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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
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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.
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