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Wood and paper Georgia-Pacific, one of the nation's largest suppliers of the construction and remodeling industry, was founded by Owen Cheatham in 1927 as the Georgia Hardwood Lumber Company. The company instituted an aggressive strategy of acquiring timberland and rival facilities that continues today. By the 1960s, Georgia-Pacific was manufacturing chemical products; its products today include resin, glue, and plywood alternatives. The company's construction products focus heavily on wallboard and gypsum products. Georgia-Pacific's pulp and paper line (which includes packaging materials, bath tissue, paper towels, and napkins marketed under the names Angel Soft, Coronet, Delta, MD, and Sparkle) benefited from a 1995 industry-wide price surge, but the company was challenged in the following year by what CEO A.D. "Pete" Correll called "the most dramatic price collapse" ever to hit the industry. Stung by dramatic fluctuations in both the housing and paper markets, the nation's leading producer and distributor of building products scaled back expansion plans in 1996 and implemented an efficiency improvement program to maintain competitiveness. Bitter pills but healthier company Much of the cost-cutting fell under a program dubbed "Activity Value Analysis," or AVA. The goal was to cut $400 million in overhead costs over three years. Among the ways that the company found to cut costs? Closing four of seven overseas sales offices for pulp and paperboard, centralizing functions like negotiating for shipping, and selling half of the company's aircraft. Each of the company's divisions took a look at how to become leaner; for pulp and paper mills, the company brought in heavy-hitting consultants from McKinsey & Co. to help identify ways to improve efficiency. The AVA process has been completed and called a success; the company is well on its way to hitting its $400 million savings target. During the process, Georgia-Pacific eliminated 1,620 positions, but because of early retirement programs and attrition, only 600 employees were laid off. Healthier employees, too Job seekers interested in plant-level positions with Georgia-Pacific should be impressed with the strides the company has made in the '90s to improve its safety record. At the beginning of the decade, according to Fortune magazine, Georgia-Pacific reported about nine serious injuries per 100 employees per year; 26 employees died on the job between 1986 and 1990. Because of a long-term crusade geared toward improving safety, the company now has the best safety record in the industry, reporting only 0.7 injuries per 100 workers, and no deaths during a four-year span from 1992 to 1996. The spin-off In 1997, Georgia-Pacific spun off its timber businesses as the Timber Company, a separately traded subsidiary. The move was designed to separate the cyclical paper and buildings products business from the more steady timber business, allowing management strategy to be focused on each of the businesses. The Timber Company, which manages about 5.8 million acres of trees, is committed to sell a high percentage of its timber to Georgia-Pacific at the market price average for the first several years. A cyclical business Georgia-Pacific's cost-cutting efforts and the strategic spin-off helped boost its stock price in 1997. However, in large part because of the economic crisis in Asia, Georgia-Pacific and other paper and building products companies saw their performance and stock prices drop in 1998. Still, for the 1998 fiscal year, Georgia-Pacific posted a net profit of $98 million, as compared to a loss of $146 million in 1997. Revenues rose in 1999, and the company's stock has performed well in 2000. Recently, Georgia-Pacific has formed a strategic alliance with Xerox, and it has undertaken a joint venture with Chesapeake Corp. to create Georgia-Pacific Tissue. Tissues with brawn The forest-products company acquired Forest James Corp. in July 2000 for about $7.8 billion in cash and stock and $3.5 billion in assumed debt. Georgia-Pacific's tissue business, including Angel Soft and Sparkle, will join with the more dominant Quilted Northern and Brawny from Fort James. This transaction makes Georgia-Pacific the world's largest tissue products manufacturer. The company made an additional move the next day to sell its timberlands business for $4 billion to Plum Creek Timber Co.
Applicants can submit resumes to Georgia-Pacific via fax, e-mail, or regular mail. Most current open positions are in the Engineering, Finance & Accounting, and Information Systems departments. Applicants should consult the company's web site, located at www.gp.com, for detailed information on specific career openings. Georgia-Pacific also visits select colleges and universities each year for entry-level recruiting, primarily for forestry interns. A schedule of the company's recruiting is posted at its web site. Job seekers should also check out Georgia TEMP, a Georgia Pacific subsidiary that places administrative and information services employees in temp positions at GP's Atlanta corporate headquarters, and with other companies in the Atlanta area. Students interested in Georgia-Pacific should be aware of the company's co-op and internship programs, also described at www.gp.com. Insiders report that the company's interview process usually consists of "several interviews per candidate," with occasional technical questions, depending on the background of the candidate. One insider reports proceeding through "one of those half-day interviews with multiple people, three or four in all." Another insider reveals being flown into the Georgia headquarters for the interview. All applicants must undergo a drug test as well. Contacts claim that the entire hiring process takes "approximately a month."
Tough love With the slim profit margins in the paper industry, insiders report, Georgia-Pacific is all business. "The corporate culture is tough but fair," says one insider in engineering. Reports another insider: "The management is very focused with a results-oriented approach." One insider at a Georgia-Pacific mill notes that his location is "ruled by a tough but paternal vice president." Insiders also warn that you won't exactly be working in an electric, exciting environment at Georgia-Pacific. Reports one contact: "The corporate culture is standard 'old' company." Says another: "GP is not the most dynamic company. It is a slow-moving behemoth." Improvements in diversity While one longtime insider admits that the paper and timber products industry is "mature" and "male dominated," and another cautions that "you have to remember that it is a good ol' boys' club for the upper management," insiders at GP agree that the company is improving when it comes to diversity issues. One longtime employee notes that when he started there was only one woman branch manager, and "fortunately there are many more now." Says one manufacturing insider: "Women are increasing in number every year. As a matter of fact, our last production manager was a woman. She's now a plant manager in New York." However, one insider states, "There are women in management positions in the mills but there are no women mill managers at this time." Many agree that there are "still some informal barriers to women being completely accepted in the mills." Ups and downs Insiders take the good with the bad at Georgia-Pacific because of their cyclical industry. A former employee, who worked for the company for more than a decade, reports that "most of that time was good." However, "when the downsizing started, many people were desperate to save their jobs, and the atmosphere was very bad. Shrugs another contact: "There have been some bad years and some good years." Decent benefits Insiders at GP are pleased with their perks, but not exuberant. "They give you wide choices when it comes to HMOs and insurance," reports one insider. Another insider praises the company's "pretty good" retirement plan, which kicks in 4 percent of each month's pay, and vests after five years. Georgia-Pacific's 401(k) plan matches 75 percent for the first 3 percent contribution, and 50 percent for the next 3 percent, but also has a long vesting time (five years). Although the company offers tuition reimbursement, it has a less than lavish vacation policy: Employees have only two weeks of vacation for their first five years. As an added bonus, Georgia-Pacific employees, depending on their position, can loosen up when it comes to dress. Mill workers dress down at Georgia-Pacific. Dress at the company's "wonderful" headquarters in Atlanta varies by department, with some divisions opting for business casual wear. However, one insider notes that the "CEO does not like casual attire at headquarters and none of the executives are ever casual."
Georgia-Pacific Corporation Attn: Staffing Services Human Resources P.O. Box 1056051 Atlanta GA 30248-5605 (404) 584-1481
Building products (gypsum, hardboard, lumber, particleboard, plywood);Chemicals (adhesives, resins);Communication Papers (business forms, checks, office papers, stationery);Market Pulp (Packaging materials, bleached board, corrugated packaging);Tissue Papers (bathroom tissues, napkins)
Boise Cascade;International Paper More Company Profiles For more career information, go to Vault.com ©2000, Vault.com Inc
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