*****************************************12-10-01/09H41 Subject: RE: VE preparation + LSS From: everett.clausen@cilexplosives.com Date: Mon, October 1, 2012 9:41 am To: paul@cim.mcgill.ca Hello Paul, Good to hear from you - yes I'm sorry we missed that - the plans I had were to visit several of our plants on the week of the Sept 16th so would be on route on the 15th but as luck would have it I came down with a full flu on Sept 14th and it lasted 5 days so my trip was put off until last week. So that's done and I'm feeling better but thank you for the invite and update. Glad to hear you're busy and will talk soon. All the best. Everett ******************************************12-09-28/12H20 From: paul@cim.mcgill.ca Sent: September-28-12 12:20 PM To: Everett Clausen Subject: VE preparation + LSS Hi Everett: Sorry you and Diana missed the last summer Saturday party at my place. Actually it was delayed until the next weekend, 12-09-22 because one of the "regulars" begged off due to an important wedding anniversary, viz., his own. Since I'd not heard from you concerning 12-09-15 I didn't let you know about the change. Managed to get 5 VE participants, CAE (You must know about them, they make aircraft simulator systems. They are regulars and use it to get results and train some of their young employees and to have a look at potential hires among the student team.), Schluter (A Nazi outfit that has moved into Canada and the US big time they make hi-tech, tile based floor heating systems. Their head office in Ste-Anne de Bv. is a high energy efficient, showcase building. They boast that they're getting 8kWh/yr/ sq-ft energy expenditure whereas they claim a typical low-rise office building runs about 32. Can't say what ROI is however.), Koyo (A Jap outfit that supplies, continentally, a large fraction of rice cake product, whatever that is. Though the plant is partially automated the rice bag to baking machine hopper supply segment is manual and tedious and our job is to address that.) and Roma (They supply packaged meats t supermarkets. The consultant I'm working with brought 6 packages to the LSS party. We've still got BBQ sausages coming out our ears. This is a energy saving project, like Schluter, too. Their bake and freeze operation, as you may imagine, is our target.) I'm writing all this crap in the hope you'll continue to digest the scope of VE and when I bug you for a project next summer you'll have come up with something neat and local, maybe decoupled from product and focused on a local process; something that goes on in your Lachute facility. Cheers, Paul **************************************12-09-04/13H34 Subject: RE: VE preparation From: everett.clausen@cilexplosives.com Date: Tue, September 4, 2012 1:34 pm To: paul@cim.mcgill.ca Hello Paul, I did get a note from the office here that you had called but I have been away busy for the last 10 days. I must say I am getting little interest in projects from my Comptroller's office or the General Manager's office. I guess we here are more like a cockpit and any of the engineering or production operations are thousands of miles away and it's hard to see it workable. However - I will be away for a week in Cleveland and Memphis and visiting two or three of the plants. Hopefully will talk to you and see you later. All the best. Everett ***************************************12-08-31/15H53 From: paul@cim.mcgill.ca Sent: August-31-12 3:53 PM To: everett.clausen@cilexplosives.com Subject: VE preparation Hi Everett: 1. Since I've not heard from you for some time and failed to reach you by phone on 12-08-28 I'll guess that it's difficult to decide possibly because writing a short title and project description seems impossible without clear goals and deliverables. To this end I've attached such a (hypothetical) description. The aims are to reduce cost and enhance function of one of your products. The deliverable would be a report, much like the 5 I gave you in June, recommending some perceived optimum course of action such as changes in material, dimensions, etc., obviously supported by analysis. The students are all in final year ME and have been thoroughly exposed to most required analytical tools. If I'm wrong and you've made a firm decision not to contribute a project I'd like to know about it so I can mend my ways and present a better case to you and other potential participants for next (2013) fall, using more, better focused and earlier contact. 