International Paper Co (IP) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

(technical difficulty)

（技術難度）

We will also present certain non-US GAAP financial information. A reconciliation of those figures to US GAAP financial measures is available on our website. Our website also contains copies of the third quarter earnings press release and today's presentation slides.

我們也將提供某些非美國公認會計準則財務資訊。我們的網站上提供了這些數據與美國公認會計準則財務指標的調節表。我們的網站還包含第三季收益新聞稿和今天的簡報投影片的副本。

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Andy Silvernail.

現在，我將把電話轉給安迪·西爾弗內爾 (Andy Silvernail)。

Thanks, Mark. Good morning, good afternoon, everyone. I'll begin on slide 3. After my first six months in the seat, I'm encouraged by the pace of improvement and proud of the team for aggressively engaging in IP's transformation. We're building a performance-driven culture at IP that will enable us to create significant value for our employees, customers, and shareowners. That work begins a strong alignment around a very clear and compelling strategy.

謝謝，馬克。大家早安，下午好。我將從幻燈片 3 開始。在擔任該職位的頭六個月後，我對改進的速度感到鼓舞，並對團隊積極參與知識產權轉型感到自豪。我們正在知識產權領域建立績效驅動的文化，這將使我們能夠為員工、客戶和股東創造巨大的價值。這項工作開始圍繞著一個非常清晰和令人信服的策略進行強有力的協調。

We'll drive profitable growth by being the low-cost producer and the most reliable and innovative sustainable packaging solutions provider in North America and EMEA. We're using our 80/20 approach to guide investments and align resources to win with our most attractive customers, reduce complexity and cost around the company and drive transformational performance. Ultimately, building great teams and a customer culture are foundational to our improvements. We're passionate about delivering a superior experience to our best customers and best-in-class returns for our shareowners.

我們將成為北美和歐洲、中東和非洲地區的低成本生產商和最可靠、最具創新性的可持續包裝解決方案提供商，從而推動獲利成長。我們使用 80/20 方法來指導投資並調整資源，以贏得最具吸引力的客戶，降低公司的複雜性和成本，並推動轉型績效。最終，建立優秀的團隊和客戶文化是我們改進的基礎。我們熱衷於為我們最好的客戶提供卓越的體驗，並為我們的股東提供一流的回報。

Let's turn to slide 4. We're on a way to driving transformational changes at IP. We've conducted 80/20 training with our top leaders across the company and are actively deploying the methodology. We will continue to embed this practice with our commercial teams at the mills, at box plants and with administrative functions. I was delighted that about 80% of our active investors joined us for the 80/20 overview session in August.

讓我們轉到投影片 4。我們正在推動知識產權領域的變革。我們已經對全公司的高層領導進行了 80/20 培訓，並正在積極部署該方法。我們將繼續將這種做法融入工廠、箱式工廠和行政職能部門的商業團隊。我很高興大約 80% 的活躍投資者參加了我們 8 月的 80/20 概述會議。

Importantly, we're completing 80/20 segmentation across the company. We're looking at our portfolio and business segments, markets, customers, products, suppliers and assets and facilities. We are completing zero up analysis to determine our key resource needs, and we're developing implementation plans and aligning resources to position our businesses to win customers. We have fully entered the implementation phase by engaging our teams and taking actions to accelerate our strategy and significantly improve IP's performance.

重要的是，我們正在整個公司完成 80/20 的細分。我們正在審視我們的投資組合和業務部門、市場、客戶、產品、供應商以及資產和設施。我們正在完成歸零分析，以確定我們的關鍵資源需求，我們正在製定實施計劃並調整資源，以使我們的業務贏得客戶。透過讓我們的團隊參與並採取行動來加速我們的策略並顯著提高智慧財產權的績效，我們已經完全進入實施階段。

I'm now on slide 5. I'll share some strategic actions we're taking in the fourth quarter to position IP for success. What all these actions have in common is that they give us greater focus on strategic customers and markets, align resources and investments to win and simplify all aspects of IP, which reduces complexity and COGS. While we're confident that these actions are necessary, they include some difficult decisions that impact our team members, their families, and the surrounding communities.

我現在在幻燈片 5 上。我將分享我們在第四季採取的一些策略行動，以確保智慧財產權成功。所有這些行動的共同點是，它們讓我們更加關注策略客戶和市場，調整資源和投資以贏得並簡化智慧財產權的各個方面，從而降低複雜性和銷售成本。雖然我們相信這些行動是必要的，但其中包括一些影響我們的團隊成員、他們的家人和周圍社區的艱難決定。

One of the great strengths of IP is our values. We make these decisions with care and compassion, ensuring that we treat people with dignity and respect, while providing support, outplacement, and severance to help people in their transition.

