Legislative Library, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C, WA V8V 1X4 it Vol. 4, Issue No. 16 i I t YOUR HOMETOWN LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED NEWSPAPER TERRACE, B.C., WEDNESDAY, April 20, 1988 ; 50 CENTS Starship ready for mid-May takeoff TERRACE — All major ma- chinery is in place and every- thing is reasonably on schedule, says Starship project manager Larry Isotani. And he gives credit for progress on the $25 million sawmill project to local - suppliers and a labor force which is made up of about 70 percent local talent. by Tod Strachan ‘A lot of contractors here in Terrace and the surrounding areas have shown that they can achieve a lot of goals and meet a lot of challenges,’’ said Isotani. “‘There have been some delays in deliveries,’’ he explained. “But the people here have been very good in terms of being able to quickly place the equipment and get on to assembling the finer components. They’ve real- ly done a good job.” As far as an individual con- tribution is concerned, Isotani singled out a new local business, Ross Steel Ltd., who turned 1.5 million. pounds of steel into the main sawmill building in just 10 weeks. “‘As iron workers they performed very well, from sort- ing out materials to design, fabricating and erecting,’’ he said. | He also gave credit to local suppliers like River Industries, Convoy Supplies, QM Industries and Acklands who played a ma- jor role by maintaining a con- Stant flow of supplies which helped keep the project on track. Isotani described Starship as a ‘fast-track’ project that is be- ing designed as it is being built. And, he says, it was built in only 10 months by using the principle of a ‘‘seed model” rather than the more conventional organiza- tion of staff called a ‘“‘linear model’’, ‘A linear model,’’ he explain- - ed, ‘‘is like the line hierarchy — with that upper structure of Supervisors and managers on down the line to the foreman and worker.”’ “But a seed model is a net- work model. Everyone works around getting resources — get- ting help from various people. It allows you to grow so you'll ex- pand to meet the challenge This area will be the mechanical heart of the new Skeena Cellulose sawmill In Terrace. art machines will reduce logs to a standard size, side cuts, through an automated scanning and machine Is called, Is operated by a total of 15 Project manager Larry !sotanl says these state-of-the- Square them off through the use of four glant bandsaws, and run the "jacket boards”, or out- edging system te achieve maximum production out of each log. The “reducer quad", as the electric and hydraulic motors with a total of 1,500 horsepower. sanctuary sought for lake Following more opposition to the proposed golf course at Mount Layton Hot Springs, the Kitimat-Stikine Regional District board has asked their administrative personnel to look at land use at the south end of Lakelse Lake with a view of possibly establishing a wildlife sanctuary. OS At the same time, director Les Watmough criticized the local ‘Rod and Gun Club for not making this proposal on their own. “I suggested they propose this,’’ he said. ‘It’s unfortunate that the Rod and Gun Club didn’t bring this proposal for- ward themselves, I think it’s in bad taste for them to oppose (Hot Springs developer Bert) Orlean’s development without a proposal of their own. They should speak up and say what they want.”’ According to Watmough, eight to nine million fish eggs are hatched annually at the south end of the lake, not counting the existing Hot Springs property. He added that $4 to $5 million worth of these fish are caught by the commercial fishery every year, and argued, ‘"We have to balance that and find the best use for the property’’. He said it would be easy to build a fish hatchery in the area, but a large number of hatchery fish don’t survive,- making enhancement an inferior alter- native to natural habitat. This view was backed by director Gordon Robinson, who referred to hatchery fish as ‘fish on welfare’’, ‘They are dependent,’’ he said. ‘Naturally produced fish are independent and will sur- vive.”’ Director Pete Weeber added, “‘Federal Fisheries, Waste Management and Fish and Wildlife have voiced strong con- cerns and have recommended down-sizing (the golf course project).’”’ The provincial government has received opposition to the Hot Springs expansion from several quarters, and most recently from two Terrace residents, . Ansgar Lenser supported the idea of a sanctuary when he wrote the Ministry of Environ- ment and Parks saying, ‘‘The Lakelse Lake and River were continued on page 23 7 Outside Date HI Lo Prec, Apr. 11 10 3 nil Apr. 12 1 6 nil Apr. 13 14° 5 nil Apr. 14 6 4 nil Apr. 15 18 2 alt Apr. 16 14 40 nil Apr, 17 14 (1 nil Forecast: Becoming unsettled as high pressure ridge moves Inland. Temperatures ramaln- Ing mild with afternoon highs 10 - 15 and overnight lows 0 to 3. Probability of precipitation Is 30 percent. Inside Business Guide 14 Church Directory 10 Classified Ads 22,23 Coming Events 16 Comics 20 Crosaword 20 Dining Directory 2 Entertainment 2 Horoscope 18 Letters - 5 Opinions 4 Sports 8 Talk of the Town 5 through the people around you — by getting information, learn- ing and building confidence.’’ ‘And this is the motto of his Vancouver company, Isotani Engineering — ‘‘You’re build- ing confidence to meet the chal- lenge.’” **That’s why you don’t see me around a lot of the time,’’ he ex- plained. ‘‘I let the people run it themselves, They’re there to do the work and they’re also there to meet the challenges, even though they may never have been faced with them before.”’ According to Isotani, this confidence built through the use of the seed model gives every worker ‘‘maximum flexibility” and ‘‘initiative’. That’s how he built a sawmill with only 100 workers where others would have required 180 to 200. He says it’s also a manage- ment style that allows him to work on two projects at once. During the day he keeps Starship on schedule, and at night talks to his staff working on an $11 million planer mill expansion at Lakeland Mills. Other projects managed by Isotani’ include a $20 million sawmill for Netherland Overseas in Prince George and two small- er mills, Lignum in Williams Lake and Northwood Pulp and Timber in Prince George. While on a tour of the new Terrace mill, Isotani came to a comparatively small, three-story building whose function he described in this way: The waste comes in on the third floor, falls down a chute to the ‘hog’ where it is ‘‘pulverized’’ by ham- mers, then drops through an- other chute to a conveyor belt and is transported to a storage in. And what’s so interesting about that? It means the waste material at Skeena Cellulose which is presently being reduced to ash in the beehive burner will soon be trucked to the company’s Port Edward pulp mill for fuel, It also means that we’re just a little bit closer to that historic day when the beehive burner exhales its last puff of smoke — and disappears from our landscape forever. Isotani says that major com- ponents are currently under- going tests and the mill is ex- pected to begin operation on May 15. However, he added, the official opening won’t take place until sometime in October. “Things have to be fine tuned,’’ he explained, ‘‘People have to be trained and that takes a little bit of an understanding of the equipment and the mill itself, ‘Fach piece of equipment is unique in the sense that the logs go systematically through a plant flow, and they all have to tie in. That tying in has to be fine tuned at pass-off points where the log goes from one area to another.” ‘‘That’s what we call systems engineering, The ability to put it all together and make it click,”’ he concluded.