2. To put a value engineering workshop in its real life, i.e., corporate embedded, perspective, I'm attaching a paper on preparation that a VE specialist might make in order to carry out a VE workshop. You will appreciate that in the case of the McGill course the process has been severely "short circuited". This will somewhat prejudice the the outcome of any project that is VE-ed here largely due to the absence of any significant preparation phase. Nevertheless you may find the attached document interesting and allow you, by inference, to grasp some of what takes place in our actual VE workshop/course. In the case of CIL-Exp. I've put forth a lame, short potential project description. In the "real world" that description would be the result of a formal preparation. Cheers, Paul *********************************12-06-11/13H18 Subject: RE: elusive contact From: "Everett Clausen" Date: Mon, June 11, 2012 1:18 pm To: "'Paul Zsombor-Murray'" Now on the books. **********************************12-06-11/11H16 From: Paul Zsombor-Murray [mailto:paul@cim.mcgill.ca] Sent: June-11-12 11:16 AM To: Everett Clausen Subject: RE: elusive contact Done, Everette: See you this Friday 12-06-15, 10H00. Will bring last year's Value Engineering final class reports on a memory stick which you're free to transcribe and examine at leisure in the hope that you'll find them and the ideas to be of interest. Cheers, Paul ********************************* > Good morning, > Diana and I were away in North Bay this weekend looking after Kurt and > Sema's three kids while they attended a wedding. > If you have the time, it would be nice to get together and let me propose > if > the timing is right that you > drive here Friday June 15th for say 10 am - we could catch up and talk and > perhaps you'd let me get you lunch > here in town. To get here you simply take Highway 50 West past Mirabel > Airport and take the second Lachute exit > ( Argenteil Ave). Go left off the exit ramp and continue 1km. CIL Head > Office on your right - big building and big sign. > All the best, > Everett *********************************12-06-08/17H38 > From: Paul Zsombor-Murray [mailto:paul@cim.mcgill.ca] > Sent: June-08-12 5:38 PM > To: everett.clausen@cilexplosives.com > Subject: elusive contact > Hi Everett: > Sorry I missed your 'phone call to my home on Thursday > 12-06-07. The easiest way to reach me is by this e-mail. > My 'phone at McGill is (514)398-6311. I've got no cell > (or "handi" as the Europeans call it). > Looking forward to a reunion in the English sense. > Cheers, > Paul ********************************12-02-09/13H15 CIL Explosives Subject: Better day From: paul@cim.mcgill.ca Date: Thu, February 9, 2012 1:15 pm To: everett.clausen@cilexplosives.com Hi Everett: 1. 1000 pardons for bundling you together with the indolent rich. 2. I know only one so-called Professor at the hallowed "Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill". He was doing Mech. Eng. when I moved to 417 r. Prince Arthur. One of my 1st jobs was to read his "summer essay', a required course with assigned essays after 2nd, 3rd & 4th years of a (then) 5-year program. It was to have been based on his summer job which he didn't have, having taken the summer off to tour Europe. He wrote his essay on the boat trip back; it was some philosophical crap about how everyone else should live and behave. That was the opinion I expressed along with a well earned "F". He appealed to the Prof in charge of the essays, a senior guy, who confirmed the "F". Don't know whether he finished his B.Eng. but he ended up in "Commerce" as it then was. He still writes the same shit in the many books he's published. As then, he's never worked (in business or industry) a day in his life. Maybe you're moved to buy and read one of his books; I'm not. His name is Henry Mintzberg. You should be proud to have been rejected by two management faculties. They're the kind of idiots who caused all recent economic meltdowns. Someone with experience concerning what works and what doesn't is the last thing they want; his experience may be at odds with the dogmas they pronounce, propagate, preach and call an MBA program. Your presence on the scene might get the bright (if there are any) students in the program thinking, "How come he doesn't have an MBA, a Ph.D and a publication list in his CV as long as the Bible? Why am *I* sitting here paying premium fees and listening to all the shitheads around here that do?" Cheers, Paul ***********************************************12-02-09/08H43 > Hey Paul, > Thanks for your kind note. > However your talk of private jetting and such is way off base. > Our life is simple and by most standards rather frugal. > We do jet to Fort Myers often but Diana usually can get the > Cheapie tickets. We drive Toyotas and rarely go out except to > the live theatre at Hudson which we support. My passion is > really the puzzles that business throw at a company and how > to solve them and surpass the competition. I thought several > years ago of trying to teach in the context of the MBA programs > about and in fact had interviews with the head of the McGill > MBA and Concordia MBA programs but they felt I fell rather > short of the mark so I've left that as an unrequited dream. > Our co-ordinates are > 744 Rue Principale Lachute (near the cemetery) > Tel Bus 450 566 0655 > Home 450 566 0695 Cell 613 850 7174 > Look forward to hearing from you. > Everett **********************************************12-02-08/15H36 Hi Everett: 1. Guess you answered my question concerning "Value Engineering", albeit indirectly. One of our clients last term, Mabe, a Mexican appliance manufacturer who bought out Camco not so long ago, has just announced closure of the Montreal clothes dryer manufacturing which is all they do here now, and 700 jobs are off to Arkansas. 