caring what my excuses were. "Start the damn thing up", he said. I lost it. I screamed at him: "Well get the f--- out of my control room and let me do it then!" He walked out and I gave the horn signal to the operators that a start-up was imminent. Of course they came to the control room wondering what the hell was going on and if they could at least finish their poured cups of coffee. I said yes, but in 10 minutes there would be foam coming out of the die. I never took a break at all that day. It was one where I left the plant with my lunch box pretty well undisturbed.
After telling my supervisor, Alex, to "get the f… out of my control room", the plant was started. As expected I made a lot of scrap, which was palletized and put in the warehouse where operators would retrieve it later for recycling. I finished my 3 day shift, had 3 days off, then came back for the last 3 days of my existence at Dow Chemical, because I had tendered my resignation effective at the end of that cycle. Returning the first evening of my shift I had brought my movie camera so I could take movies of the "saw-line", not because of some disloyal act, but just because I wanted a record, a memento, so to speak, of my time there. I was loyal to Dow to the final days and would never have sold any secrets to anyone, no less than I would sell out my country. I also brought along, in my truck-camper that I took to work that evening a case of beer for my operators. Okay, okay, that was probably bad, but my intention was just to have a glass for everyone, sometime early in the morning, like about 2 AM. I just wanted to say goodbye to my crew in "style". I never would have let them have more than a glass of beer, such that it would impair their work. That would have been criminal.
Coffee, Alex?
"I was asked to come in by Alex, who by the way, wants to see you in his office", was the reply.
At that moment a representative from employee relations was in the lunch room and said he would accompany me to Alex’s office.
I entered Alex’s office with a coffee in my hand, which I put down on his desk. Then I asked "What’s up?". The answer came from the ER guy who said that I was being "terminated" early. I asked what for and was told that I "made too much scrap on my last shift". Now this was pretty ludicrous because not only has no one ever been disciplined for making too much scrap, they would never be dismissed for it. Besides, all shifts had times in the last 5 years where they made nothing but scrap for the entire shift, continuing on to the next. Making scrap was much like a saw-mill that turns out wood boards: depending on the quality of the feedstock, how well the saws cut or are maintained, determines how good a product they produce. The garbage that comes out is sold as inferior low-grade wood, like those cheap kiln-dried studs a person buys for 89 cents each. We had no such luxury at Styrofoam, except for the fact that all scrap was recyclable, using the "reclaim" extruder.
I ask Alex to show me this scrap, because every pallet that came out of the die, whether scrap or good product was inventoried and tagged. We couldn’t just say we made scrap and then have some business on the side where we sold it as good stuff. There were controls. He refused. I said I had the right to see the evidence that is being used to make the decision of terminating my employment. Again he refused and started to become irritated. When he could see I wouldn’t let up, he used another excuse: "Because you were abusive", he said, in reference to my telling him to F-off. That was "probably" true, but certainly not critical enough to fire me over it. I then made reference to his abuse of power by making me start up the plant without giving the operators a break. We argued back and forth, to no avail: he wanted me out of there. Despite the fact that Dow was going to pay me for the next 3 days which I was not going to work, and let my reasons for leaving stand, that is, I DID resign, I was really, really pissed off by Alex’s abuse of power, and his refusal to even consider my side of the story. Sooooo…..
When I realized he would win, because of that power, I started by calling him every dirty filthy name in my repertoire. Then I stood up, smashed his desk mail-box to the floor, and pushed my cup of coffee over, causing the papers still on the desk to get soaked. I then turned to the door to see the ER person just frozen there, and I told him to "Get the f--- out of the way or I’ll move you!", as I angrily shook my fist.
Friday, April 02, 2021
I went to the lunch room to put my lunch in the fridge and was surprised to see 2 SuperTechs there: the one I was replacing on shift, and another one who should not have been there. "What are you doing here?" I asked. "I was asked to come in by Alex, who by the way, wants to see you in his office", was the reply.
At that moment a representative from employee relations was in the lunch room and said he would accompany me to Alex’s office.
I entered Alex’s office with a coffee in my hand, which I put down on his desk. Then I asked "What’s up?". The answer came from the ER guy who said that I was being "terminated" early. I asked what for and was told that I "made too much scrap on my last shift". Now this was pretty ludicrous because not only has no one ever been disciplined for making too much scrap, they would never be dismissed for it. Besides, all shifts had times in the last 5 years where they made nothing but scrap for the entire shift, continuing on to the next. Making scrap was much like a saw-mill that turns out wood boards: depending on the quality of the feedstock, how well the saws cut or are maintained, determines how good a product they produce. The garbage that comes out is sold as inferior low-grade wood, like those cheap kiln-dried studs a person buys for 89 cents each. We had no such luxury at Styrofoam, except for the fact that all scrap was recyclable, using the "reclaim" extruder.
I ask Alex to show me this scrap, because every pallet that came out of the die, whether scrap or good product was inventoried and tagged. We couldn’t just say we made scrap and then have some business on the side where we sold it as good stuff. There were controls. He refused. I said I had the right to see the evidence that is being used to make the decision of terminating my employment. Again he refused and started to become irritated. When he could see I wouldn’t let up, he used another excuse: "Because you were abusive", he said, in reference to my telling him to F-off. That was "probably" true, but certainly not critical enough to fire me over it. I then made reference to his abuse of power by making me start up the plant without giving the operators a break. We argued back and forth, to no avail: he wanted me out of there. Despite the fact that Dow was going to pay me for the next 3 days which I was not going to work, and let my reasons for leaving stand, that is, I DID resign, I was really, really pissed off by Alex’s abuse of power, and his refusal to even consider my side of the story. Sooooo…..
When I realized he would win, because of that power, I started by calling him every dirty filthy name in my repertoire. Then I stood up, smashed his desk mail-box to the floor, and pushed my cup of coffee over, causing the papers still on the desk to get soaked. I then turned to the door to see the ER person just frozen there, and I told him to "Get the f--- out of the way or I’ll move you!", as I angrily shook my fist.
Hosing Down the Boss
Friday, April 02, 2021
I guess this was a little more than what they expected so they got on the phone real quick to get security out to our plant. He arrived to supervise me clearing out my locker. After that was finished, I walked down the hallway to the production floor where I was going to turn left to go to the control room so I could say goodbye to my operators. The passage was blocked by Alex. I went up to him again, and screamed a blue streak at him again, because I was even more pissed that he wouldn’t even let me say goodbye. At that moment, I thought about going back into the hallway to get a water extinguisher, the kind we used for water fights, come back out and just drench him. By then however, the security guard was sort of preventing me from going anywhere. I probably could have just "dipped in" to get it before anyone knew what I was going to do, but I didn’t. To this day, I think about this, and wish I would have gone through with that plan. I’m sure the remaining operators would have made a martyr out of me!.
This Rodney Got my Respect
Friday, April 02, 2021
One of my operators, Rod, who came right out of school to work at Dow, heard about what was going on, and he got real pissed off. He walked up to me and Alex, asked Alex for confirmation of what transpired. When I responded with "I got fired", Rod ripped off his hard hat and threw it at Alex’s feet, with the comment: "If this is how you guys treat people, then I don’t want to work here. I quit!" And he did.