智慧財產權的一大優勢就是我們的價值觀。我們以關懷和同情心做出這些決定，確保我們以尊嚴和尊重的方式對待人們，同時提供支持、再就業和遣散費，以幫助人們過渡。

Our actions at the enterprise level are centered on reducing complexity and shifting resources into the businesses and closer to the customer to accelerate strategy. This is the fundamental principle of 80/20. We are simplifying to enable greater focus and collaboration, improved execution, have more agility, improve the customer experience, and lower cost. Within our North American packaging business, we're investing for outstanding service, reliability, productivity, and enhanced capabilities to win with customers, while optimizing our total system and reducing structural costs.

我們在企業層面的行動集中於降低複雜性並將資源轉移到業務中並更貼近客戶以加速策略。這是80/20的基本原則。我們正在進行簡化，以實現更大的關注和協作、改善執行、提高敏捷性、改善客戶體驗並降低成本。在我們的北美包裝業務中，我們投資於卓越的服務、可靠性、生產力和增強的能力，以贏得客戶，同時優化我們的整個系統並降低結構成本。

As I mentioned on the Q2 call, we have two regional optimization pilots underway in our box system. We are reducing complexity and investing in equipment and people to improve safety, product quality, on-time delivery, while lowering cost. Importantly, we are seeing a 20% to 30% productivity improvement in these early stages at these pilot areas. There's opportunity to apply this approach across our national box network. This will be a key lever for delivering profitable market share growth now and in the future.

正如我在第二季電話會議中提到的，我們的盒子系統正在進行兩個區域優化試點。我們正在降低複雜性並投資於設備和人員，以提高安全性、產品品質、準時交貨，同時降低成本。重要的是，我們看到這些試點領域的早期階段生產力提高了 20% 到 30%。有機會在我們的全國盒子網路中應用這種方法。這將成為現在和未來可獲利的市場佔有率成長的關鍵槓桿。

Recently, we announced five plant closures in regions where we have excess capacity and an opportunity to optimize our footprint, working closely with our customers to transition their business to other IP plants. We expect to retain 100% of our strategic customers, and we're making investments in remaining facilities for future growth. Importantly, we have identified multiple opportunities for greenfield and brownfield box plan investments that will be industry-leading in all aspects of safety and performance. You should expect to see announcements and investment soon to increase our strength in strategic markets.

最近，我們宣布關閉產能過剩地區的五家工廠，並有機會優化我們的足跡，與客戶密切合作，將他們的業務轉移到其他 IP 工廠。我們希望保留 100% 的策略客戶，並且我們正在對剩餘設施進行投資，以實現未來的成長。重要的是，我們已經確定了綠地和棕地箱式計畫投資的多個機會，這些機會將在安全和性能的各個方面處於行業領先地位。您應該很快就會看到公告和投資，以增強我們在策略市場的實力。

After a strategic review, we've decided to evaluate opportunities to better position GCF for long-term success. Our Board has authorized us to pursue strategic options. We have engaged Morgan Stanley as our adviser. GCF, as a leader of fluff pulp, is very well positioned in a growing global market. We have a talented team and a strong market position and great technical expertise. We have a highly advantaged mill system. And as I mentioned, (technical difficulty) of global supply position. Throughout the process, we are fully committed to support our business and committed to serving our customers. We'll update investors when the process is completed.

經過策略審查後，我們決定評估機會，以更好地定位 GCF 以獲得長期成功。我們的董事會已授權我們尋求策略選擇。我們聘請摩根士丹利擔任我們的顧問。GCF 作為絨毛漿的領導者，在不斷成長的全球市場中處於非常有利的地位。我們擁有一支才華橫溢的團隊、強大的市場地位和出色的技術專長。我們擁有高度優勢的工廠系統。正如我所提到的，（技術難度）全球供應狀況。在整個過程中，我們全力支持我們的業務並致力於服務我們的客戶。過程完成後，我們將向投資者通報最新情況。

Regardless of if we sell or if we keep GCF, it will be positioned to win for the long term. While we are engaged in this process, we will continue to accelerate their strategy to focus on fluff and improve business performance. The decision to close the Georgetown mill allows us to exit about 300,000 tonnes of commodity SBSK and low-value specialty grades across the system. This move significantly lowers complexity and costs, improves returns, and reduces earnings volatility.

