In this episode of the Freight Insider, Page Siplon speaks with Christian Fischer, President & CEO of Georgia-Pacific. Christian relates how his time on a cargo vessel made freight come alive for him and what he learned on that journey that influences his perspective today.

As the leader of Georgia-Pacific, Christian oversees one of the world’s largest consumer and forest products companies, based in Atlanta, Georgia, with nearly 30,000 employees.

Christian shares the focus of the Georgia-Pacific, including:

• The role of business in society, which for Georgia-Pacific means improving the lives of their customers through products and services that are highly valued, while consuming fewer resources
• How embracing perpetual transformation allows Georgia-Pacific to adapt to the changing world and to serve customers and partners with better alternatives
• How partnering with providers in transportation and logistics offers mutual benefits as well as various avenues to respond to customer needs

Intro/Outro (00:03):

Welcome to Supply Chain Now, the voice of global supply chain. Supply Chain Now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues, the challenges, and opportunities. Stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on Supply Chain Now.

Page Siplon (00:31):

Good afternoon. And welcome to today’s episode of The Freight Insider podcast, where we are opening the doors to the business of freight. I’m your host, Page Siplon. I always say that freight is the common denominator in this complicated math problem that we call our economy. Literally, every business is touched by freight, but of how it touches us and how it touches companies really varies greatly. Some exists to move the freight, others track it, some manufacture it, while others receive it and share it with consumers and other businesses. The business of freight is complicated, exciting, and, frankly, all too well kept of a secret weapon for business.

Page Siplon (01:04):

Today, I have a really special guest joining me, an old friend you could say. He has over 30 years of experience in manufacturing and marketing paper and tissue products, packaging cellulose, specialty fibers, building products, and a whole bunch of other related materials. The list is long for sure. Starting with the company in 1989, he relocated to Europe from Atlanta in ’92, and has led many divisions of his company for many years. In 2017, he was named President and CEO of Georgia-Pacific. Today’s guest is Mr. Christian Fischer. Welcome to The Freight Insider, Christian.

Christian Fischer (01:39):

Page, I’m happy to be here. Thanks very much. It’s so good to reconnect. [Inaudible].

Page Siplon (01:42):

It’s been too long. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. We’ve got a lot of great content to cover, and a lot of great stories about your journey, and about Georgia-Pacific’s journey when it comes to freight. Just to sort of kick things off, like we were discussing before the show started, we’d like to start off with your own personal freight journey and kind of where you built up to and where you are now as CEO and President of Georgia-Pacific.

Page Siplon (02:07):

But, you know, interestingly, I was in the Marine Corps and I often joke that I used to be freight, and was shipped around the country and is shipped around the world as cargo as freight. And you grew up in Germany, your Southern accent sort of gives that away. But you lived in Brazil. I know you’ve got an interesting story of actually kind of being freight yourself and getting over here to the United States on a cargo vessel. Tell us a little more about that beginning of your journey together.

Christian Fischer (02:31):

Yeah. Thanks, Page. Indeed, you know, when it was about 1920, I had finished high school in Brazil, and for whatever reason, I knew that I needed to go back to Germany, where I grew up as a kid up to the age of ten, to go to university. And at that time, I mean, air tickets were just more of a luxury good than they are today to many of us. And neither did my mom had that much money to kind of spurge on an airline ticket. But at the age of 20, you got time, right? And I had time. So, I had heard from a friend that you could actually get over the Atlantic Ocean from Brazil to Europe on a cargo ship, a container vessel, if you qualified to work on there. So, you had to work while you’re on. At that time, it took – I don’t know – more than two weeks, maybe 17 days, I don’t remember. And you had to get on, and you had to work yourself over that, and that was it. And I said, “Wow. That’s what I’m going to do.” And after a few attempts, I really got hired.

Christian Fischer (03:39):

I remember one thing painfully, Page, I had just, I think, broken or at least severely injured, I think it was the ring finger of my right hand and I’m a right-hander. And the thing, “Well, that’s going to be both very well for physical labor for two days.” But, of course, I couldn’t tell anybody about that. And as soon as I greeted the captain and he squeezed my hand, I was just saying, “Oh, my gosh. This is going to be a long trip.”

