Document rBg0gL54M1B4JdQ91NONn209G

PCB- A Threat or a False Alarm POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYL which wu ftrt rccognixed m con taminant in 1964, has since been found In various concentrations in food packaging! and also in poultry and Ash. Because of its close structural similarity to DDT (both are chlori nated hydrocarbons), it was imme diately viewed with suspicion. How did PGB find its way into food packaging materials or even into turkeys and fish? PCB is a chlorinated hydrocarbon manufactured by Monsanto Com pany and marketed as a materia! used in heat exchangers. It is also used in the manufacture of NCR papers. The latter, when recycled. Introduced the PCB into waste-paper pulp used In the manufacture of cylinder board. Alternatively, when used In heat-exchange units, any spills will lead Vo the eventual pret ence of PCB in poultry, fish and even the growing plant. Accordingly, the presence of this compound in varying quantities in poultry, fish and food packaging materials has produced quite a scare, so that Monsanto has agreed to discontinue marketing the mate rial for non-controllablc applications and FDA has limited the quantity permissible in packagings to a maxi mum of 5ppm -- the same as for DDT. Other Complications One would have thought that the constraint imposed by IDA upon the permissible concentration of PCB would have eliminated the problem. This is not so. The difficulty is that there seems to be no accurate method of de termining the quantity of PCB in any material. The results of analysis -- carried out by gas chromatog raphy or spectroscopy -- arc too un certain and cannot be reproduced. The same sample may show 5ppm of PCB on one occasion and then may go up to lOppm on the next try. Moreover, its similarity with DDT makes it uncertain whether you are measuring one or the other The Institute of Paper Chemistry in Appleton, Wisconsin, is currently engaged in designing methods that will result In more accurate analysis To compound the problem still further, certain experiments carried out in Europe seem to indicate that pure PCB is not toxic, that the tox icity is caused by dibenzoyl furan which appears as a contaminant in the commercial grades of PCB. It has also been suggested dial, because of the extreme stability of PCB (It is reported to be more stable than DDT), it may be completely harmless to animals or human beings. With the current interest in PCB, it is likely that these questions will be resolved within a few years. BRIDGING HIE PRODUCTIVITY GAP (Continued from pope 23) shortcomings. The pulp mill superintendent may find that tltere are n great many things which he can do to Itclp the paper mill superintendent. Ho may even dis cover that he is the biggest problem to improving op erations in the paper mill. The mill accountant may learn that the standard cost analyst who works in the pajxr mill area is not doing an effective job of training paper mill supervision to use standard cost. Objective setting which j-t locked into a secrecy relationship botwee!) a manager and his individual subordinates can never get at all the facts. When information is shared fully between departmental areas in objective setting on a team basis, an organization development process is created. II i.v also worthy of mention that all managers will work harder to achieve their objectives when the maturity of their planning and thinking is exposed to other managers who work at their own level. A man ager may not respond to the pressure of bis boss, but hr is unusual when he fails to respond to the pressure of his own pride, when his thinking process is exposed to his own peers. More importantly, we find that man agers will give their own time to helping a peer who is clearly out of step with the work group. Never underestimate the powerful social forces of the group in helping a manager develop a subordinate who is in trouble. If you base a problem child, do not overlook the fact that the entire work group may need counsel ing in a team setting to solve the problem. All ton often, when introducing a new set of con cepts to line managers, we fail to recognize that we can try to teach too much too soon about the technical details of tire new concepts. We always try to avoid this mistake. Line managers already know far more from their own experience than they arc using Importance of Increased Involvement In the Mini Brcaks-Maxi Profits Program we in troduced the concept of increased involvement wf hourly workers in improving company operations. We did not give our line managers a clcnrlv defined struc ture to accomplish this. The training in work simplifi cation techniques did explain tlie use of project te ams Wc then asked the line managers to find additional ways to involve workers. Crew meetings ami crew train ing were later identified by them as successful tech niques based on actual mill experiewr. (hit of this ex perience. a new formal structure of involvement was created. Now, we arc engaged in developing and refin ing the details of (he new formal structure One of the most important functions of staff pen- pic is to identify the significant creative ideas which arc' developed spontaneously by the line organization Human ingenuity often already has developed great ideas for solving most problems of the organization. Staff should somehow find these ideas, describe' them, and make them available to all other members of () organization. With our new work improvement sys tem, we fed that we finally have a practical fiame- work within winch wc can put this phtlosopln to work on at) objective basis. 