無論我們出售還是保留GCF，它都將贏得長期勝利。在我們參與這個過程的同時，我們將繼續加速他們的策略，專注於無用的內容並提高業務績效。關閉喬治城工廠的決定使我們能夠退出整個系統約 30 萬噸商品 SBSK 和低價值特種等級產品。此舉顯著降低了複雜性和成本，提高了回報，並減少了收益波動。

We expect to retain 100% of our fluff grades end customers and increase our absorbent mix to about 80%. GCF will continue to have plenty of capacity for growth with key customers. These actions strengthen GCF, make them a stronger supplier of high-quality fluff pulp to the market and for our strategic customers. And again, regardless of the outcome, GCF has the potential to be an attractive business with meaningful upside potential.

我們希望保留 100% 的絨毛等級最終客戶，並將我們的吸收劑組合增加到 80% 左右。GCF 將繼續擁有充足的能力與主要客戶一起成長。這些行動增強了 GCF 的實力，使其成為向市場和我們的策略客戶提供優質絨毛漿的更強大的供應商。再說一次，無論結果如何，GCF 都有潛力成為一項有吸引力的業務，具有有意義的上升潛力。

I'm now on slide 6. This slide reflects some 80/20 early wins we're seeing across the company. Our teams are engaged. They've jumped in and they're not wasting any time for taking actions to win with our customers, reduce complexity and improve performance. And here are just some examples I thought I'd call out of all the great work that's happening with our teams.

我現在在幻燈片 6 上。這張幻燈片反映了我們在整個公司看到的一些 80/20 的早期勝利。我們的團隊很投入。他們已經介入，並且不會浪費任何時間採取行動來贏得客戶、降低複雜性並提高績效。這裡只是我認為我應該從我們團隊正在發生的所有偉大工作中選出的一些例子。

On safety, our intent is to set the industry standard as a great place to work, starting because we are the safest place to work. We're using 80/20 analytics to understand opportunities for safety improvement that include better root cause analysis and advanced technology. Simply put, safety must be above everything else.

在安全方面，我們的目的是將行業標準設定為良好的工作場所，首先是因為我們是最安全的工作場所。我們使用 80/20 分析來了解安全改進的機會，包括更好的根本原因分析和先進技術。簡而言之，安全必須高於一切。

I've already talked about the pilot plants in two regions where we're seeing double-digit productivity improvements. Also, the corporate reorganization will allow us to focus on our customers and business results. We're moving from a matrix organization to a customer-focused organization. Importantly, we've changed our sales incentive programs. They are simpler and better aligned with our commercial strategy to drive profitable growth and reward those people who deliver. Another great example is a large strategic customer who we partner with to look at their mix of business that was driving huge complexity.

我已經談到了兩個地區的試點工廠，我們在這兩個地區看到了兩位數的生產力提高。此外，公司重組將使我們能夠專注於我們的客戶和業務成果。我們正在從矩陣型組織轉變為以客戶為中心的組織。重要的是，我們改變了銷售激勵計劃。它們更簡單，更符合我們的商業策略，以推動獲利成長並獎勵那些做出貢獻的人。另一個很好的例子是一個大型策略客戶，我們與他們合作，研究他們的業務組合，這導致了巨大的複雜性。

By working together, we reduced the complexity of their order pattern, which saved 1,300 hours to changeover time and significantly improved service levels. These kinds of examples can be found across the system for more opportunities in the future.

透過共同努力，我們降低了訂單模式的複雜性，從而節省了 1,300 小時的轉換時間，並顯著提高了服務水準。此類範例可以在整個系統中找到，以便將來獲得更多機會。

We also had a couple of quick hit wins in sourcing in the US and Europe, where we were able to partner with strategic suppliers to improve cost and terms. There is more to come, but we're encouraged by the level of commitment and excitement across the company as we work to deliver safe, profitable growth.

我們在美國和歐洲的採購方面也取得了一些快速勝利，我們能夠與戰略供應商合作以改善成本和條款。未來還會有更多的事情發生，但在我們努力實現安全、盈利的成長時，整個公司的承諾和興奮程度讓我們感到鼓舞。

All right. I'm on slide 7. There's good momentum in the company, but we're just starting our 80/20 journey, and it needs to take hold to every part of the company. Ultimately, 80/20 is a powerful business model when it has lived not only in the C-suite, but with customers, at paper machines, and at shipping docks and box plants.

