Success through Resilience

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In the seventh episode of the popular new podcast series, Better Together: Discussions with Innovative Leaders, Paper360° Editorial Director Jan Bottiglieri speaks with a panel of Project Managers from leading pulp and paper industry supplier Valmet. The focus of the discussion is on “success through resilience”— the idea that if you really want to have every element in place for a successful project, you can’t ignore the skills and talents that make people flexible, adaptable, and ready to innovate.

Valmet project managers Luan Fellman, Mike Fiore, Mikko Iitti, and Joe Lambie all share their perspectives on what resilience means to them – and how it helps when crunch time happens. “I think ‘resilience’ means you’re not going back to where you were; you’re stretching, you’re growing… you’re able to adapt to change,” says Fellman. “During COVID, that’s been so critical.”

Subject Matter Experts
Fellman manages multiple complex finishing equipment rebuilds and capital projects for Valmet, and has worked extensively in the paperboard, food, utility and nuclear power industries. Fiore has over 30-years of experience leading multiple concurrent large-scale projects for municipal and industrial applications within the areas of design, manufacturing and production. Iitti has also served in various positions including Chief Engineer, Manager of Site Operations, and Quality Specialist prior to his current role as Project Manager for Valmet’s North American Delivery Operations. Lambie currently manages large paper machine rebuilds and new start-ups applying hands-on experience gained at Kimberly-Clark and Extreme Tool and Engineering.

For more information on this trending topic, look for an additional feature in the May/June issue of Paper360° that details a few startup projects that put these ideas in action. If you think it sounds impossible to have a successful equipment startup during a global pandemic, check out “Success through Resilience” in the Techlink Section of that issue.

For more information about the podcast, or to inquire about being a guest on the show, please contact Jan Bottiglieri at podcast@tappi.org. To sign up to receive the podcasts once they are posted, visit tappi.org/podcast, or any of the popular podcast hosts, including Apple, Spotify, Google and Amazon Alexa and enter Better Together: Conversations with Innovative Leaders.