Saiccor - The First 50 Years 5.8 MB - Sappi

The Tubb Period (1996 –)
Senior Production Managers were Tony Neave, Gary Coutts and John
Herd�
Assistant Engineering Managers were Graham Kelly, Greg Taylor,
Silvio Ceriani and Henry Zan� Lionel Davies was Services Manager,
Stuart Watson Electrical Engineer, Ken Toward Instruments Engineer
(appointed 1 March 1996 after joining as a Technician in May 1990),
Max de Robillard was Workshop Manager and Luigi Mazzaro Building
Manager�
When Silvio Ceriani resigned at the end of 1997 he was replaced
by Bernard Jorgensen-Lian� Bernard was born in Cape Town on 3
April 1958 and joined Saiccor on 1 January 1984 as a trainee
Mechanical Technician, having completed the academic requirement
for his T4� He was appointed Mechanical Technician on 1 August
1985, Divisional Engineer Pulp Preparation on 1 November 1990, and
Divisional Engineer Mkomazi on 1 September 1995�
Eddie Watson was Projects Manager but resigned at the end of
1997 and was replaced by Tony Butler from 1 January 1998� Tony
was born in Albany in the Eastern Cape on 22 November 1946 (a
nephew of the South African writer Guy Butler)� He completed his
Chemical Engineering degree at the University of Cape Town and
joined Saiccor’s process investigation department in June 1971� He
left Saiccor in March 1976 to work in the pharmaceutical industry in
England for six years� He sailed himself back to South Africa in a
yacht, rejoining Saiccor on 6 September 1982� He was appointed
Assistant Projects Manager on 1 October 1983�
Piero Simonetti was Chief Draughtsman and Errol D’Oliveira the
Senior Draughtsman�
Maurice Hart was Commercial Manager, Harry Byrne IT Manager,
Darrell Webb Purchasing Manager, Jacqui Bertossi Personnel Manager
and Kevin Rainier Medical Officer�
The year 1997 was a splendid year of healthy profits and production
records – 559 337 tons for the year, 2 072 tons in a day, 1 700 tons/
day in a month, No 4 continua 1 028 tons in a day, No 3 continua
706 tons in a day, 62 cooks in a day and 767 tons magnesium pulp
in a day� By the end of the year however, the dissolving pulp market
had softened, prices started falling, finished pulp stocks rose and by
January 1998 it became necessary to reduce production to 1 300
tons/day by shutting down No 1 and No 2 continuas and No 1
bleaching�
Production was restricted to 1 300 t/d through 1998 and 1999,
but early in 2000 the dissolving pulp market firmed� By March 2000
it was decided to restart No 2 continua and No 1 bleaching� As
these plants had been idle for just over two years, it was estimated
that it would take six weeks to get them back into production, and
another six weeks to reach full production� However, thanks to
167
Gunther Garz
Ryan Kerr
Bernard Jorgensen-Lian
Tony Butler