好的。我在投影片 7 上。公司發展勢頭良好，但我們才剛開始 80/20 之旅，它需要紮根於公司的每個部門。最終，80/20 是一種強大的商業模式，它不僅存在於最高管理層，而且存在於客戶、造紙機、裝運碼頭和紙箱工廠。

Along with the progress at IP, we're very excited to complete the DS Smith acquisition. I'm sure you've all seen the strong shareholder support. We're bringing together two great organizations and building winning positions in the attractive markets of North America and Europe. We expect to close in the early first quarter upon completion of regulatory reviews. Our teams are actively involved in planning for the integration.

隨著 IP 領域的進步，我們非常高興能夠完成對 DS Smith 的收購。我相信你們都看到了股東的大力支持。我們將兩個偉大的組織聚集在一起，並在北美和歐洲有吸引力的市場中建立制勝地位。我們預計在完成監管審查後將在第一季初完成交易。我們的團隊積極參與整合規劃。

I'm pleased to announce that after closing the transaction, Tim Nicholls will serve as the interim leader of the combined IP and DS Smith EMEA teams in addition to his responsibilities as CFO. We are fortunate to have outstanding finance teams at IP and DS Smith that enable us to do this.

我很高興地宣布，交易完成後，Tim Nicholls 除了擔任財務長之外，還將擔任 IP 和 DS Smith EMEA 合併團隊的臨時領導。我們很幸運在 IP 和 DS Smith 擁有出色的財務團隊，使我們能夠做到這一點。

Finally, we're happy to announce that we will host an Investor Day on March 25, 2025, at Freedom Hall at the New York Stock Exchange. This will be an opportunity for us to share details about our strategy and value creation opportunities across the company.

最後，我們很高興地宣布，我們將於 2025 年 3 月 25 日在紐約證券交易所自由大廳舉辦投資者日活動。這將是我們在整個公司分享有關我們的策略和價值創造機會的詳細資訊的機會。

Now let me turn to the third quarter performance and the outlook. First, I'll share some highlights and then turn it to Tim, who will walk us through the details.

現在讓我談談第三季的業績和展望。首先，我將分享一些要點，然後將其交給蒂姆，他將向我們介紹詳細資訊。

I'm on slide 9. Our third quarter earnings came in above our outlook for the quarter. Better performance was driven by strong price improvements across the portfolio. This included about $17 million of benefit from our Box Go-to-Market strategy. Volumes were seasonally lower as expected. Operating costs were higher sequentially due to lower volumes, seasonally higher labor costs, employee incentive compensation and some reliability issues in our mill system, which Tim will address as he covers the business segment performance.

我在幻燈片 9 上。我們第三季的收益高於我們對本季的預期。整個投資組合的價格大幅上漲推動了更好的績效。其中包括我們的 Box 上市策略帶來的約 1700 萬美元的收益。如預期，銷售量季節性下降。由於產量減少、季節性勞動力成本上升、員工激勵薪酬以及我們工廠系統的一些可靠性問題，營運成本環比上升，蒂姆將在介紹業務部門業績時解決這些問題。

In terms of the underlying market, we continue to see stable to moderately improving demand and trends in North America across the various segments we serve. In Europe, we have seen some softening, however. As expected, IP's packaging volumes lagged the overall market as we restructure commercial agreements to improve overall profitability. Relative to prior year performance, we've had higher sales revenues that were offset by higher costs, primarily related to inflation, employee incentive compensation as well as some reliability issues and spending to improve future performance.

就基礎市場而言，我們繼續看到我們所服務的北美各個細分市場的需求和趨勢保持穩定至適度改善。然而，在歐洲，我們看到了一些軟化。正如預期的那樣，由於我們重組商業協議以提高整體盈利能力，IP 的包裝量落後於整體市場。與前一年的業績相比，我們的銷售收入有所增加，但成本增加所抵消，成本增加主要與通貨膨脹、員工激勵薪酬以及一些可靠性問題和改善未來業績的支出有關。

As I mentioned earlier, we are laser-focused on reducing structural costs across the company, and we're taking actions. As we look into the fourth quarter, we expect higher earnings across our packaging business as our price increases from the prior index movement stick. We also expect lower costs for improved operations and lower planned maintenance outages. We expect lower earnings in GCF as a result of prior price index declines and higher planned maintenance outages.

正如我之前提到的，我們專注於降低整個公司的結構成本，並且我們正在採取行動。當我們展望第四季時，我們預計整個包裝業務的收益將會更高，因為我們的價格比先前的指數走勢持續上漲。我們也預期改善營運的成本會降低，計畫內的維護中斷也會減少。我們預計，由於先前的價格指數下跌和計劃中的維護停電增加，GCF 的收益將會下降。

In the fourth quarter, we're also calling out significant accelerated depreciation expenses associated with the facility closures that I mentioned earlier.

