A few of the back-handed compliments ...25 12 13
...spoken with tongue in cheek perhaps if only on occasion!
Like when Leo Martin the Gen Mgr of Crompton's Paper Mill in Elton, Bury was heard to have exclaimed after I showed him my response to a request from Oy Visko Ab's management in the shape of Reino Österlund, for me to describe the essential nature of Casing Paper in terms of its construction, including the use of regenerated cellulose for wet-strengthening using an on-machine size-pressing station, using a similar solution of viscose, which had similar properties to Oy Visko Ab's processes. The thing he probably didn't reflect on was that my description came from working in the pulp industry that produced the Dissolving Pulp for this process, the Cellophane Film industry to produce Cellophane, likewise from this process, and now working as Research and Development Mgr for JR Crompton and Bros Ltd, who used it for wet-streghtening Casing base papers. His asking me had I stayed up all night to write the description I had written, clearly impressed him with my choice of words, etc., etc.
Next off, his successor in David Taylor, who pointedly said I was like the proverbial British Bulldog, that once I got my teeth into a problem I would never let go. The case in point was the fact that our Sausage Casing Paper quality had been lost by the joint efforts of his Chief Chemist, a guy called Peter Craddock and David's predecessor as Gen Magr, the same Leo Martin, as above, who had now been elevated beyond his competence to Research and Development Director, a post he shared with my predecessor in Joe Grogan, perhaps also joint Production Directors...
But guilty of the crime of throwing the baby out with the bath water, no matter how many opportunities he was presented with to come clean about his mistake! In this case, ceasing to do the simple Water Climb test to measure a paper's absorbency. And why? Because in the past it had always given the same result of 7, i.e. was it 7 cm of a climb due to capillary action, or did it take 7 seconds to reach an inch of ascent from the surface of the water, one or the other. So that when the paper's absorbency nose-dived the result wasn't observed, so omitting corrective action when 20 tonnes of paper was rejected as unfit for purpose by our customer in Chicago, USA.
As a consequence, ultimately we had to make Craddock redundant, to avoid his continuing confuscation in confusing others in the team working to put the matter of measuring a Paper's Absorbency characteristics back on track. I guess at this point D.T. too came to realise the folly of keeping P.C. aboard.
Then, after retiring in 2008 as Management Consultant, kept on following retirement in 2004, to conclude two further patent disputes in the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office, together with the work of an International Comite (Comite International De La Pellicule Cellulosique), sponsored by the European Union at which I had represented the Company, and the country, to complete 20 years of meetings, and the commission to write the first draft of the Guide to Good Manufacturing Practice for Non Edible Cellulose Food Casings, I began my retirement proper when the last example came to pass.
With my phoning my once Supervisor for the Company when after 16 years, when he failed at first to recognise my English, but then exclaimed "Ah yes! The Legendary ****** ****".
Clearly back-handed because it is not in a Finn's nature to compliment anyone in the normal course of events.
But as a naturalized Finn in no way able to escape my British culture I will offer the following as a means to understand this one!
Being of the British Working Classes I, from my first days in Finland related to the lesser Finnish speaking Finns, rather than the "Betre" ppl, the Swedish speaking: and so it would always be even though I was now working as a Board member in a Finnish Company as the only "Finnish speaking" member; some of the others speaking it, but a good number only Swedish speaking.
But from the top down my knowledge of the most important component of a fibrous casing in its base paper's properties, has to be the key to my success of working for them: that and my knowledge of all their competitors. My professionalism then on the one hand, linked to my superior knowledge of the industries that the manufacture of fibrous casings relies upon, ensured I would stay employed beyond the 4 year term of my contract. But here special mention has to be made of the Finn's humanity: to have dispensed with my services once these four years were completed: after giving them the world's lightest fibrous casing, the only one to compete with the lesser cheaper Collagen used previously by countries like Rumania and Bulgaria. A development I would see enjoy essentially World Patenting rights awarded in the Patent Opposition Divisions of the developed world.
Having advised of the efficasy of having Central Computer Controlled process control in-line with certain nameless competitors, together with custom designed Drying Trains for like-demanding drying machinery manufactured in Northern England, from where I hailed. And when our US competitors had Fibrous Food Casings re-classified as Pastics, owing to the fact that greater than 50 percent of their weight comprised regenerated cellulose, classified as a platics material, I was key, as expert witness, in the New York Court of International Law, in having them returned to the Paper Chapter of the Brussels Nomenclature for International Trade, by virtue of their "Essential Nature" prevailing as the more importand determinant, deriving from their Paper Base, nevermind its weight qualification.
And were this insufficient, when I left my job of being responsible for keeping those in the USA sweet with Visko's quality during the 20 to 30 years I had been involved with it, while essentially keeping my head down, when I left to retire they promptly lost their 100% ability to supply the US's Hormel Peperoni Plants, that previously relied on Visko, today I'm guessing they managed to re-qualify, but doubtful to the same 100%..!?
