Interviewer: Alex Crane Editor: Dr. Joan Burtner

 Company Information  Current Career Information  Educational Information  Work Environment  Career Choice/Career Path  Mercer Education Experience  Questions/Contact Information April 20102George Rogers Interview

 Founded in 1927 as a wholesaler of hardwood lumber. Headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia.  One of the world's leading manufacturers of tissue, pulp, paper, packaging, building products and related chemicals.  They have around 300 manufacturing facilities across North America, South America and Europe.  The company ranges from large pulp, paper and tissue operations to gypsum plants, box plants and building products complexes.  More than 40,000 employees. April 20103George Rogers Interview

 Works for Georgia-Pacific LLC.  Works as a Packaging Engineer April 20104George Rogers Interview

 Graduated from Mercer University in December of 2004 with a BSE and Industrial Engineering Specialty. April 20105George Rogers Interview

Did you have any internships or co-ops while you were at Mercer? If so, where did you intern and what were your duties? “I spent a summer interning with Milliken & Company while a student at Mercer. As an intern in one of Milliken’s weave plants, I was responsible for developing and implementing six sigma methods with the goal of reducing the amount of air that was used by their air jet weaving machines. This opportunity was chosen since air compressors were the primary consumers of electricity in the plant. I would strongly recommend participating in some sort of engineering co-op or internship before graduating. Much of what was discussed during the interviews that I had with potential employers before being hired with GP was based on my internship experiences along with other experiences at Mercer where we were directly involved in working on a project with local manufacturing companies. While the course work is important, it cannot take the place of practical experience. “ April 20106George Rogers Interview

What is your routine on a normal day at work? “While each day generally has something new, my responsibilities for a day may include working with the marketing team to understand one of our customer’s packaging needs and requirements for a new item that we may be introducing into the marketing place. I will then take the understanding of the customer’s need and pair that with my knowledge of how GP’s manufacturing facilities operate so that packaging can be developed that meets the needs of both. Finely, I will facilitate testing when required and then pass the structural design on to our graphics department so that artwork can be applied. I may also spend time during the day working proactively on a cost savings or quality improvement opportunity that exists in our manufacturing or supply chain environments. There are days when a customer may have a quality complaint as a result of the packaging in which case I may have to perform a root cause analysis in order to identify the issue and propose potential solutions. There are other days that I may work with our IT department in order to develop or improve the software tools used by our packaging and graphics groups. While this list certainly isn’t conclusive of how I may spend my time, there are very few tasks that I’m able to accomplish solely on my own and I’ve found that the key is to know who to reach out to in order to most effectively use everyone’s time and expertise so that the value is created for GP at the end of the day.” April 20107George Rogers Interview

 Skills needed for job:  “Personal integrity and a desire to create value.”  “A sense of urgency.”  “Being a self-starter.”  “Project management and organizational skills.  “The ability to effectively communicate and relate to all types of people (management, MBAs, engineers, line workers, etc).”  “The ability to learn various software tools.  “A desire to understand a large and complex organization.” April 20108George Rogers Interview

 “A willingness to understand that I do not have all of the answers and the knowledge of where to go for more information (for example experts, text books, etc.).”  “A systematic and process-based, yet still creative way of thinking for solving problems.”  Skills learned on the job:  “The fundamentals of plastic and corrugated package engineering and the impacts of the supply chain on packaging designs.”  “An understanding of GP manufacturing facilities’ capabilities and supply chain influences.”  “Packaging specific and GP owned software tools.” April 20109George Rogers Interview

 Benefits and compensations are competitive against those in similar professions.  40 hour work week.  Usually tries to leave work at work, but occasionally has to be available after work hours and on weekends.  Interacts mostly with non-engineering roles such as marketing, sales, creative design, logistics, manufacturing, quality, distribution, and outside vendors.  Occasionally makes reports and presentations to management, leads training sessions. Some reports are to wrap up a recent project. April George Rogers Interview

 On a project, usually in groups, but may occasionally be the sole package engineering representative.  Stressful aspect of job:  Juggling multiple objectives with conflicting timelines.  Satisfying aspect of job:  Being able to work with familiar people and seeing your work on display in a retail store.  Has had people from inside and outside of GP give advise occasionally.  Plenty of room for advancement in GP  Normal distribution of traveling across the U.S. (may vary from multiple trips a months to many months without a trip) April George Rogers Interview

 Been with GP since graduating from Mercer, and has had some promotions.  Family has a fairly big influence on career choice. Moving would be a very long thinking process.  Chose Industrial Engineering for the broad, high level focus of multiple engineering disciplines while not getting into more traditional disciplines.  If given the opportunity, he would not go back in time to change specialty, because it is more suited to him. He likes the challenge.  In 5 to 10 years, aspires to be in a manager/owner position close to home. April George Rogers Interview

 Mercer did a great job preparing him for his current career path.  Helpful Classes:  Manufacturing Processes  Production Planning & Control  Programming  Drafting  Engineering Economy  Statistics  Less Helpful Classes:  Thermodynamics  Engineering Controls April George Rogers Interview

Questions? Contact Info:  George Rogers  Georgia Pacific LLC  Alex Crane   Joan Burtner  April George Rogers Interview