在第四季度，我們還指出與我之前提到的設施關閉相關的大量加速折舊費用。

With that, let me turn it over to Tim, who will provide more details of our third quarter performance and our outlook.

接下來，讓我將其交給蒂姆，他將提供有關我們第三季度業績和前景的更多詳細資訊。

Great. Thanks, Andy. Now turning to slide 10. I'll provide more details about the third quarter as we walk through the sequential earnings bridge. Third quarter adjusted operating earnings per share was $0.44 as compared to $0.55 in the second quarter. Price and mix was higher by $0.29 per share, driven by the flow-through of prior price index movements in both businesses. Higher export prices as well as margin benefits from successfully executing our Box Go-to-Market strategy. Volume was unfavorable by $0.12 per share due to the seasonally lower box shipments and some volume trade-offs related to commercial contract restructuring actions.

偉大的。謝謝，安迪。現在翻到投影片 10。當我們瀏覽連續獲利橋樑時，我將提供有關第三季度的更多詳細資訊。第三季調整後每股營運收益為 0.44 美元，而第二季為 0.55 美元。由於兩家公司先前價格指數變動的影響，每股價格和組合上漲了 0.29 美元。成功執行我們的 Box 上市策略可提高出口價格和利潤。由於季節性出貨量下降以及與商業合約重組行動相關的一些銷售權衡，每股銷售不利 0.12 美元。

Although we continue to see favorable demand trends deploying our commercial strategies across the portfolio continues to impact volumes in the near term as expected. Operations and cost was unfavorable by $0.28 per share sequentially. This is largely from the impact of lower volumes, seasonally higher labor costs, higher employee incentive compensation, some reliability incidents and spending and some weather impacts.

儘管我們繼續看到有利的需求趨勢，但在整個產品組合中部署我們的商業策略將繼續影響短期內的銷售，正如預期的那樣。營運和成本較上一季每股下降 0.28 美元。這主要是由於產量減少、季節性勞動成本上升、員工激勵薪資提高、一些可靠性事件和支出以及一些天氣影響的影響。

Maintenance outages were higher by $14 million or $0.03 per share in the third quarter and inputs were unfavorable sequentially with higher costs for energy and wood. And finally, corporate items were favorably impacted earnings by $0.08 per share sequentially due to the timing of corporate items and a lower effective tax rate.

第三季維護停電增加了 1,400 萬美元，即每股 0.03 美元，且能源和木材成本上升，投入連續不利。最後，由於公司專案的時間表和較低的有效稅率，公司專案對每股收益產生了 0.08 美元的有利影響。

If we turn to slide 11, I'll cover industrial packaging. Price and mix was higher due to the realization of approximately $70 million of benefit from the prior index movement. Additional benefits from our Box Go-to-Market strategy contributed approximately $17 million to earnings and higher exports contributed approximately $18 million. Volume was lower by $48 million sequentially due to seasonality and one less shipping day in the third quarter. In addition, we made choices based on our Box Go-to-Market strategy that will negatively impact our volume in the near terms, but will allow us to improve our margins and mix over the longer term.

如果我們翻到投影片 11，我將介紹工業包裝。由於先前的指數變動帶來了約 7000 萬美元的收益，因此價格和組合都較高。我們的 Box Go-to-Market 策略帶來的額外收益為收益貢獻了約 1,700 萬美元，出口增加貢獻了約 1,800 萬美元。由於季節性因素以及第三季出貨日減少 1 個，成交量較上季減少 4,800 萬美元。此外，我們根據 Box 上市策略做出了選擇，這將在短期內對我們的銷售產生負面影響，但從長遠來看將使我們能夠提高利潤率和組合。

Operations and cost was $89 million unfavorable sequentially primarily due to lower volumes, seasonally higher labor costs, and higher employee incentive compensation. Ops and costs also includes a $42 million unfavorable impact from reliability incidents that occurred at few mills, partially offset by $20 million of insurance proceeds for the Ixtac box plant fire that occurred earlier this year. Planned maintenance outages were higher by $38 million sequentially and input costs were $24 million unfavorable, primarily due to the higher energy and wood costs.