2. What with Cat-EMD closing in London, Ont. there's probably gonna be nothing left in Canada 'cept diggn' sand in Alberta. 3. Now that I've gone off, all half-cocked, let's see if I've got it straight: a) I'd heard that you'd bought the B'Burg facilities. b) But I was certainly not aware that you'd gone global like Bombardier and set up manufacturing in US. c) You now live in Lachute when you don't fly off to Florida in your private jet for the winter. Glad someone from B'Burg struck it rich and did well. Glad it's someone nice, like you, and not one of the Greelys from the Quarry, for example. 4. Gimme your address in Lachute & ph. # and I'll make a mental note to take a bike ride to Lachute for a visit in the spring. 5. Like you, my official duties have cut back to 1 course per year but for the moment I've still got The Transactions*, a conference** to take care of and a German math prof who's coming later this month to spend a year or two digging into some arcane stuff --not to bore you with details-- with me. My coordinates are given below. Wk. (514)398-6311, Hm. (514)482-3583, Addr. 5677 Queen Mary Rd., Montreal QC H3X1X2 Cheers, Paul *, ** ************************************************12-02-08/ > Good day, > Thanks for the reply even if it was as you put it > "rambling". These days I find my mind wandering back > often. Little would I believe when I was at CIL as a > summer student etc that I would someday come to own it > or a good part of it. Orica the Australian explosives > company owns the commercial detonator business and plant > in Brownsburg. When I purchased it was the Specialty > Products division as well as the rights to the C-I-L > Oval for all explosive products. We pretty well had to > move out of the Brownsburg Site as it was too small > for both of us. Our Highway and Marine flares are > produced at the plant in Peru Indiana and our detonators > are produced at the plant in Crawfordsville Arkansas. > Some of the specialty rockets and large remotely propelled > 10 pound highway charges are private labelled from Austin > Powder out of Cleveland but I must say the avalanche > business is the most interesting and scientifically > demanding. Diana used to be involved in the business early > on but when she pushed me to retire we struck a compromise. > From Nov. we start flying to a house we have in Fort Myers > Florida - we stay 3 weeks and return for 3 weeks and then > back to Florida and so on and so on until April when we stay > up in Lachute until Nov. I try to go to the office 3 or 4 > days a week and pretend to contribute. I reserve the biggest > office so I at least have the illusion of leading. I do > clearly remember the day of the Buzz Vary fiasco because > after leaving your house puked out and white I went home to > face my Mother and Father who had Bill Brown and his wife > as supper guests - not a son to be proud of that night. Yes > we must try and get together before we either die or become > "legume". Keep in touch. > Everett *****************************************12-01-12/16H14 > From: Paul Zsombor-Murray [mailto:paul@cim.mcgill.ca] > Sent: January-10-12 4:14 PM > To: Everett Clausen > Subject: Good day > Dear Everett: > 1. It's been eons! As luck would have it I was thinking > of you just yesterday; no bullshit. The thought was > based on having heard (years ago) that you'd actually > bought CIL Brownsburg and my (just last fall) having > fallen heir to MECH 497 Value Engineering. This course > involves industry defined projects to examine and report > on how to improve (profitability, performance, etc.) > product or process via a specific technique of that > name (and of course a lot of common sense). The industrial > partner supplies $3.5k, the project and one or more techie > type persons to work with a final year team of 5 or > so students. The benefit to the company is, apart from > the formal study and resulting report, tangible in two > other ways. Very often the industrial partner accrues > profit from implementing some (very seldom all) of the > recommendations and conclusions contained in it. Secondly, > if the industrial rep is an engineer the training in VE > results in a level one certification because the actual > lectures and notes are provided by a top-level VE specialist. > This counts for "continuing education" credits as required > of licensed engineers by Ordre des ingéniers du Québec. Of > course any participant has the opportunity to gain benefit > though application of VE techniques that may take their > fancy. To learn more visit . > 2. Thought I'd get rid of the rectaopthamyalitic* blurb > first. What e-mail? Maybe you meant website? Let's see, > maybe we last met in summer 1983 when they had the "closing" > party for old BCS that we both? attended. You may even have > met my wife, Wendy (née Finlayson), of almost 48 years now. > Two kids: Stuart 45 B.Eng. ConcU. 