Christian Fischer (04:03):

Anyway, but really, so container vessel and as the guy on the bottom of the totem pole, you get to do all the work that nobody else wants to do. And this was like cleaning out rust, painting, fixing little things, washing the deck every day, and so on and so forth. You get a little bit of insult and injury, too, from the crew that says, “Okay. It’s the new guy. Let’s throw a bucket of water on him at 6:00 a.m.,” that kind of stuff.

Page Siplon (04:31):

[Inaudible] work ethic for sure.

Christian Fischer (04:32):

Absolutely. Absolutely. So, look, this was, I would just say, my first personal longer, more intimate journey, if you will, really, figurative again. And, really, with freight, where I felt a little bit like I was part of the cargo issue well. But many learnings. Of course, I picked a few things up about how a vessel works, and what it does, et cetera. That freight piece, if you will. But, secondly, I would just say the lessons there, too, and the respect that you build for the people that are in that profession of making freight happen, in this case, people on a boat, the crew. But it’s not hard to connect that to pilots that spend a lot of time away from their family, to truck drivers who spend endless days and weeks on roads, et cetera. You really gain a lot of respect for the personal sacrifice and contributions these people in those professions make. And last but not the least, you learn something about life on that too. And you learn how big the ocean is because there’s nothing else to see for 17 days or so. Anyway, I leave it at that. But, again, a journey that really made freight come alive for me.

Page Siplon (05:56):

You’re right, it’s a people business, for sure. And I think it’s probably why you’re partly such a great leader at Georgia-Pacific and everything you’ve done through your journey. You know, learning about the people first and foremost, and that it is a people business. We joke in the trucking industry, those trucks don’t drive themselves.

Christian Fischer (06:12):

No. Not yet.

Page Siplon (06:12):

I mean, it’s coming. It’s a whole other podcast we can do. But it’s certainly a people business. So, you got to Brazil and then you continued your journey professionally. I have in my notes here, you were a market pulp sales manager, which I guess describes itself. Tell us kind of where you went from there.

Christian Fischer (06:30):

Yeah. I mean, I’ve even started a little bit earlier, but it’s just for context and not for your audience. But when I then got to Germany and I needed a job to get me through college on the other side, I found a job in a Brazilian pulp company and that’s how I got into the pulp or cellulose business. This was a small office, four or five people that manage all aspects of selling and distributing the product in Europe. And in such a role, you get into everything, because it’s just too small an office to kind of compartmentalize things. So, one of the tasks I had was cargo inspection, bill of lading, reconciliation or distribution, booking freight, that could be truck, that could be inland marine transportation, you name it, I got into that.

Christian Fischer (07:23):

Five years later, I was hired by Georgia-Pacific in Europe as a pulp sales manager, also a very small office. I would say with more capability coming back out of the United States, but still a heavy element of what I described in my earlier job. So, I think the moral of the story here, this was my upbringing, if you will, and learning in freight business was by doing, by looking around, by doing, by learning a lot from freight forwarders, from truckers, from boat people, et cetera. And it was a kind of, you know, a super education in that context. And I think the other thing you learn that I learned is how important that is to actually service your customers well.

Page Siplon (08:14):

Yeah. And actually doing it. You don’t learn that in college. You don’t get that out of a textbook.

Christian Fischer (08:18):

I don’t think so. I didn’t.

Page Siplon (08:20):

Yeah. Well, I think a lot of great leaders are like that, who have done it. The stories have been told about UPS, for example, you know, all the executives in your role as CEO started off as a driver in Home Depot. I know Mark Holifield – who we both know well – spends time going into the stores and interacting with customers and really getting down to the grassroots, if you will. I think it’s an important part of all the freight journeys that we’ve talked about with guests. So then, we fast forward, you’ve had multiple roles – and people can check out the website and read your bio the different roles you’ve had over the years, a long tenure with Georgia-Pacific. And, now, you’re the President and CEO.