營運和成本環比下降 8,900 萬美元，主要是由於銷售下降、季節性勞動力成本上升以及員工激勵薪酬上升。營運和成本還包括少數工廠發生的可靠性事件造成的 4,200 萬美元不利影響，部分被今年稍早發生的 Ixtac 箱式工廠火災的 2,000 萬美元保險收益所抵消。計劃維護停電比上一季增加了 3800 萬美元，不利的投入成本為 2400 萬美元，主要是由於能源和木材成本上漲。

If we turn to slide 12 and covering GCF, price and mix was sequentially higher by $24 million due to price index movements. Volume sequentially was lower by $4 million. Operations and costs were unfavorable sequentially by $35 million, which includes an $18 million unfavorable impact from reliability incidents at a few of our mills in addition to other items, including higher employee incentive compensation. Planned maintenance outages were lower in the third quarter by $24 million. And finally, input costs were flat, with lower energy and chemical costs offsetting higher wood costs.

如果我們轉向幻燈片 12 並涵蓋 GCF，由於價格指數變動，價格和組合連續上漲了 2400 萬美元。銷量較上月下降了 400 萬美元。營運和成本環比下降了 3500 萬美元，其中包括我們一些工廠的可靠性事件造成的 1800 萬美元的不利影響以及其他項目（包括更高的員工激勵薪酬）。第三季計畫維護停電減少了 2,400 萬美元。最後，投入成本持平，較低的能源和化學品成本抵消了較高的木材成本。

I'm on slide 13 now. And before we get into the details of the outlook, I would note that accelerated depreciation expense will be a significant impact in the fourth quarter due to previously announced facility closures, so we've called that out for each business. And in line with guidance from the SEC, accelerated depreciation will be included in operating earnings. Earnings for our Industrial Packaging segment are expected to be higher sequentially by approximately $55 million, which includes accelerated depreciation expense of $15 million.

我現在在幻燈片 13 上。在我們詳細介紹前景之前，我要指出的是，由於先前宣布的設施關閉，加速折舊費用將在第四季度產生重大影響，因此我們已經針對每項業務提出了這一點。根據美國證券交易委員會的指導，加速折舊將計入營業收入。我們的工業包裝部門的獲利預計將比上一季增加約 5,500 萬美元，其中包括 1,500 萬美元的加速折舊費用。

Earnings for global cellulose fibers are expected to be lower sequentially by approximately $275 million which includes accelerated depreciation expense of $220 million as well as higher planned maintenance outages.

全球纖維素纖維的獲利預計將環比下降約 2.75 億美元，其中包括 2.2 億美元的加速折舊費用以及更高的計畫維護停運費用。

Now let me give you the breakdown by business segment. I'll start with Industrial Packaging. We expect price and mix to improve earnings by $45 million sequentially. This is primarily the result of prior index movement in North America with some benefit from previous actions under our Box Go-to-Market strategy. The sequential improvement also includes favorable mix and our EMEA packaging business given the strong fresh fruit and vegetable season in Morocco.

下面我就依照業務板塊來給大家分析一下。我將從工業包裝開始。我們預計價格和組合將使收益將季提高 4500 萬美元。這主要是北美地區先前指數走勢的結果，同時也受益於我們先前根據我們的 Box 進入市場策略採取的行動。鑑於摩洛哥新鮮水果和蔬菜季節強勁，連續改善還包括有利的組合和我們的歐洲、中東和非洲包裝業務。

Volume is expected to decrease earnings by $15 million due to two less shipping days, partially offset by seasonally higher daily demand. We expect operations and costs to increase earnings by $5 million. This includes improved performance and reliability, which are partially offset by higher seasonal costs and the nonrepeat of insurance proceeds received in the third quarter.

由於運輸天數減少，預計銷售將導致收益減少 1500 萬美元，但部分被季節性每日需求增加所抵消。我們預計營運和成本將使收益增加 500 萬美元。這包括性能和可靠性的提高，但部分被季節性成本上升和第三季收到的保險收益不再重複所抵消。

We expect accelerated depreciation will decrease earnings for the packaging business by approximately $15 million due to the five packaging facility closures in the fourth quarter. Lower maintenance outage expense is expected to increase earnings by $21 million. And lastly, lower input costs are expected to increase earnings by $15 million, primarily due to lower OCC and wood cost.

我們預計，由於第四季度有 5 家包裝工廠關閉，加速折舊將使包裝業務的收益減少約 1500 萬美元。較低的維護停電費用預計將使收益增加 2,100 萬美元。最後，投入成本的降低預計將使收入增加 1500 萬美元，這主要是由於 OCC 和木材成本的降低。

Switching to Global Cellulose Fibers, we expect price and mix to decrease earnings by approximately $25 million as a result of prior index movement. Volume is expected to be stable. We expect operations and costs to increase earnings by approximately $5 million due to improved performance and reliability which is partially offset by higher seasonal and distribution costs.