24 HCNS 062931 AMERICAN PAPER INDUSTRY Otcembtr, WM If the line manager is to be effective, he must recog nize that standards of performance create identifica tion of problems. He is aware that these problems may be based on faulty assumptions, and the absence of imagination to see opportunities for innovation. He therefore listens, has respect for the ideas and opinions of others, and allows each employee to challenge the svstem through proposed innovation and change. In snort, ho recognizes that opportunities for innovation offer greater opportunity for profits than the blind use of standards of performance as the final answer in creating operating objectives. The history of the Mini Breaks-Maxi Profits Pro gram, and the birth of the Work Improvement System, in Southern Kraft Division in 1970, rests on the foundation of six previous years of formal manage ment development activity. It is a story of the applica tion of learning theory to a work environment. It con tains some important lessons for the management of training activities. Lesions From Recent Experiences First, it is Important to recognize that operating level managers need earlv warning of anv important changes in operating conditions. This provides a frame of reference for defining problems and identifying changes in behavior which are needed to meet the changes in conditions. Training should be planned to accomplish the critical changes in behavior which arc necessary to achievement of objectives. The Mini Breaks-Maxi Profits Program was bom out of shaq) change in operating conditions. We had the advantage of lead time for planning provided by the alert responses of corporate management. Through the years, we had become accustomed to managing very large capital improvement budgets. Suddenly, in July, 1960, we were told that wo should not expect much in tlrc way of capital funds in 1970. We had several months advance notice that we would be playing an entirely new ball gamel Hie training function became active in implement ing the Mini Breaks-Maxi Profits Program in early November, 1909. The Division Management Develop ment Department was asked to develop a training strategy to accomplish reduction of downtime. The important lesson in this event is that the need for training was the outcome of an operating goal to re duce downtime. All too often, the training organiza tion engages in abstract forms of training which are not related to actual operations improvement needs identified by line managers. A few months before, we had evaluated work simplification as an involvement SAMUEL W. JENKINS A WmI Point graduate with ten year* of army assignment* in education and training who ha* heen with 7/P'* Southern 7Cra/f Div. for 15 year*-- th but ix in management development. He is active In the Amer. Soe. for Training and Develop ment and hae an honorary Bachelor of Human Engineering from Georgia Tech. December, 1971 AMERICAN PAPER INDUSTRY technique. The pilot study of work simplification tech niques gave us real insights into the powerful leverage of involving our employees in organization change. At one mill, a project team study of the storeroom opera tions resulted in changes in storeroom procedure* which produce annual savings of approximately $100.00. We learned from this successful experience that em ployee involvement is essential to making any im portant organization changes. An important lesson is implicit at this point of selecting the training approach in an actual mill en vironment. We had learned how to use the techniques and get acceptance of line management. When w presented our recommendations, we had more than speculation about the success of the techniques of work simplification. We had a strong success story with the support of a mill manager, his mill staff, and his department heads. The proposal to use work simplification was approved as a strategy of training to reduce downtime on our paper machines. We made an important change in introducing the Mini Breaks-Maxi Profits Program. Previously, it had been out practice to bring the mill managers together first to explain a new program. Experience had taught us that each mill manager typically returned to his mill with enthusiasm, but with nis own supervisors unin formed about tlic new program. This placed all the burden on the mill manager to explain the program. In this instance, we prepared the production superin tendent and maintenance and engineering superin tendent to plan their mill program. They were then able to return to their mill ana assume responsibility for developing mill plans to implement the program. One of the lessons that we confirmed, in this instance, was the need to train the senior mill staff in Advance. This did not take away each mill managers freedom and responsibility to develop his own plans. But it did relieve the manager from tire details of educating and training his own staff in the details of the program. The process of setting objectives for reduction of downtime in each mitl in late 1909 and early 1970 clearly demonstrated the multiplying effect which oc curs when objectives arc set on a team basis. Our earlv experience with management by objectives stressed the man-boss relationship as the context within which objectives should be set. In the early stages of ex perience, the emphasis should be on setting objectives through discussion between man and boss. However, as individuals acquire maturity with objective skills, objective setting should shift to small work groups, and finally involve a joint setting of all departmental objectives. Optimum Performance Related to Optimum Relationships Optimum performance is a result of creating opti mum relationships between all operating and service functions. For example, when a paper mill superin tendent presents his proposed objectives to all other assembled departmental managers, this is a great op portunity for other managers to learn about their own p NONS 062932 23