Introduction and Project History
Until 2007, Longview Fibre Company produced logs for sale as well as for a range of paper and containerboard products. The company’s Longview, Washington, pulp and paper mill encompassed a 350-acre site producing 1.15 million tons of containerboard and Kraft paper annually, making Longview one of the largest manufacturers of packaging. The company also operated one sawmill and 14 converting plants throughout the United States that produced corrugated and solid fiber containers.
In 2007, Longview was bought by Brookfield Asset Management. SSNW was brought in by Brookfield to assess Longview’s Finance Department, and found that Longview’s operations were not well integrated, their processes were far slower than expected, and their growth trajectory, due to these factors, was limited.
After SSNW implemented significant changes to Longview’s finance, IT, and payroll departments, Longview both realized the need for SSNW to continue as an outsourcing partner for a few years and ensure that the changes implemented bore fruit in the long run. With this in mind, SSNW partner Todd Rask joined Longview as CIO from 2009-2010.
Challenges
The primary challenge SSNW faced while continuing as an outsourcing partner was in changing company culture. It is easy to recommend changes with a gestalt vision, but SSNW prides itself on long-term strategic thinking.
- Moving from an inefficient third-party software outsourcing approach to a best-of-breed approach
- Utilizing the full capabilities of JD Edwards
- Completing the IT management tasks for Longview with a smaller team at the same cost
Outcomes
- Provided complete database management for JD Edwards
- Wrote programs for new functions, reports, integrating workflows with JD Edwards from the outset, supported existing interfaces
- Round-the-clock IT support
- Reduced IT department headcount by half