Page Siplon (08:59 ):

Just for our audience’s background, unless they’ve been asleep under a rock, Georgia-Pacific is one of the largest manufacturer of consumer and forest products. Nearly 30,000 employees based in Atlanta. Georgia-Pacific operates three key businesses: building products – lumber, plywood, panels, wallboards; packaging cellulose – container board boxes; and consumer products – bath tissue, paper towels, disposable plates, cups, cutlery, a variety of other consumer products both for the home and away from home. Georgia-Pacific’s big brands include Angel Soft, Quilted Northern, Brawny, Dixie cups. Really, if you’re looking at a paper product or anything consumable in the grocery store or at the Home Depot, it’s probably made or Georgia-Pacific has their hands in it as well. Georgia-Pacific is part of Koch Industries, one of America’s largest private companies. And so, with all that going on and all that freight moving around, it seems like sort of a rhetorical question, but why is freight so important to Georgia-Pacific? I mean, you’re not a logistics company, but it seems like you couldn’t do what you do without freight and logistics.

Christian Fischer (10:14):

Number one, first of all, you’ve done your homework. You summarized what GP does and where we are.

Page Siplon (10:19):

It’s easy to do.

Christian Fischer (10:20):

And the only thing I add is, again, most of our manufacturing – and that’s key to answer your question, Page – is actually done in the United States. But, again, we source materials for it and we ship our goods all over the globe. So, we make a lot of stuff, we buy a lot of stuff, and we ship a lot of stuff, and that’s where freight comes in. So, really, I would just say this, we couldn’t do what we do if we didn’t know the business of freight well. Although – I don’t know – we probably own a couple of flatbed trucks and some rail cars here and there, but that pales into comparison about what we ship every day. But we got to do it really well, be really knowledgeable, and it is a source of competitive advantage, one. I mean, if you don’t pay attention to that, with the billions of dollars we spend a year of, again, moving stuff around, then you can be uncompetitive. And, two, it’s the key to serve your customers well. And I think these are the two key takeaways, Page, so that you say without it and without knowing it, we couldn’t be successful.

Page Siplon (11:43):

That’s right. I mean, just a couple of stats here that you had: 1,800 trucks coming into your facilities every weekday, 5,000 loads of logs, 1,500 loads of chips every weekday, 50 million pounds of finished goods coming out of your facilities. It’s information that your team has provided. You know, it’s just incredible. And you talked about serving the customer, I mean, those are all things your customers are depending on whether it’s, you know, toilet paper during a pandemic and other times, for sure, whether it’s logs for our building communities. It’s huge what you guys do. So, understatement of, probably, the century saying you guys ship a lot of stuff. Most about everything. So, tell me a little bit more, obviously freight is a big focus of your role and your many employees and your team’s role, but what are some of the things that Georgia-Pacific is focusing on from a freight perspective or freight related perspective these days in particular?

Christian Fischer (12:39):

Page, I always like to start at a hundred thousand foot level because if people get that, then they know what guides our thinking and actions and everything. Not always perfectly, but that’s the intent and the aspiration. And some of that is timeless, if you will, but sometimes you really need to, again, refocus as an organization on those things. So, at the highest level, Page, what comes to mind is really making sure that all of our employees, but also our business partners, understand one thing. What we are really focused on, intentional and purposeful, is to fulfill the best in how we interpret the role of a business in society, plain and simple. But what is that for us? Well, it is to really help our customers improve their lives, you know, in the space that we’re in. And where we can make a difference.

Christian Fischer (13:35):

That doesn’t mean we, alone, will change their lives, but we will help them improve their lives, one. And how? Well, by giving them better alternatives than they otherwise have, one. And, two – and this is very, very important because at the heart of it, it has the message of stewardship and some people call it sustainability – doing that while consuming fewer resources. So, you know, you don’t waste stuff. You take care of the environment. You really are thoughtful about how you produce things and so on and so forth, very key. So, focus on that.