The challenge then for someone to deny me the right to go on living here, seeing one of the town's most successful companies now producing 5 times more product than when I first visited, with only 2/3rds the work force, but with only scant mention of my contribution, almost as if I was just another worker, in its annals of published history, 1952 to 2002. lol
Like when Leo Martin the Gen Mgr of Crompton's Paper Mill in Elton, Bury was heard to have exclaimed after I showed him my response to a request from Oy Visko Ab's management in the shape of Reino Österlund, for me to describe the essential nature of Casing Paper in terms of its construction, including the use of regenerated cellulose for wet-strengthening using an on-machine size-pressing station, using a similar solution of viscose, which had similar properties to Oy Visko Ab's processes. The thing he probably didn't reflect on was that my description came from working in the pulp industry that produced the Dissolving Pulp for this process, the Cellophane Film industry to produce Cellophane, likewise from this process, and now working as Research and Development Mgr for JR Crompton and Bros Ltd, who used it for wet-streghtening Casing base papers. His asking me had I stayed up all night to write the description I had written, clearly impressed him with my choice of words, etc., etc.
Next off, his successor in David Taylor, who pointedly said I was like the proverbial British Bulldog, that once I got my teeth into a problem I would never let go. The case in point was the fact that our Sausage Casing Paper quality had been lost by the joint efforts of his Chief Chemist, a guy called Peter Craddock and David's predecessor as Gen Magr, the same Leo Martin, as above, who had now been elevated beyond his competence to Research and Development Director, a post he shared with my predecessor in Joe Grogan, perhaps also joint Production Directors...
But guilty of the crime of throwing the baby out with the bath water, no matter how many opportunities he was presented with to come clean about his mistake! In this case, ceasing to do the simple Water Climb test to measure a paper's absorbency. And why? Because in the past it had always given the same result of 7, i.e. was it 7 cm of a climb due to capillary action, or did it take 7 seconds to reach an inch of ascent from the surface of the water, one or the other. So that when the paper's absorbency nose-dived the result wasn't observed, so omitting corrective action when 20 tonnes of paper was rejected as unfit for purpose by our customer in Chicago, USA.
As a consequence, ultimately we had to make Craddock redundant, to avoid his continuing confuscation in confusing others in the team working to put the matter of measuring a Paper's Absorbency characteristics back on track. I guess at this point D.T. too came to realise the folly of keeping P.C. aboard.
Then, after retiring in 2008 as Management Consultant, kept on following retirement in 2004, to conclude two further patent disputes in the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office, together with the work of an International Comite (Comite International De La Pellicule Cellulosique), sponsored by the European Union at which I had represented the Company, and the country, to complete 20 years of meetings, and the commission to write the first draft of the Guide to Good Manufacturing Practice for Non Edible Cellulose Food Casings, I began my retirement proper when the last example came to pass.
With my phoning my once Supervisor for the Company when after 16 years, when he failed at first to recognise my English, but then exclaimed "Ah yes! The Legendary ****** ****".
Clearly back-handed because it is not in a Finn's nature to compliment anyone in the normal course of events.
But as a naturalized Finn in no way able to escape my British culture I will offer the following as a means to understand this one!
Being of the British Working Classes I, from my first days in Finland related to the lesser Finnish speaking Finns, rather than the "Betre" ppl, the Swedish speaking: and so it would always be even though I was now working as a Board member in a Finnish Company as the only "Finnish speaking" member; some of the others speaking it, but a good number only Swedish speaking.
But from the top down my knowledge of the most important component of a fibrous casing in its base paper's properties, has to be the key to my success of working for them: that and my knowledge of all their competitors. My professionalism then on the one hand, linked to my superior knowledge of the industries that the manufacture of fibrous casings relies upon, ensured I would stay employed beyond the 4 year term of my contract. But here special mention has to be made of the Finn's humanity: to have dispensed with my services once these four years were completed: after giving them the world's lightest fibrous casing, the only one to compete with the lesser cheaper Collagen used previously by countries like Rumania and Bulgaria. A development I would see enjoy essentially World Patenting rights awarded in the Patent Opposition Divisions of the developed world.
Having advised of the efficasy of having Central Computer Controlled process control in-line with certain nameless competitors, together with custom designed Drying Trains for like-demanding drying machinery manufactured in Northern England, from where I hailed. And when our US competitors had Fibrous Food Casings re-classified as Pastics, owing to the fact that greater than 50 percent of their weight comprised regenerated cellulose, classified as a platics material, I was key, as expert witness, in the New York Court of International Law, in having them returned to the Paper Chapter of the Brussels Nomenclature for International Trade, by virtue of their "Essential Nature" prevailing as the more importand determinant, deriving from their Paper Base, nevermind its weight qualification.
And were this insufficient, when I left my job of being responsible for keeping those in the USA sweet with Visko's quality during the 20 to 30 years I had been involved with it, while essentially keeping my head down, when I left to retire they promptly lost their 100% ability to supply the US's Hormel Peperoni Plants, that previously relied on Visko, today I'm guessing they managed to re-qualify, but doubtful to the same 100%..!?
The challenge then for someone to deny me the right to go on living here, seeing one of the town's most successful companies now producing 5 times more product than when I first visited, with only 2/3rds the work force, but with only scant mention of my contribution, almost as if I was just another worker, in its annals of published history, 1952 to 2002. lol
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