Saiccor - The First 50 Years 5.8 MB - Sappi

The First Fifty Years
Mike Howlett was born in England on 17 May 1939 and came to
Saiccor as a graduate mechanical engineer on 1 May 1976� He became
Divisional Engineer of bleaching at the beginning of 1977 and was
promoted to Assistant Chief Engineer on 1 September 1978� In 1987
he was appointed Development Engineer, a position he still holds�
Mike is a highly intelligent individual with a sound understanding
of the fundamentals of science and engineering� He is an ‘ideas’ man
who has become an authority on energy and control, although it is
difficult for the common man to follow all his thinking�
On our trip to Sweden and Austria we visited magnesium pulp
mills at Stromsbruk, Lenzing and Leykam� We had lengthy discussions
with recovery specialists Gotaverken and Wagner-Biro, and pulp and
paper consultants IVL (later to become AF-IPK)� On our return, a
project team was formed to design a 500 t/d magnesium plant� The
team comprised Brannigan, Boulter, Thomas, Oehgren, Ioppo,
Howlett and myself� In addition various specialists were brought in
when their plants were debated, including Rivetti, Martelossi, Cudin,
Davey, Mian, Natali and B Segatto�
The 500 t/d magnesium plant expansion (to make either dissolving
or paper pulp), to bring Saiccor’s production to 1 500 t/d, was put to
the Board in March 1982�
US$ 1,06 = R1,00 = Skr 5,69
Capital Cost R’million
Plant 140
Timberlands 30
170
Additional Profit 54
ROI 30 %
In view of the high capital cost of the proposal, the Board asked that
consultants be engaged to approve the design and costs, and a different
consultant to review the market� Sandwell were engaged to approve
the design (the first time this had ever happened at Saiccor), and
Jakko Poyri to review the market� Both consultants’ reports were
positive (the market report was ‘a small positive yes’) and the proposal
was resubmitted to the October 1982 Board� The IDC were in favour,
but Courtaulds (Dr Wooding), could not approve the proposal because
of the declining world market and ‘the impact of R170 million
(£100 million) on the financial structure of the Courtaulds group�’ The
Saiccor members of the Board, particularly Norman Boulter, were livid�
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Mike Howlett