SmartWay* MENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY » U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Featured Partner: Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products Group About Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products Group The Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products Group is based in Atlanta and includes more than 70 locations and 12,000 employees. It is a unit of Georgia-Pacific, which also makes paper-based packaging, cellulose, specialty fibers, nonwoven fabrics, building products, and related chemicals. Overall the company employs approximately 35,000 people. The Consumer Products Group is one of the world's leading makers of retail and commercial tissue, including paper towels, bath tissue, napkins, and facial tissue. The Group's familiar consumer brands include Quilted Northern® and Angel Soft® bath tissue; Brawny* and Sparkle® paper towels; and Vanity Fair® napkins, as well as the Dixie® brand of disposable cups, plates and cutlery. For more information, visit: www.gp.com. Contact: John Mulcahy Vice President-Sustainability Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products Group GP Georgia-Pacific "The Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products Group is always looking for ways to make our operations more efficient and effective so that we can serve our customers better, use resources wisely, and minimize our impact on our communities and the environment. We support the SmartWay® Transport Partnership because it focuses on resource sustainability through best business practices and sound technology application." - John Mulcahy, Vice President—Sustainability Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products Group Why SmartWay? In 2008, the Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products Group joined SmartWay as part of its larger sustainability effort to operate in an economically sound, as well as environmentally and socially responsible manner. Participation in SmartWay allows the company to take a fresh look at the transportation link of its supply chain, while helping engage with its carriers in new, mutually beneficial ways. Improving its Environmental Performance with Smart Technologies Since joining SmartWay, the Consumer Products Group has turned to several technological and operational strategies to help improve its transportation efficiency and environmental performance. For example, the company implemented radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to track trailers on its mill properties, allowing for faster driver check-in and check-out. The Consumer Products Group also increased the use of laser-guided vehicles and automatic loading systems to speed up loading and unloading of trailers. Additionally, specialized software programs mean that the optimal amount of product can be loaded onto each trailer, which helps reduce the number of trips. The group is also testing compressed natural gas units for equipment used to move trucks and trailers from dock to dock since they run cleaner and more quietly than diesel units. The group has also upgraded the lighting at six product distribution centers, which not only improves safety and visibility, but also has reduced electricity use by 36 percent. The Consumer Products Group continues to maintain a focus on increasing intermodal shipping, eliminating idling at mills and distribution centers, and reducing deadhead miles. The group's centralized transportation data warehouse gives it the ability to collect and track data from its facilities and carriers, allowing it to measure progress and encourage continued improvement in reducing miles, cube utilization, and service and other metrics. Continued U.S. EPA SmartWay | EPA-420-F-16-018 | May 2016 | www.epa.gov/smartway ------- SmartWay* MENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY » U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products Group Continued Results Since Joining SmartWay The transportation strategies that the Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products Group implemented have produced positive results, helping reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and fuel use. Since joining SmartWay in 2008, the group has: • Increased its intermodal shipping by an average of 7.7 percent a year • Worked with carriers to reduce empty dedicated miles by 9 percent, or about 2.8 million miles • Reduced total distance traveled from manufacturing facilities to customers by about 4 million miles Future Plans The Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products Group is committed to continuous improvement in increasing its supply chain efficiency through better transportation management. The group actively promotes SmartWay partnership to carriers, and includes it as one element in its carrier scorecard. More than 98 percent of carriers for the Consumer Products Group are currently SmartWay partners. Additionally, the Consumer Products Group holds an annual conference for all freight carriers to review accomplishments from the previous year and set goals for future performance. Each year at the conference, the Group discusses SmartWay participation in conjunction with its sustainability goals, and shares ideas for best practices, as well as opportunities for improvement. What's next? Participation in SmartWay is part of the Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products Group's overall sustainabi ity platform, which emphasizes promoting healthy forests, manufacturing responsibly, and innovating thoughtfully. As a SmartWay partner, the Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products Group will continue to work on improving transportation efficiency through effective route management, better trailer utilization, fuel switching, increased use of intermodal shipping where possible, and other practices that help create value for customers and the company and reduce its environmental footprint. Please visit the SmartWay website atwww.epa.gov/smartwayfor more information about our partners. ------- |