Product Portfolio Manager

Position Title: 

Product Portfolio Manager, GCF

Pay Rate:

$130,000 -$170,000

Multiple factors, including Individual experience, skills and abilities will determine where an employee is ultimately placed in the pay range.

Category/Shift:

Salaried Full-Time

Physical Location:

6400 Poplar Avenue

Memphis, TN 38197

The Job You Will Perform:

With a more refined fluff manufacturing footprint and an 80/20 business approach, it is critical to promote/offer the right products and mix to the right customers while at the same time exiting grades and product/shipping configurations that detract economically and/or hinder operational efficiencies so that we maximize our revenue and profitability with targeted customers and end use segments.  Due to the proliferation and development of grades overtime through unique pulp machine configurations in conversions and acquisitions, opportunistic market dynamics, and customer requests, the need to manage manufacturing asymmetries and capabilities as we go to market with our products requires oversight and coordination to maximize value from GCF’s 2 million+ ADMT system.

To support this effort, the Product Portfolio Manager will be responsible for optimizing our product offerings in line with our manufacturing strategy, ensuring customers and application segments are most effectively allocated to our manufacturing system to maximize asset utilization, sustainability, productivity and profitability. 

The person in this role will work closely with the Manufacturing and Commercial Team including Sales, CVM and CTS leaders to understand the customer needs, including the technical performance requirements our products must meet for specific market segments and AHP product lines. This role will support the commercial team in targeting the right customers and quoting the right products from our mill system for sales proposals, backup manufacturing sites for our customers, and product-related value generation. 

The Product Portfolio Manager will identify opportunities to further optimize, simplify, and streamline for value generation including proposals to combine, reduce, and refine our grade and specifications portfolio with an eye toward maximizing our return on capital and free cash flow.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in pulp and paper manufacturing, and the desire to work with our customers to further understand the performance elements of our products and how they are leveraged and valued across a variety of AHP customers and markets with varying needs and requirements. 

They will be an expert in all aspects of our manufacturing system capabilities and limitations, and the resulting cost implications related to meeting our customers’ needs. They will also be able to effectively manage though the associated ambiguities in the commercial space to understand market needs, customers’ willingness to pay, and competitive products, all in an effort to achieve the best value equation for the business.  With the ultimate outcome of making recommendations that can further optimize and simplify our manufacturing system to deliver higher value, with maximum revenue, at the lowest cost.

This position reports to Global Fluff Sales Director and functionally to the Innovation, Sustainability and CTS manager and has no direct reports but is expected to work cross functionally with the teams in manufacturing, commercial, supply chain and finance to achieve the results expected above.

Key Accountabilities

• Manage the fluff product portfolio to ensure we produce competitive products that deliver the best value to our customers while balancing productivity, mix, transitions and consistency for like grades across mills.  This includes assessment of products that impact productivity/efficiency but do not command the necessary premiums or alternative value to justify continued production.
• Meet with customers, industry partners/analysts, and service providers as needed to aid in understanding the external view, market requirements and competitive products.
• Evaluate and recommend grade simplification in areas where proliferation of grades over time has resulted in unneeded complexity or redundancy.  Collaborate with CTS leaders to ensure requirements by the customer or market to consistency and hold value across the portfolio.
• Evaluate areas of opportunities to improve mill efficiencies, product yield, customer mix, minimum run length, freight impact, safety and mill “sweet spots”.  Bring visibility to the business and commercial team to these findings as we go to market in optimizing cost to value. Identify deliberate improvements and/or investments that will boost productivity and improve profitability across our system.
• As volume decisions are made to supply products to new and current targeted customers, this role will coordinate the process and decision making to determine what product, grade, and mill would be the most optimum fit for supply that optimizes our portfolio and maximizes profitability.  This will require engaging and interfacing with multiple GCF business functions to come to the optimum decision (Sales, CTS, manufacturing, supply chain, transportation, etc.).
• Review competitive benchmarking and customer applications to suggest optimal specification tolerances and associated product offerings to maximize both value to the customer and profitability to business.
• Help the commercial team quickly identify what products/grades/mills are the best fits for customer proposals or other sales related deliberate improvements
• Participate in mill and converting trials for customer qualifications or grade refinements to not only understand the impact to the customer, but to the manufacturing operational performance and cost. 
• Interface with Innovation on potential new products and products designs to understand any productivity impacts to ensure these impacts will be more than offset through a view of premium pricing based on value generation for the customer. 
• Form, lead and facilitate a Product Council to ensure business alignment across sales, manufacturing, logistics, technical, innovation and financial teams for our product offerings and margin contributions.

Knowledge and Experience:

• 4-year degree: Engineering, Pulp & Paper, or equivalent
• 10+ years in pulp manufacturing
• Facilitation and working cross functional teams
• Demonstrated ability to make the complex simple
• Strong analytical background
• Customer experience preferred
• Fluff pulp and absorbent hygiene experience preferred
• Key Competencies: Strategic Thinker, Analytical Skills, Customer Focus, Learning Agility, Business Acumen, Command/Communication/Presentation Skills, Organizational/Interpersonal/Political Savvy, Managing through Systems, Priority Setting, Dealing with Ambiguity, Technical/Functional Skills – Manufacturing, Cultural Acumen

The Impact You Will Make:

We continue to build a better future for people, the planet, and our company! IP has been a good steward of sustainable practices across communities around the world for more than 120 years. Join our team and you’ll see why our team members say they’re Proud to be IP.

The Culture You Will Experience:

International Paper promotes employee well-being by providing safe, caring and inclusive workplaces. We have team members all around the world with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. These are our strengths. We are committed to creating a culture where all individuals are respected, valued, engaged and have an opportunity to do their best work every day. We invite you to bring your uniqueness, creativity, talents, experiences, and safety mindset to be a part of our increasingly inclusive and diverse culture.

The Company You Will Join:

International Paper (NYSE: IP) is a leading global supplier of renewable fiber-based products. We produce corrugated packaging products that protect and promote goods, and enable worldwide commerce, and pulp for diapers, tissue and other personal care products that promote health and wellness. Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., we employ approximately 38,000 colleagues globally. We serve customers worldwide, with manufacturing operations in North America, Latin America, North Africa and Europe. Net sales for 2022 were $21.2 billion. Additional information can be found by visiting InternationalPaper.com. 

About Global Cellulose Fibers (GCF):

Our GCF business helps customers transform renewable cellulose fibers into essential everyday products. Our high-quality, superior grade pulps form the basis for diverse applications, ranging from personal care items to specialty materials. We create components for diapers, tissues and feminine care products, as well as sustainable materials for the textile and construction industry. In 2024, IP announced a strategic review of options for the GCF business in keeping with its strategy of focusing on sustainable packaging solutions, which will allow GCF to fully unlock its capabilities to deliver enhanced service and product performance to its customers.