Christian Fischer (14:09)

Within that, you know, you have a vision where you say – and that’s what I meant by from time to time you got to refocus the organization on that even more so than in the past, maybe – focus on the customer. So, your most important constituents. If they pay the bills, if we don’t have them, everything else becomes fiction. So, focus on the customer very well. And how do you focus on the customer very well? Well, you are guided by a couple of – we call it – principles or underlying key things that you always got to keep in your mind. One is to say, “Hey, look. We’re only working here for mutual benefit.” Because if the customer doesn’t take any benefit from dealing with us, [inaudible]. Two, you try to actually, again, give them better alternatives, which means what we’re really trying to do is become their preferred supplier. We call that, develop those preferred partnerships. But they’ve got to choose you as the preferred partner. It’s not just you choosing them. So, you got to do that.

Christian Fischer (15:13):

And the better alternatives in a world that we interpret today as moving fast, to changing faster, being disrupted, more fast, including on freight, more than ever in history, certainly in most of our lives, you just say, “Well, I got to stay really in tune with what’s changing.” And embrace something – which is key here – which is a concept of we are in this game called perpetual transformation. Don’t transform once and then think I’ve arrived. No. No. You’ve got to perpetually transform because the world’s transforming. Otherwise, you don’t serve your customers with better alternatives. That’s that.

Christian Fischer (15:54):

And the last thing I’ll say to that is, of course – I say, of course. I want to call it out – there’s more constituencies than your customers. But I started with the customer. But, obviously, if you are not a good partner and the best partner in the community in which you produce, if you’re not a preferred partner of regulators, if you’re not a best partner of suppliers, well, then again, you’ll become weaker in servicing your customers. But the absolute key without which none of that happens is our employees. So, really creating the environment where everyone can actually, to the best of their specific innate capabilities, contribute to the success and have personal journey of transformation and, ultimately, fulfillment. And we call it self-actualization. Then, all bets are off. And maybe we’ll talk more about focusing very much on creating that environment where that is not just a bunch of nice words but where that is really lived everyday.

Page Siplon (17:01):

Yeah. No. That’s a great point. I mean, to use my words, status quo can be a killer for business. I don’t care if you’re a paper company or not. I mean, even technology companies. I love the way you described transformation of your business, but also transforming and continuing to evolving your culture. You talked about your employees. Not to jump ahead too far because I’m sure the pandemic and how it’s affected your company will come up, but companies are transforming themselves now from a culture perspective on how they need to better serve their employees as their customers. Because you got to think of them as customers as well. We’ve gone to more of a hybrid role here in our office here at Team One Logistics. And it’d be interesting to hear how you are moving along. So, talk a little bit about what you’re most excited about, what are some of the, you know, maybe pet projects, if you can talk about them? Or what are you most excited about at Georgia-Pacific, you know, now into the short-term future?

Christian Fischer (17:58):

Yeah. Well, you can always follow up with more questions here in more specificity, if your audience likes that. But there’s a lot of – call it – tactical or even structural stuff going on in our markets as we interpret it. That is really exciting, right? I mean, one of them is coming out of the pandemic. For example, while people bought enough toilet paper along the way and now are kind of destocking to kind of normalize what they have in their pantry for good reasons. One trend seems to be sticking around, which is a higher sensitivity need/want appreciation for hygiene in general. So, we see a lot of that in our way from home business where people say, “Hey, look. I had something else on my wall or nothing.” It could be an air blower. It could be you just took towels out of a stack to dry your hands. I now want it to be not air blowing around there and disseminating germs or something like that. But I want it to be good paper towels, but I don’t want to touch the device from which they come. So, there’s a lot of emphasis or renewed emphasis on touchless hygiene – let’s put it that way – away from home.

Christian Fischer (19:23):

But, also, in terms of our towel business – and my competitors from the best we can tell are seeing the same thing – is people are just using more of that one time cleanliness aid – call it – paper towel to dry your hands, to wipe off stuff more often at home. And we think that’s a trend that will stay. To what extent and for how long? I don’t know. But, anyway, so that’s pretty exciting how you position yourself to take advantage of that.