轉向全球纖維素纖維，我們預計由於先前的指數變動，價格和組合將使收益減少約 2500 萬美元。預計成交量將穩定。由於效能和可靠性的提高，我們預計營運和成本將使收益增加約 500 萬美元，但季節性和分銷成本的上升部分抵消了這一影響。

We expect accelerated depreciation will decrease earnings for the pulp business by approximately $220 million due to the closure of the Georgetown mill in the fourth quarter. Higher planned maintenance outage expense is expected to decrease earnings in the fourth quarter by approximately $36 million. And lastly, input costs are expected to be stable.

我們預計，由於第四季度喬治城工廠的關閉，加速折舊將使紙漿業務的收益減少約 2.2 億美元。預計較高的計劃維護停電費用將使第四季度的收益減少約 3,600 萬美元。最後，投入成本預計將保持穩定。

And with that, I'll turn it back over to Andy.

有了這個，我會把它轉回給安迪。

Thanks, Tim, and we'll now turn to slide 14. Again, look, we're making great progress, and we're well on our way to building a performance-driven and customer-centric culture. And we're taking actions. We're taking actions to control our own destiny, and we're making the right choices to accelerate performance improvement.

謝謝提姆，我們現在轉向幻燈片 14。再說一遍，我們正在取得巨大進步，並且正在努力建立以績效為導向、以客戶為中心的文化。我們正在採取行動。我們正在採取行動來掌控自己的命運，我們正在做出正確的選擇來加速績效改善。

I'm confident that we have the right strategy and a talented team and a concrete plan to create a great place to work, deliver customer excellence and drive profitable growth. Our actions will drive transformational improvements at IP and create significant value for our shareholders.

我相信，我們擁有正確的策略、才華橫溢的團隊和具體的計劃，能夠創造一個良好的工作場所、提供卓越的客戶服務並推動獲利成長。我們的行動將推動智慧財產權的變革性改進，並為我們的股東創造巨大的價值。

With that, operator, we're now ready to take questions.

接線員，我們現在準備好回答問題了。

(Operator Instructions) Phil Ng, Jefferies.

（操作員說明）Phil Ng，Jefferies。

Hey, guys. Andy, it's been really inspirational in terms of the progress you guys have made in this short time. So really exciting. As you kind of look at the mix of customers that you're looking to optimize, how is that progress coming along? I know you've realigned your sales incentive comp structure for a lot of your employees. Are you seeing any early findings, change of behavior? .

嘿，夥計們。安迪，你們在這麼短的時間內取得的進步真的很鼓舞人心。真的很令人興奮。當您審視想要優化的客戶組合時，進度如何？我知道您已經為許多員工重新調整了銷售激勵薪酬結構。您是否看到任何早期發現或行為改變？。

And if I look at Tim's forecast for box shipments sequentially in the US, it looked okay. It didn't seem like there was any more incremental leakage there. So give us an update on how that contract negotiation is progressing? Are you seeing any more incremental churn on the customer side?

如果我看看提姆對美國連續出貨量的預測，看起來還不錯。那裡似乎沒有更多的增量洩漏。那麼請給我們介紹一下合約談判的最新進展嗎？您是否看到客戶方面有更多的增量流失？

Thanks, Phil. Appreciate the question. So look, first of all, let me just recognize the teams for having done a tremendous job. We do a morning call in advance of earnings, and we were able to talk to a bunch of the folks here today and just recognize the incredibly hard work that people have done over the last six months to create momentum. So I first want to just recognize the monumental work that's been accomplished.

謝謝，菲爾。感謝這個問題。首先，讓我對這些團隊所做的出色工作表示認可。我們在財報發布前進行了一次早間電話會議，今天我們能夠與這裡的一群人交談，並認識到人們在過去六個月中為創造動力所做的令人難以置信的艱苦工作。所以我首先想承認已經完成的巨大工作。

Specific to your question on volume, what we're seeing there is, it feels like it's -- the leakage has slowed. And I don't want to jump the gun here and say, gone because we still will have year-over-year volume down here for the next few quarters. But we do expect when we get to the back half of next year, we expect to turn that and we expect it to be at least back to market growth.

