Anssi Muurimäki
R&D Engineer, Paper and Board
Wooaah!!
The first month at Weidmann has truly flown by. The number of the introductionary sessions has decreased after the first weeks and actual work starts to take place. Of course, there is still much more to get introduced to and much more to learn, but I also start to get involved in projects.
In my first project I get to examine our fiber raw material and continue a study that has been comparing differences between them. Earlier in this project basic fiber properties and refining behavior were already analysed. What is left for me is to produce board and paper with our laboratory board machine and to run the full range of mechanical and electrical tests with the product. These are the same tests that apply to the saleable production of Transformerboard of Weidmann Electrical Technology. Therefore, results can teach us to use raw materials in a more efficient way. This was also a good possibility to learn how to operate our unique laboratory machinery.
After pressing the appropriate control buttons and turning valves a few times under supervision, I’m starting to understand how the lab machine is set-up and how to operate it. Doing things with my hands instead of watching someone else doing the work helps me to adapt and understand things much better. In addition, doing experiments manually has once again taught me how easily experiments can fail if something unexpected occurs. However I believe that a failure can teach even more than a successful experiment. After a failure you really have to stop and think what happened and led to the failure. Once the main reason is figured out, avoiding a similar failure in the future becomes possible. But no worries, I did not break the machine.
All along I am progressing with the integration into Weidmann. Routes and locations at our mill in Rapperswil also start to get familiar, even though I still find myself being in a wrong floor or aisle of the Weidmann labyrinth every now and then. But that is also a good way learn places and get to know new colleagues while wandering around.
Now it’s time to apply my new know-how and possibly make some mistakes 😉
Anssi