2000, unemployed since > 2007 with conjointe Claudia Perez, originally from Chile, > 1st son Joseph Karol Géza Zsombor-Pindera (you can hear the > mother regularly on CBC-1) 17, possibly rehabitable addict > (who knows to what substances -all bad) starting CEGEP in > the fall. Daughter Gabriella Z-M 11, precocious; we have hopes. > 2nd son Nathan Milner Z-M 9 (both from Claudia). Nathan is > already an accomplished diver with Olympic ambitions if not > the corresponding ability but we'll see. He trains at the > Pte-Claire pool that has produced quite a few Olympians, > even a girl's silver at Beijing. Then there's Erika 46, DVM > USask. 1995. She lives in "The Great United Satans of America" > with husband Michael Pratt near Portland OR. No kids; too late. > Makes oodles of $$ working for Pfizer. I guess it pays not to > marry these days in order to produce grand kids. > 3. I recall fondly? the good times (piss-ups?) we had at McGill > and the memorable one where we'd gone to Buzz Vary's "Hangover > Haven" and barged a Pruuli christmas party before going to my > place where you puked on the kitchen floor, to my mother's > amusement, while I, more neatly and discretely, puked out of > my bedroom window then hid the evidence under snow the next day. > I also remember going to some dance hall up north with Ivar > Liepins (Syd's brother-in-law whose still going strong and > drops in from TO occasionally; Syd died in 2002 though he was > younger than Ivar, 1930 -vs- 1928). In addition there were > the stories about brother Carl's altercation with the tough > guy in the bar (looks like puking had a great deal to do with > our lifestyle in those days) and the man with 3 balls who was > applying for a job at CIL. Then, as you've opened the floodgates > of memory, your father told us the stories about Swedes looking > for work during the depression with Eddy Nankivel who tried tp > pass as one; R.B. Bennett threatening to turn the machine guns > on the unemployed who came to Parliament Hill to beg for jobs > and relief; the old Swede whose health had been ruined in jail > for having shot an evil Belgian overseer in the Congo, etc., etc. > 4. As regards your avalanche control product, methinks I hear > it often being used at night on the Nordkette near Innsbruck. > Since being introduced to "Austrian geometry" in 1988 I travel > to Austria, sometimes more than once a year, to stay for between > a couple of weeks to a couple of months. > 5. Every little while I consider visiting Brownsburg and you, > of course. The only trip that ever materialized was in 2004 > when one of my grad students from Austria was visiting with his > parents. Richard Neumayr's father Bruno fely ill and they had > to abort a car trip to the Maritimes. Instead on a whim I phoned > Davis MacVicar and we all visited the farm: Richard, Bruno, brother > Christian, mother Thelma and me, Wendy, Stuart, Claudia and their > two kids. It was incredible to see two cow farmers, Bruno and > Davis, in their Sunday best (light blue shirt, dark blue trousers, > like a standard uniform though continents apart), arguing the > relative merits (Holstein -vs- Semmenthaler). Bruno's English was > rudimentary and Davis' "Ottawa Valley" is difficult even for > Anglocanadians. They experienced no difficulty in communicating. > Sorry about the rambling reply; old farts get that way, > Paul > *Remember rectaopthamyalitis, the disease you defined as producing > a shitty outlook on life when the optic nerve entangles with rectal > sphincter control neurology? BTW, it's Zsombor but everybody else > still gets it wrong too. > *************************************************** >> Good day Paul, >> By chance spotted your Email and thought I'd drop a line to >> see how you were. Obviously still occupied and not retired. >> I'm in the same boat as I come to the office three days a >> week and do some business traveling. I guess since I last >> saw you, almost decades now - I purchased the Specialty >> Explosives Division of CIL along with logo rights and the >> largest part of that is Canada and USA Explosives Avalanche >> Control so right now is the peak activity time. >> We have two kids Kurt - Professor of Education at Nippising >> University - he has 3 kids and Britta who works in CIL as >> Office Manager along with her husband Jorge Production Manager >> - a set of 2 year old twins. So we stay pretty busy - glad >> to see you are still active, obviously plan to stay that way. >> Very best regards, >> Everett >> Everett Clausen >> President CIL