Christian Fischer (19:51):

The other one, I could mention certainly about our building products. A business where it’s just fascinating to see how much of an emphasis and spend and focus people had put during the pandemic or the worst part of the pandemic in putting money back into their house and, you know, repair remodel, et cetera. That alone could have kept us busy. And, now, you get this pent up demand on housing that who knows how long that will stay around, Page. But it’s just absolutely crazy. And how do you position yourself to service your customers better than that?

Christian Fischer (20:25):

And last but not least, just to have one example for another business. I mean, obviously, more stuff is landing in our doorstep day to day. We all got accustomed to ship it home. And so, more boxes are landing at our doorstep every day. And that in itself is a very, very interesting opportunity, but also challenge because people say, “Oh, that’s good. Now, I have all these boxes at home. Is it going to waste?” Or how do you think about that? And there’s a little guilt out there. So, great opportunities to work with, you know, the broader consumer base to take advantage of that.

Christian Fischer (21:02):

But I put all those in tactical. I go back to a couple of things. What I really feel super excited about is, one, that transformation and that world that’s going on and changing so fast. Does it cause some stress on me and my people? You bet. You bet. It’s a question of survival. But, of course, we want to thrive. But, of course, there’s always tension there. But the transformation going through all that change in our lifetime right now is so fast and trying to figure out how to position myself is super exciting.

Christian Fischer (21:33):

Secondly, again, we talked about these preferred partnerships. I think when you have that purpose and deliberately pursue it to really go deeper and say, what does this mean? And what do I really do differently and better? So, all these different constituents choose us to be their preferred partner. I think that is, I mean, super exciting journey. And last but not least, I go back to the people and enabling the 30,000 people, but also our business partners to really contribute to the best that they can. And then, how do you actually wake up in the morning and say, “This is my mission.” Because from that, good stuff will happen. Just trust that it will happen. I think that gets me out of bed in the morning.

Page Siplon (22:24):

Yeah. Well, I think the first step is getting out of bed in the morning and saying this is my mission. And then, going, like you’re talking about, having to execute on it. I mean, that’s key. So, you talk a lot about transformation, both, again, I think really important, not just from a business perspective, but from a culture perspective and transforming to make your workplace a better place to drive your internal customers, as well as your employees, as well as your external customers. What are some other examples of the way you’re transforming your approach to freight and supply chain partnership-wise, perhaps, and how you’re transforming your supply chains, how you handle freight?

Christian Fischer (23:00):

Well, I’ll start by saying this, again, go back to what you observed. I mean, we do a lot of freight but we don’t own any. And as a big and important [inaudible] component of our daily business, we know that we don’t have all the answers. So, it’s been a few years ago, maybe it’s decades, I don’t remember it because I wasn’t in our consumer business at that time, Page. But they had developed an in-house capability, which they called KBX Logistics. It’s still called KBX today. And KBX used to handle the freight for the consumer business division. Today, it’s kind of morphed, if you will, evolve into a capability that handles the freight, not just for all of GP, but also for all of Koch Industries.

Christian Fischer (24:05):

Add on top of that, the capability which gives us – we are convinced, actually, in many aspects – a competitive edge is also being brought forth to third parties out there. Anybody who wants to do business with us, those can be customers, they can be suppliers. And a lot of partners, obviously, did have the hard stuff, the rail, the trucks, and so on and so forth. We live by the partnerships and the mutual benefit, again, that we create with those folks. I mean, other than that, it would be a one-sided story and it will be a short term story. So, by allowing KBX to be the capability that leverages our scale, but also the information they have, and being – call it – a one-stop point of access and cooperation with our vendors in freight is one of those things. And it’s through those cooperations, quite frankly, that you, again, create capabilities that would otherwise be outside of our own and we would never get there.

Christian Fischer (25:04):

So, a couple of examples maybe that are not always directly related to KBX, but things on how we think about that in practice. So, one example, stay within KBX for a second. With KBX and the business, you can obviously cooperate very, very transparently with one another, because we work for the same owner. So, we’re in the same sandbox, if you will. So, by cooperating with KBX, we actually contributed to them developing a smart logistics freight system that helps schedule and avoid empty trucks going back and forth, optimize between different points suppliers and buyers. And I would not give you the right number of mileage and hours and gallons of fuel saved, Page, but it goes into the millions of miles spend, trucking hours spend, fumes exhausted are not put into the air, and this is real money saved. So, again, here, good business and good environmental outcomes on top of that, and then the broader society. And, you know, I got many EPA awards for Smart Freight, et cetera, that we’re proud of. But, again, great work as an example.

