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Management Side
Week of 8 February 2016: The Red Ball Express

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France, in 1812, and Germany, in 1943, failed in their attempts to conquer Russia. Both were defeated by two natural foes--weather and distance. Not that the Russians failed to put up a noble fight--they did in both cases--but the combination of infamous Russian winters and supply lines stretched to the limit because of the vast distances involved proved the demise of both of these European armies.

When the Allies invaded France in June of 1944, they knew they would have to conquer transportation problems if they were to be successful in reaching their objective. Starting on 24 August 1944 and running until 16 November 1944, the Red Ball Express operated 5,958 vehicles and moved 12,500 tons of freight each and every day from the coast of France to the front lines. It ceased operation only when the port of Antwerp, Belgium became available. One of the key features of the Red Ball Express is that it set up a system of one-way roads, closed to civilian traffic, enabling speeds to be increased and the danger of collision with oncoming trucks to be eliminated. The Red Ball Express (as well as all motive equipment involved on the Allied side) was fueled by a pipeline laid under the English Channel connected directly to fuel storage facilities in England.

This being transportation month on the editorial calendar here at Paperitalo Publications, I thought these to be interesting historical perspectives. This also being Black History Month here in the United States, it is worth noting that the drivers of the Red Ball Express were almost all US African-American soldiers.

In the military, transportation systems such as I have described above are often referred to as "communications channels" or "communications systems" and with that I would like to offer a segue way to a topic of importance to our long faithful readers and our new readers.

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Over the years we have carefully built Paperitalo Publications with the intent of providing you with the best communications channels possible in the pulp and paper industry worldwide. Best includes finding the pulp and paper industry news from the most remote places and delivering it to you where you want it and in a timely manner. That is all we are about and we drive ourselves daily to get better at it, find more efficient ways to deliver this news and stay at the very front of the innovation wave.

So, please, allow me to take just one, this one, of the 52 Nip Impressions columns I write each year and expound on this theme.

Back when I started in this industry, every month, delivered to my desk were magazines, when placed atop one another, measured a stack about 6 inches high. All free (to me), all in the best colors and on the best paper available in those days. We have all watched over the years as that stack of magazines has dwindled to a slim pile that, when stacked together now, would easily slide beneath my office door. Not only has the size of the pile diminished, its frequency has, too--they now come only six times per year. And in the last six months, yet another merger has been announced among the printed titles in this industry's trade press offerings.

We saw this coming when we embarked on developing Paperitalo Publications a decade ago. It was a gutsy move--to go all electronic in the pulp and paper industry--a sacrilege. However, we saw it as the only path to survival and success. We have cautiously and carefully added staff over the years that believes in this path and who are driving us to be all we can be (and we have been miserly with adding overhead--we pay no office rent anywhere). Steve Roush, our vice president and publisher, is an excellent example of what I mean when I talk about selectively adding staff. Steve joined us in the summer of 2012. He has a masters in journalism and years of experience in newspapers, newspapers that went through the transition from all print to print and electronic.

Steve has helped tremendously with our communications channel development. How? Some days I wish I knew how, but Steve has developed sources and contacts to the point that when a story breaks in our industry, he has it up within minutes. Not only does he have it up within minutes, if you belong to any LinkedIn group related to pulp and paper, he'll have the headline there (with a link back to our publications) within minutes, too. The result of this is that our website page reads have grown by 71% (from a very respectable base) within the last couple of years. Steve also is the driving force behind Pulp and Paper Radio International (www.pnpri.com) which now has seven regularly schedule programs each week--five of which originate in Hawaii.

Internally, I recently called Steve the "Matt Drudge" of the pulp and paper industry, a reflection on the speed and variety of interesting pulp and paper news he posts. However, as I was developing this column, I got to thinking, more appropriately, perhaps he is the commander of our "Red Ball Express."

The Red Ball Express, the original one, needed many components in order to work. It needed trucks, drivers, a highway and a management system. Yet, with all of that, it was going nowhere if that fuel line under the English Channel failed.

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A lesson in cardboard shacks: What I have learned in Guatemala and how it applies to today's stock market... Check out the latest edition of Strategic & Financial Arguments.

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Our "fuel line" is advertising partners and the revenues they bring to us. Our fuel line is operated by Helen Roush, Executive Vice President. Helen has been with us for a little over two years and has and is doing a great job of building advertising revenues--they have never been higher.

Yet, there is something you can do to help out here--there are always new peaks to conquer. We are in the middle of the hottest season of the year for advertising decisions--the first calendar quarter. If you are a reader who has become dependent on Paperitalo Publications for your news, boldly let your suppliers know what you read. If you are a supplier to this industry, ask yourself if it is time you joined other leading suppliers who are backing the media company in the pulp and paper industry that is on a growth trajectory.

We have two main websites, internet radio and a portfolio of specialized newsletters. We have ideas for many more ways to bring you pulp and paper news and vital information when you want it, where you want it. At this point, the growth of our communications channels is only limited by the size of our "fuel pipeline." You actively giving it a boost--and you have the power to do this--will expand our services to you faster than ever.

Any thoughts on how we are doing, what we can do to serve you better? Please take our quiz this week and note that unlike our normal weekly quizzes, we will keep the results private--so let us have it--your honest feedback makes us better! You may take it here.

For safety this week--well you know safety is an important theme to us here at Paperitalo Publications. We talk about it every day of the year.

Be safe and we will talk next week.

You can own your Nip Impressions Library by ordering "Raising EBITDA ... the lessons of Nip Impressions."


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