My Production Facility, My Laboratory of Discovery

Abstract

By exercising of one's curiosity, in combination with a lot of persistence, it is possible to solve some seemingly intractable problems. Many readers of this journal will have spent much, if not all of their careers, in university laboratories. In such settings there is an understandable emphasis on understanding underlying reasons. In other words, one is expected to focus on “why things happen” rather than just getting results. But if such an approach works well at the university, how about applying it at the production facility? This editorial features the stories of a man who was brave enough to spend his career asking “why” questions while working to improve the operations of paper mills.