The Great Paper Chase

As in-plants demand more just-in-time delivery, paper companies are upgrading their warehouses and inventory tracking systems to serve them.

When your in-plant has a job to do, you need to have the right paper—and the right quantities of it—available. And since many in-plants rely on paper vendors for just-in-time delivery, what goes on behind the scenes at your supplier's facility can directly affect you.

To get orders filled and delivered quickly, suppliers rely on strategically placed warehouses, and detailed inventory tracking and order management systems. They often must ship in advance of orders, too, to make sure supplies arrive on time.

Georgia-Pacific Communication Papers works with seven major market warehouses located in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, as well as many smaller regional warehouses, according to Barbara Woods, manager of inventory planning and logistics.

From these regional warehouses, Georgia-Pacific operates its GP-NOW (Georgia-Pacific National Overnight Warehouses) program. With GP-NOW, Woods says, the company can ensure overnight delivery of products to destinations within 475 miles of G-P's regional warehouses. Woods reveals that G-P is planning to add high-volume grades of Microprint imaging papers to the list of items available through GP-NOW beginning next year.

To get a jump start in the ordering process, some companies, like Champion, forward-position their products.

"We ship rail cars out to the West Coast knowing that there are orders coming in all the time, so when they order, it may be there the next day," explains Dennis Essary, director of marketing for Champion cutsize papers.

Woods says Georgia-Pacific has a simular philosophy: "To meet the service requirements of just-in-time deliveries, companies need to have product already 'in the pipeline' by the time a customer order comes in. This means a great emphasis on...integrated inventory management and forecasting."

Knowing What Is Available

To keep up with the demands of today's paper needs, some paper companies are updating the way they track inventory.

"We've got our own systems today," Champion's Essary explains. "We track every item by our stock numbers. We are putting in an advanced planning system...within the next year." He says the new system will better monitor the inventory at warehouses.

Last year Fraser Paper put a $3 million computerized tracking system into its West Chicago, Ill., international distribution center (IDC). It was installed to allow faster and more efficient picking of orders.

"The system has worked very well for us from an inventory-management standpoint and an order output accuracy standpoint," notes Terry Henry, warehouse manager at the IDC. "It's given us all real-time data—it has enabled us to give real-time feedback to our customer service department and our customers."

The real-time data has allowed Henry to call customers right away when he believes an order should have arrived. It also tells Fraser's customer service department—located in Connecticut—when shipments have left the warehouse. Henry says he tries to talk to his customers weekly about the accuracy of their orders.

Georgia-Pacific recently implemented a new order management system and it is about to bring on-line a major supply chain management system. These two systems are replacing several internal mechanisms which, according to Woods, worked well for scheduling but not as well for planning and forecasting.

"With this additional support in forecasting, capacity and transportation planning, scheduling and order management, we have an integrated system that effectively networks our warehouses, allowing for more efficient and timely shipment of product," Woods says.

On-time delivery, however, is occasionally hindered by bad customer habits.

"Printers wait until the last moment to order—when paper is readily available. They want to get the right price, and they put pressure on to get it delivered," Champion's Essary remarks. This, he adds, can lead to difficulties.

"Most printers go through a distributor," he says. "That is when the translation of the order usually gets changed. We are always really at the mercy of whoever gives us the actual order. So the more information we have, the better it is—the easier it is for us to fulfill that customer's needs."

To help speed up paper delivery, Champion is looking to third party distribution as an answer. "We are in the process of implementing that. It will be in place in 1999," Essary reveals.

Essary says printers can help paper companies by giving them more input about their needs.

"We are looking for what is their delivery date. What date do they really need the paper there? And then let us handle it and work our way backwards."

The Future

Henry feels that Fraser has a system in place that it can count on for years to come.

"We have a very futuristic system that we believe we can grow with well into 2000," he says.

To go along with the warehouse system, Henry suggests that his customers give more feedback on what Fraser can do to help with any part of the paper-ordering process.

As with most businesses, many services are now accessible or will be accessible via the Internet. For Georgia-Pacific, this is becoming a tool for paper inventory management.

"Through electronic data interchange (EDI) functionality, orders can quickly and efficiently be taken, saving a lot of legwork and time in the process," Woods explains. "EDI functionality is also giving Georgia-Pacific better insight into what paper needs printers will have in the near and distant future. Printers are beginning to electronically share their own forecasts for paper with us, which results in more effective inventory management for G-P and better service for its customers."

by CHRIS BAUER

The Graphic Communications Association is offering its new "Paper Tiger" collection of paper inventory management industry standards. For more information call the GCA's publishing services center at (703) 519-8157, or visit www.gca.org/techspec/tiger.htm.