Christian Fischer (26:28):

Another one that goes a little bit, again, more into the innovation side, cooperating with a third party, in this case, Outrider is the name of the company. We have a lot of warehouses and distribution centers, some attached to our facility, some not. So, one of the areas that is always a challenge and gives us a lot of headache, not just from operational side, but also from a safety side, is, those yards where a lot of empty trucks sit and get paired around with cargo, and move up to the facility, and get loaded and unloaded, and get spotted, et cetera, very tricky environment, very challenging environment.

Christian Fischer (27:26):

With Outrider, they developed a capability that we’re piloting right now that, essentially, gets all the people out of that business. And through sensors and self-driving vehicles and software and algorithms, et cetera, they get the job done better and without putting anybody in jeopardy. So, that’s one of the experiences we would say that, again, we couldn’t come up with that. And they need a place of lap where people are saying, “I’m going to be willing to try it out.” So, that’s a second example.

Christian Fischer (27:58):

The third one is a company that since, I think recently, they’ve actually been acquired by somebody else. So, they must’ve done a good job and maybe we helped them do a little bit of that. The company is called ClearMetal. And ClearMetal started out at least with an edge to say, go back to shipping. And our cellulose business that shipped 70 percent of their business outside of the United States in containers and other boats. But any country around the world pretty much. But, really, did we know when our cargo would actually arrive at the customers early, late, or on time? No. We only knew once the customers told us. Where it’s been, well, at that time, they knew. But that’s not how things prick today.

Christian Fischer (28:43):

ClearMetal had developed a really smart way of anticipating, probably, better than even the ocean freight liners, and the logistics folks in between, and the customers, and ourselves about when the cargo would arrive at your dock, and, ultimately, at your destination. So, by working with them, we were really able to make a big difference, Page, on giving our customers more visibility and tools to plan their operations and the purchases by cooperating with a third party. So, those are some concrete examples of how we work also with others.

Page Siplon (29:25):

Those are great examples. You know, the transparency of information, we’ve talked about supply chain visibility in the textbooks at Georgia Tech and other places. But sometimes that information is even more valuable from the cost perspective than the actual cargo it’s carrying sometimes. And that knowledge can be real power.

Page Siplon (29:46):

I’ll back up, you mentioned transformation, you mentioned sustainability, and being in the forest products industry. I know sustainability is a cornerstone of your business and all your business lines. I’ll fill in a couple of gaps here, because I happen to have these numbers in front of me. So, going back to the KBX and the transformations that KBX has brought to all of Koch Industries, but GP in particular, allowed you to cut four million unnecessary non-revenue miles for 2,000 drivers saving 600,000 gallons of diesel and eliminating engine idling in our facilities saved 400,000 gallons between 2018. That removed 4,200 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. And I’ll brag for you since you’re a humble guy, those are numbers that are applausable and very admirable, and I think worth putting out there. And you’ve had three different EPA SmartWay awards. [Inaudible] give me the data.

Christian Fischer (30:42):

I think that is a great example of, again, going back to the role of business in society, where it tells you in consuming fewer resources. I mean, this goes hand in hand, right? You provide better alternative and you consume fewer resources. There’s your textbook example.

Page Siplon (31:00):

Right. I mean, it’s a perfect example. Not to throw those numbers in there, but I think our audience really needs to hear how big of an impact that your company is really having on that number of many products and, actually, doing it in a sustainable fashion, for sure. So, we talked about transformation. Green – I don’t even think they use the word green anymore – but sustainability – green for business, too, right? I mean, it doesn’t have to be red. It can create black for your business from a profitability perspective. How, in your words, do you think winning at that transformation from whatever perspective, how do you think that’s going to help shape the future of your young company?

Christian Fischer (31:41):

The young company. Yeah. We’re pushing a hundred years.

