New lab a technician’ 's paradise Alcan’s $4 million on-site analysis shop adds control by Tod Strachan | . There are a couple of exciting things happening at Alcan’s Kiti- mat aluminum smelter. The first is a new $55 million "direct chill" casting plant — known as DC4 — that will increase the ratio of value-added aluminum metals produced by Alcan from 40 to 90- percent. This won't really create any more. employment at Alcan, but it will offer greater job stability to the company’s 2,000 employees. There is a much greater demand in world markets for aluminum alloys ' than there is for the remelt Trilok ingots that currently make up 60 percent of Alcan’s production. But Alcan has recently completed a much smaller project that holds the key to the success of this new casting plant — a brand new, $4 million, 8,000-square-foot labora- tory. ‘The Terrace Review went on a tour of this newly completed facil- ity recently with laboratory super- visor Nigel Burden. For Alcan, the new lab insures the success of the DC4 casting plant. For Burden, however, this well-appointed build- ing is much more. It’s pure luxury. And this is where Burden likes to begin his story. _ Alcan set up a temporary lab 36 years ago in a building that was designed as a cafeteria, and for 36 years lab technicians toiled in substandard . conditions while visions of a permanent laboratory slowly faded. As described by Burden, their original quarters were poorly lit, hot in the summer, cold in the winter and fed with a power supply that was inadequate for their needs. And there was another problem: the cafeteria building had never been designed with a laboratory in mind, and there was no way to manage it like onc. "The old lab had corners and. bits and- pieces ‘built in weird places,” Burden recalls, and an office/storage space dubbed ‘dec- ades ago as the “subterranean rathole". Also, their designated Space was on two separate floors with a common stairway in between and adjacent areas were used as locker and washrooms. “Everybody used to traipse up and down those stairs," Burden says. “As a people place to work it was the pits." But these were minor difficulties compared another. Lab technicians working in the old facility spent endiess hours trying to provide Alcan with accurate chemical analysis but it was difficult. There was dirt everywhere, Burden explains. "It was located basically in the wind shadow so no matter which way the wind blew we got dirt dumped on us." With these thoughts in mini, the preliminary stages for building a new fab began, the main criteria being that-a new building must have none of the attributes of the old. It had to be weil lit, provide a safe, comfortable, well-laid-out working environment, and above all else, it had to be clean. To Burden, this is a very important point. "The primary reason we are: here is to certify our product," he explains. "If we cannot certify what goes out the door, it’s aot going to get sold, so it’s a very important function." And cleanliness is also important in environmental analysis. Burden explains that Alcan is doing an under-stairs . “actual construction was done by For lab technician Teressa Tooth and summer student Julie Neraasne, working here in the BSM (Benzene Soluble Materials) laboratory module, life is much more comfortable and safe than it once was. Unlike Alcan’s old laboratory, each lab module is isolated from the others and has it’s own venting system for safety, and each has it’s own set of environmental controls for comfort. increasing amount of environmen- _ tal analysis both inside and outside ‘§ their plant. ‘This is important work - not only from an environmental perspective, he adds, but also because what might be called 7 pollutants by some are considered “9 valuable materials to Alcan. If | elements such as fluoride, for example, are lost to the atmosphere they can’t be recycled, and that costs the company money. ‘The job of designing “the~ new laboratory was given to Lutz and Associates of Vancouver and the Fine Dining in quiet surroundings! a 5 p.m. — 10 p.m. a 4620 Lakelse Avenue ST. 638-8141 5 Polly’ s Cafe. - Chinese & Western Cuisine eat Mon.—Thurs: 10:30 a.m, — midnight Fri, & Sat. 10:36 am. = 1 a.m. Sunday 12:06 a.m. — 10 p.m. 4913 Keith Avenue, Boden Construction of Kitimat. And to both these companies, Burden gives top marks. Alcan management tried for months to come up with a design that could be easily managed, but aes they failed. Draw a square or a 638-1848 o 638-8034 rectangle, Burden explains, and there is no way to locate the lab’s three functions and a common area . so that all the right people are GIM , together. 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