Georgia-Pacific: Putting the Power in Our People’s Hands

ATLANTA, July 9, 2024 /3BL/ - At Georgia-Pacific, we believe the best solutions in business come from the bottom up. Our cellulose mill system proved that principle this year, with a solution that started on a whiteboard in a break room just a few months earlier.

Since 2018, Georgia-Pacific has been partnering with Infor, another Koch company, to create a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for GP Cellulose. The companies built one system in Infor M3 that would monitor and manage facility distribution and inventory in real time.

For ERP to be effective, mill employees needed to be able to access and update data in M3 efficiently. However, the first application deployed to facilities for that purpose didn’t properly account for how shipping and inventory worked in the mills, frustrating both employees and customers.

Acknowledging that frustration began a process of transformation as the business partnered with employees to develop two new applications–Equipment Loading and Inventory Management–that truly met facility needs, gave the company more accurate data and improved customer experience, all while saving money.

“We put the power in our people’s hands,” said Derek Thomas, business process lead for GP Cellulose. “We got the users heavily involved to give feedback and help in the design, and they were super excited about that.”

A Solution That Didn’t Fit

Previously, GP Cellulose’s shipping and inventory data was scattered across more than 60 different applications, which made accessing up-to-date information a challenge. With the transition to ERP, the company invested millions into rolling out an app where employees could access real-time data from M3. The app pilot period began in 2021, with full deployment in April 2023.

Other manufacturing industries had used the app for years, but it had not been used in a cellulose mill environment before. It was designed specifically for mobile devices, so app pages contained less information in order to fit on a small screen.

While that worked for other industries, it was the wrong approach for GP Cellulose. Mill employees needed to record and edit data for many items quickly because of high distribution volume. Navigating through multiple pages for each individual item slowed things down significantly for employees and led to an increase in errors in customers’ orders. 

That in turn created extra work for customers as they had to account for shipments with incorrect quantities and inaccurate documentation, and it caused delays in the customs process for export customers. Ultimately, it meant Georgia-Pacific was falling short of its vision to be a preferred partner to customers in terms of demand fulfillment.

Gary Rutherford, inventory coordinator at the Leaf River cellulose mill in New Augusta, Mississippi, said it felt as if their needs hadn’t been considered.

“It was painful in the beginning,” Gary said. “We didn’t have any decision rights to make improvements.”

Some employees abandoned the app entirely out of frustration, which meant the data in M3 was inaccurate and incomplete. The solution handed from the top down wasn’t working and was costing a significant amount of money. Something had to be done.

Giving the Right People Input

At a summit at the Alabama River cellulose facility in Perdue Hill, Alabama, in September 2023, the GP Cellulose business process team met with representatives from the affected mills. Members of the Koch Principle Based Management™ team joined to facilitate the discussion, and an app developer attended to answer design questions.

Facility employees shared their top challenges and needs, which the team used to sketch out a plan tailored to make employees’ jobs easier.

“Really the solution was born on the whiteboard in that break room,” said Daniel Grafford, shipping superintendent at the Brunswick, Georgia, cellulose mill.

With that feedback from the field, Georgia-Pacific ultimately set to work with a preferred partner of Infor’s to build two new apps: one for loading and distribution and another for inventory. They also recruited users at facilities to test both apps while they were in development, providing additional feedback as they approached go-live.

The Equipment Loading app went live Feb. 12, 2024, after a little more than three months of development work. The Inventory Management app went live a few weeks later on March 28. Developing the new apps cost approximately $140,000, saving millions compared to the original app, and they were designed for the larger tablet and computer screens mill employees typically use, letting them see more information on a single screen with reduced loading times.

“On the Equipment Loading app, it definitely gave the operators the visibility they need,” Daniel said. “They have true weights. It shows you the lots produced for that order. It can also show you anything in the warehouse that could potentially be used for that order. And it gives them real-time information. It’s setting them up for success.”

Labeling inventory also took more clicks in the earlier app, and employees had to print labels one at a time. In the Inventory Management app, employees can quickly print labels for a large group of items all at once.

‘A Complete 180’

Results have improved dramatically since the new apps rolled out, with facility employees able to complete their responsibilities more efficiently and mills able to fulfill customer needs more reliably, reducing delays and incorrect orders.

“Things started getting better because they started getting input from people who actually work in the shipping departments and listening to what we actually needed for this thing to work,” said Kelvin Travis, warehouse supervisor at Leaf River. “That made all the difference.”

Employees have praised the improved user experience in the new apps, as well as the responsiveness of the app support teams in making updates based on their feedback. Meanwhile, facilities and the entire organization now have access to more accurate data, available in one place and updating in real time.

“It’s a complete 180,” Derek said. “We’ve regained our good will with the mills, because we’ve shown them that we’re willing to listen and do whatever it takes.”

And it all started with notes on a whiteboard.

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