Page Siplon (31:45):

You’re an old startup, right?

Christian Fischer (31:46):

Yeah. That’s right. 1927, if I got that right. So, soon to be a hundred. But, you know, I like to say this, Page, that there is really no alternative, but this perpetual transformation. There just isn’t. Because if you believe that the world is in constant creative destruction, it’s always around, sometimes faster, sometimes broader, sometimes slow, et cetera, but it’s always around us. You have no alternative to transforming. And there may be a lot of details buried in it. But if we go back to the S&P 500 and look at who was around 20 years ago and who is not around today, I mean, 50 percent of those companies that were there 20 years ago are gone. Now, some of them may have been absorbed by others, et cetera. But it tells a pretty big story that not transforming is just not an alternative. So, that’s number one.

Christian Fischer (32:43):

And, therefore, I think, Page, to make that really come alive to our 30,000 people, but also our partners in business, is key, that’s one thing. And number two, basically, you’re never done, folks. We’re never done. But if you think about, “Wow. It’s happening so fast and it’s all the time, how do I survive without just going, like, I break up. I’ll explode. I can’t do it anymore.” Well, I think this is where, again, we need to create an environment where we, including myself, understand that we’re running a marathon. But within that marathon, you have a lot of sprints. But you can’t just sprint all the time 100 percent of the time all the time, you’d just blow up. I mean, at least that’s what I believe.

Page Siplon (33:37):

You won’t make it.

Christian Fischer (33:38):

You’re never done. You always get to transform. Amongst those things, there’s projects, there’s transformation things that you got to be really fast.

Page Siplon (33:50):

Innovation.

Christian Fischer (33:50):

Yeah. And make your mistakes early. Figure out what doesn’t work. That’s part of that. And not get discouraged by it. I mean, that is key in there. And, again, who is going to make it happen but individuals. You’ve got to bring this point home for people to feel excited about this, embrace it, know that they’re constantly learning, and that the company is there, not just in words, but there in actions, to help you, to enable you, to do the journey yourself. I mean, that’s how we will win that transformation meaningful to people.

Page Siplon (34:29):

No, you’re right. I mean, that transformation is key. And that’s part of why we’re doing this podcast is to share that story. I think that I felt I’ve talked about it publicly for years, that we have a problem of perception in our industry, in freight and supply chain, trucking in particular where we have major shortfalls in the number of professional drivers that we need. And that impacts your business. It impacts everyone. So, how do we get that message out there? It’s part of the reason we wanted to hear your personal freight journey and get people excited. You know, freight is sexy. I think, you know, when we need to be able to tell that story and get great people into your business and into the logistics industry and into manufacturing companies that really get it and are excited about transforming and the innovation that is inherent as part of the supply chain.

Page Siplon (35:12):

So, that said, you know, that problem of perception, that communication issue that we’ve had, and this is a decades old problem. It’s only that story. So, you’ve been out of this for a minute, 30-year journey, on containerships, and from Brazil and Germany, and through the ranks at Georgia-Pacific, if you were going to go back to the Christian Fischer getting ready to shake that pilot’s hand and have him crush your broken finger, what would you be telling him as sort of some tips and tricks or things you’ve learned along the way that would help guide some of the younger folks and others that are just starting their freight journey today?

Christian Fischer (35:48):

Well, you know, a combination of things comes to mind. Let me reach back through this first. I think, like on anything, and freight – and we agree, right? – especially, if you’re in a manufacturing business and you really live off making stuff and, ultimately, delivering stuff to someone and buying stuff to make all that happen, et cetera, you cannot not think about freight as an existential and competitive advantage to better serve your customers, one. So, I would challenge anyone who is in that world, and I’m just saying, “Hey, do your own personal journey.” Whatever it might be, I don’t know if that’s driving on a truck or working somewhere. I mean, find a little bit more of that personal connection to it, to have a deeper appreciation. It won’t make you an expert unless you want to go on that trajectory, but it gets you some grounding. It gets you some appreciation. It creates some respect. And I think then you can build it from there. So, that’s the number one. For simple thing, for show business, I would just say, “Hey, make your own journey. Take the boat,” is I would say. So, that’s number one.

