Thoughts on the industry

When I was located in Pasadena, TX as a Manager of 5 paper machines, I had a very good friend working maintenance to pass away. I remember him with good thoughts of the past. One such recall occurred on his birthday in 1990. I accepted an invitation to a surprise BD party at his sister's house.

If you read my last column, you heard about how a Chief Purchasing Officer of a global, Fortune 50 manufacturing company views categories of spend, risks, contracts, and global suppliers. I did not have enough space to cover all my questions and answers from the interview, so we will pick right up where we left off.

All paper machines operating before OSHA 1974 enactment had potential of mangling or death to the employee who worked without caution. For example: Nip guards at winder, Calendar Stacks, Press Section, Conveyor belts, ETC. were NOT equipped with personnel safety devices.

Have you noticed how many "chiefs" there are now in large corporations? Historically, there was always the Chief Executive Officer. The head honcho. The person reporting to the Board of Directors of public companies or directly to owners in a privately held company. Even that role didn't come about until well into the 1920's. Henry Ford was only the President at Ford Motor Company. Then, along came the Chief Operating Officer, leader of all operational assets and people, then the Chief Financial Officer, leader of the capital structure and investor base. In modern times, over the last couple decades, you can add in Chief Information Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, and even a Chief Diversity Officer. Lots of chiefs these days are needed to manage a vast and sprawling organization to meet the goals set forth by the Board of Directors.

There are many examples of transaction costs I could get into (e.g. brand promises, goodwill on balance sheets), but let's just focus the meat of the column on how this may apply to commercial relationships between buyers and sellers.

The year was 1962, and a 19-year-old future papermaker decided to "audition" for a spot on the bullgang at a small one-machine operation at Pine Bluff, Arkansas. (Dierks Paper Company)

What's better for society, culture, or an economy - thousands of local retail shops owned and operated by individuals and families or large corporate stores? Personally, I used to love to visit my now-defunct community hardware store for that screw I needed or a better plunger since gallons-per-flush on modern toilets has been governed. Now I feel helpless and soulless walking through a massive hardware retail chain taking too much time to find what I need while being barraged with opportunities to buy more things than I need. Is a more apt comparison for Nip Impression readers a small, family-run paper mill (usually multi-generational) versus the corporate mill?

It takes grit to keep moving forward for those looking to impact change and innovate. True grit. I find these opportunities in solution selling, but you can find it in whatever field or role you find yourself in.

With a blank sheet of paper staring at me, I sit and wonder, "what is it that I do for my employers, for my customers?" That line of thinking kindled a much bigger flame of what is the role of a person in "Sales". I think it is very nuanced and influenced much by semantics. What does sales mean?

Those of us in the industry know how sustainable our materials and substrates are that we produce. Forest growth happens naturally while removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Paper-based products bio-degrade readily. Paper-based products are quite easy to recycle once collected and sorted. The public is not fully aware how natural and organic our industry really is due to intense environmental lobbies and propaganda.