Sathish says that our inclusion value attracted him to Weyerhaeuser, where he sees it come alive every day.
During his childhood in India, Sathishkumar “Sathish” Nachimuthu developed a keen interest in cars and motorcycles. He remembers spending hours in libraries poring over automobile journals and magazines to study German automotive engineering prowess and manufacturing techniques. This passion, combined with a talent for physics in high school, led him to Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology in Coimbatore, India, where he pursued a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering.
In college, another experience involving automobiles — designing and building a racecar — would prompt him to specialize in reliability and maintenance with a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Alberta. Reliability continues to stir his passions today as reliability manager at our sawmill in Drayton Valley, Alberta.
“My engineering background is crucial to my effectiveness, but the most important element to reliability success is a people-first strategy,” he says.
Sathish honed this perspective during prior experiences in the pulp and paper and utility industries, and he was eager to bring it to Drayton Valley when he joined in 2023. Even before his first day, however, he knew he’d found a home for himself and his career.
“Inclusion as a core value really attracted me to Weyerhaeuser, and it’s something the people here live by every day,” he says. “In many ways, this is the best team I’ve ever worked with.”
A visualization of the "Golden Triangle" philosophy that guides Sathish's work to drive OpX and help the mill achieve its goal of 90 percent uptime.
MEET SATHISHKUMAR
Your title is reliability manager. Tell us what you do.
I focus on the three components of the Golden Triangle to drive operational excellence and guide the mill toward achieving 90 percent uptime. I identify and pinpoint crucial areas that will add value or enhance mill reliability, then I collaborate with mill leadership to prioritize them and lead implementation from inception to completion.
For the people part of the triangle, I prioritize getting the right individuals in the right roles, providing ongoing training and development, cultivating leadership and culture, and promoting teamwork, collaboration and communication. For the process component, we focus on aligning with our Standard Manufacturing Practices. And the tools and technologies side of the base consists of various planning and monitoring tools (SAP, ActivPlant, etc.) and data analysis (such as predictive modelling and constraint management, etc.).
You may implement excellent processes, tools and technology, but they remain two disconnected dots that fail to function effectively without emphasizing the people component.
What led you to choose this field?
During my third year at Sri Krishna College, I was selected to lead a diverse team of 25 engineering students on a collaborative project to design and build a formula racecar to compete in a student motorsport event called the Supra SAEINDIA. We presented our design in the virtual design competition and were selected for the next, dynamic round. We built the car in a span of six months. During the dynamic round of the competition, we faced off against 110 student teams from all over India. Only 12 vehicles, including ours, passed all the required tests — such as safety, brakes and suspension — and qualified for the final 12-lap race. Unfortunately, our car malfunctioned during the fifth lap, leaving us stunned.
By the time we resolved the issue the competition was done. Though we placed eighth out of 110 teams at a national level event, I was disappointed. It felt like my first major failure. I still recall crying in my hotel room that night. I kept asking myself: How did this happen? What could have been done to prevent it? How could we have improved our performance?
These questions opened my eyes to various engineering disciplines, ultimately guiding me toward reliability engineering and the University of Alberta.
Sathish was recently honored with the 2024 ASTech Award for Regional Innovation Excellence for collaborating to achieve industry value and youth engagement with academia.
Have you always done this type of work?
Since earning my master’s degree, my career has focused entirely on reliability and physical asset management. At a utility company, my responsibilities involved long-term planning and strategy. Because several redundant backup systems already worked well, it was very future focused, looking three to five years ahead. My pulp and paper experience gave me the opportunity to implement reliability improvement initiatives in a 24-hour manufacturing operation with more tactical, short-term objectives.
To advance my career, I was looking for an opportunity in reliability that would enable me to think and work strategically (long term) and tactically (short term) while contributing to day-to-day operational goals. I discovered the reliability manager position at Drayton Valley on LinkedIn and learned great things about Weyerhaeuser. I was excited about the opportunity to participate more thoroughly in all areas of a manufacturing reliability program.
What’s your favorite part of the job?
Fostering ongoing improvement and transformation at the mill. When I spot an opportunity to move us toward our goal of 90 percent uptime, it’s exciting to put it into action and start measuring progress.
You must have some challenges. What are they?
Successful change implementation depends on gaining buy-in from stakeholders across all mill functions. But it’s understandably difficult for people to abandon the familiar in favor of a new approach that only promises to be better.
When someone isn’t entirely on board or remains hesitant, I invest time in clarifying the change’s significance, advantages and positive implications for mill reliability. Once all the stakeholders are aligned and dedicated to the change, it becomes a collective effort supported by the entire team.
Tell us something about your job that might surprise people.
My reliability role focuses on the future; people in reliability roles have a different time perspective than maintenance. Of course, I need to understand today’s issues, but my focus is on analyzing the historical actions and decisions from months and years past that led to today’s reliability challenges.
In a reliability role, you strive to transform the current situation and establish a more dependable future for the mill, so it’s critical to keep a big-picture perspective and leave day-to-day fixes to the maintenance team.
That said, I try to foster a culture of mill reliability every day. This includes setting clear goals, identifying training opportunities, helping people understand and implement our existing standard operating practices, emphasizing the importance of preventive maintenance, trying to instill a continuous improvement mindset and always searching for a better way.
Sathish, far right, and his 25-member student Gepard Racing team from Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology prepare for the endurance contest at the Supra SAEINDIA 2015.
Tell us about your other interests. What do you like to do when you’re not at work?
I spend a lot of time playing cricket. It’s one of India’s most popular sports. I picked up a cricket bat and ball when I was 10, and now I play club cricket in a league in Edmonton. In winter, I play Xbox, a little basketball and badminton. Very recently, I’ve started playing golf with my Weyerhaeuser buddies. I’m working on “not doing cricket swings” so I don’t lose golf balls from the tees and fairways! I also still enjoy cars and motorcycles and often take long drives in the mountains surrounding Drayton Valley.
