Mill manager Larry Newell: a team-based philosophy helped make Larry Newell PIMA's 2002 Mill Manager of the Year.

Good things come in small packages, and good managers can come from small mills. Simply ask Larry Newell, mill manager at Liberty Paper's linerboard mill in Becket, Minnesota, USA. Although the mill is not large it produces 120,000 tons/year of linerboard in weights ranging from 23-56 lbs.--Newell was recently named 2002 Mill Manager of the Year by the Paper Industry Management Association (PIMA). He spoke with Solutions! Editorial Director Alan Rooks at PIMA's 83rd Annual International Management Conference in San Francisco, California, USA.

ROOKS: How did you start in the paper industry?

NEWELL: I was born and raised in Camden, Arkansas, USA. Camden was a mill town. International Paper had a facility there with three machines. I went through high school and had an opportunity for a college scholarship. I did the normal thing. I married instead and went to work in the mill. My dad had worked in the mill there, too.

I started underneath the paper machines cleaning them. I worked through the ranks on the paper machine. In 1988, I joined Lake Superior Paper Company in Duluth, Minnesota, USA. They were starting a greenfield facility. After eight and a half years in a union environment, I had an opportunity to go to a nonunion mill for a greenfield startup. I learned that papermaking could be a career vs. only a job. I really enjoyed the startup with its exhilaration. It is probably one of the most rewarding and satisfying things I have ever experienced.

I next went to Weyerhaeuser in Columbus, Mississippi, USA, and worked the startup of a greenfield facility, team-concept, kraft pulp and paper mill. That is where I had my first taste of management. After that, I went to Maysville, Kentucky, USA, for another greenfield startup with Inland Container. Then I had the opportunity to come to Liberty Paper in 1994 where I have been ever since.

We had a very successful startup with a team environment and a participative management style. I started in a superintendent's role and moved through the ranks as production manager, plant manager, and general manager. That is my current position.

ROOKS: What do you like most about your current situation? What makes it interesting to you?

NEWELL: Liberty is a privately held company. The company and its owner, Mike Fiterman, have been most supportive of my personal development and growth. Mike is very committed to the growth and development of his company, and he believes in putting resources back into the company--keeping equipment maintained, staying current, and looking at new technology. Our company is dedicated to delighting the customer. We really mean this. We do not have red tape. We can do things very quickly without having to go through a bureaucracy. It is simply fun to work for this company.

ROOKS: You are being honored for your leadership qualities. What about the way you manage people and the way you manage your operation that led to this award?

NEWELL: I have a personal belief that no single person has everything. We all have our areas of opportunity to improve. I think the key for any successful manager especially at the level of general manager is to have good people on whom you can depend. Knowing my own shortcomings also helps--where I am strong, and where I am not strong. I try to surround myself with people who fill those gaps. I want the sum of the team to be better than any individual.

Another point is that you must treat people with respect. Overall, most people want to do a good job. Give them direction, remove the obstacles, and allow them to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. At this level of management, I do not have direct control over whether that machine runs or not. I need to depend on my people and work through those people to make it happen.

ROOKS: What is your biggest management or leadership challenge currently?

NEWELL: We need to continue to work with the paper industry to find new and better ways to combat current economic conditions using everyone's intellect, ideas, and resources to continue to cut manufacturing costs. We need to look at new sales opportunities with innovative product ideas based on what customers want--not what we want to make.

We must try to see the future together through a customer-supplier relationship going past the mill or the box plant even further down that supply chain. I think providing value into the world of tomorrow will be considerably different than what it is today and what it was yesterday. We have become a global economy. Even our little mill in the middle of Minnesota is affected by the global economy.

ROOKS: As a smaller, independent operation, how do you compete? What are the special characteristics that a company such as yours must have to succeed?

NEWELL: The majority of our products are in linerboard and containerboard. That arena contains many players. Mike Fiterman puts it very eloquently. His analogy is that those guys are like big battleships. They are huge and massive, and they carry much firepower. It takes them forever to turn around. We are like the little PT boat--fast and nimble. We try to be flexible. We will make what you want and not only what is on the menu. We will even create the menu for you. In our business, we are primarily a commodity supplier. Our paper must work like that of the next person, and their paper must work like ours. That service, flexibility, and quick turnaround differentiate between products.

IN THIS ARTICLE, YOU WILL LEARN:

* The management strategy that works for Newell

* How independently-owned Liberty Paper differentiates itself in a global market

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

* Visit the home page for Liberty Paper Inc. at libertypaper.com