Christian Fischer (37:08):

But number two, to the challenges but also opportunities in general, but also in freight, I could look at a glass half empty, a glass half full, and all this stuff. All the changes and the stuff we’ve been joking about or referring [inaudible]. Driver’s [inaudible] very well. Maybe tomorrow, whenever tomorrow is, maybe there won’t be drivers. Or it will be restricted. Now, you can restrict it. Meaning, fewer drivers for different uses. Maybe. I don’t know. So, there will be disruptive elements and there are disruptive elements out there. And those changes will change how we do business, right?

Christian Fischer (37:47):

I mean, if drone deliveries become that much important, if self-driving cars will get drugs delivered to the home at a different cost structure. And they can always be circling because you don’t have a driver that gets exhausted, et cetera. The database or the data that can be gleaned off all those touchpoints and freights, et cetera, and optimize locally and around the world through additional visibility. I mean, on the one hand you can say, “Oh, my gosh. This is going to be terrible.” Yeah. It will disrupt some businesses for sure, especially those that don’t transform. But on the other, how exciting is it? How much opportunity does any great, super opportunity for people that want to learn, and apply, and try something new to do just that? And it opens new worlds that I’m super, super excited. I think that’s the story and that’s what I would emphasize in here. And that’s what we’re all trying to embrace and constantly learn [inaudible].

Page Siplon (38:49):

Yeah. Keep your eye on the ball and just start the journey. There’s so many different pathways, whether you’re, like you said, manufacturing. I said it at the intro to this podcast, it’s the whole idea. It’s a complicated ecosystem, whether you manufacture it or ship it or track it or make it, logistics and the different paths that young folks and older folks can get into and be part of as part of their freight journey.

Page Siplon (39:12):

Well, Chris, this has been great. If people want to get engaged, if they want to join your team – I can imagine many would want to come work for you and your team at Georgia-Pacific or one of the other partners that you mentioned, how can they connect with you to reach out and learn more about Georgia-Pacific or some of your other partners?

Christian Fischer (39:31):

I mean, since you touched on two dimensions, I’ll answer at least on those two very briefly. If it comes to the business of freight, you know, selling cargo, buying cargo, you got an idea but I got something that you guys might be interested in, willing to try, et cetera, can solve your problem, go to KBX. Simple, go to kbx.com, figure out. They will respond. They’re very responsive. That is their business. So, that’s number one.

Christian Fischer (40:04):

Number two, if it is more on the personal level and it would always be great in the big context of we want to be the employer of choice. If anybody says, “Wow. That sounds like an interesting company.” And you really look for a specific job. Well, I’m just saying, “Hey, look. It’s easy.” Go to jobs@gp or jobs@kockindustries, and – whoop – there’s more than you care to know in terms of [inaudible]. And we’ve got lots of openings that we have, and we’d love for people to show interest and connect to us.

Christian Fischer (40:34):

And last but not least in that same vein about getting to know more people, in many places, at least 150 across the nation, and especially also in Atlanta, you’re bound to know somebody who knows somebody at GP or Koch Industries. If you want to know more about the company and opportunities and how we can cooperate, hey, just ask around, you’ll find somebody. And that somebody will connect you with the right person. So, I hope that we triggered or strengthened some of the interest in our company. It’s a great one to work in. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been there for 32 years.

Page Siplon (41:11):

Yeah. It’s a testament to how great of a company that you’re running now and that you’ve been part of for so long. And I would argue creating how great it is today. Christian, this has been fantastic. I’ve got a hundred more questions and I’m sure our audience does. I’d love to dig into the KBX some more and get into some more details there, maybe we can continue that conversation in a later podcast with some of your colleagues. This has been great. Hopefully, you enjoyed listening. Christian, thanks again for your time. On behalf of The Freight Insider podcast, thank you for joining us. If you enjoyed listening to Christian and other executives like Christian, make sure to like us and follow us so you don’t miss anything. And remember, as Christian said, enjoy your own personal freight journey. Thank you.

Intro/Outro (41:54):

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