具體到你關於音量的問題，我們看到的是，感覺洩漏已經放緩。我不想在這裡過早地說，走了，因為在接下來的幾個季度裡，我們的銷量仍然會比去年同期下降。但我們確實預計，到明年下半年時，我們預計會扭轉這一局面，並且至少會恢復市場成長。

And so what I would say we're seeing right now is the expected losses. So if we kind of look at the band of volume losses, we are better than the bottom end of those -- of that range of expectations, which is positive.

所以我想說的是，我們現在看到的是預期的損失。因此，如果我們看看成交量損失的範圍，我們會比預期範圍的底部更好，這是積極的。

We have also gotten much, much sharper through the 80/20 work of getting clear about what segments of the market are priorities for us. And if I were to simplify that, Phil, I'd say, look, if you -- let's just use the US market. So the US market is about 400 billion square feet of -- from a packaging standpoint. And there's about 60% that I put in the big middle. So 20% is on one end, which tends to be smaller, local customers. And on the other end, it tends to be very price-sensitive, larger customers. Frankly, the sweet spot for us is that big middle, right? That is where we are really, really good.

透過 80/20 工作，我們也變得更加敏銳，明確了哪些市場領域是我們優先考慮的。如果我要簡化這一點，菲爾，我會說，如果你——讓我們只使用美國市場。因此，從包裝的角度來看，美國市場大約有 4000 億平方英尺。我把大約 60% 放在大中間了。因此，20% 是在一端，通常是規模較小的本地客戶。另一方面，它往往是對價格非常敏感的大客戶。坦白說，對我們來說最有利的地方就是那個大中鋒，對吧？這就是我們真正非常出色的地方。

Obviously, we do business across the spectrum, given our market position. And frankly, if we can do business with folks on good terms and conditions, we're open for business. But we -- our focus is really on those people who match our strategy. And our strategy is very much again about we're going to be the low-cost producer. We're not going to be the low-price player, but we're going to be the low-cost producer. We are going to be great on service, and we are going to invest where we have strength and the customers that really match that in that big middle are -- is the sweet spot for us, and we really like that overall positioning.

顯然，鑑於我們的市場地位，我們的業務涉及各個領域。坦白說，如果我們能夠以良好的條款和條件與人們開展業務，我們就會敞開大門。但我們——我們的重點其實是那些符合我們策略的人。我們的策略再次強調我們將成為低成本生產商。我們不會成為低價玩家，但我們將成為低成本生產者。我們將在服務方面做得很好，我們將在我們有實力的地方進行投資，並且在那個大中間真正匹配的客戶是我們的最佳選擇，我們真的很喜歡這種整體定位。

In terms of the further segmentation, that really starts to become regional and then super local. And it's one of the things I love about this business is, as I talked about when I first thought about joining the company, what was ringing in my head was commodity, commodity, commodity. And that's just not the case, right? We have a highly differentiated position and can have a highly differentiated position in our marketplace. So I feel good about the segmentation. I feel good about the focus.

就進一步細分而言，這確實開始變得區域化，然後是超級本地化。我喜歡這個行業的原因之一是，正如我第一次考慮加入公司時所說的那樣，我腦海中響起的是商品、商品、商品。但事實並非如此，對吧？我們擁有高度差異化的地位，並且可以在我們的市場中擁有高度差異化的地位。所以我對細分感覺很好。我對焦點感覺很好。

As we've been rolling out 80/20 training regionally, we've now done three regional commercial training, and we've identified big chunks of opportunity that are out there in the marketplace that where our value proposition is highly aligned with what the customer wants. So I feel good that we're heading in the right direction. It's too early to call a turn. But I do think that the leakage has certainly slowed.

隨著我們在區域範圍內推出80/20 培訓，我們現在已經完成了三項區域商業培訓，並且我們已經確定了市場上存在的大量機會，在這些機會中，我們的價值主張與我們的價值主張高度一致。所以我感覺很好，我們正朝著正確的方向前進。現在說轉彎還太早。但我確實認為洩漏速度肯定已經放緩。

Okay. Super. And then you talked about a few things, early wins in terms of the pilot program on the box side to kind of unlock more efficiency, your ability to kind of ramp that more broadly and then also, you highlighted a large customer where you're able to kind of reduce the complexity and really reduce the changeover. That's pretty exciting. So your ability to kind of roll that out more broadly as well.

好的。極好的。然後你談到了一些事情，在盒子方面的試點計劃方面取得了早期勝利，以提高效率，你有能力更廣泛地提升這一點，然後你還強調了你所在的大客戶能夠降低複雜性並真正減少轉換。這非常令人興奮。所以你也有能力更廣泛地推廣它。

Yes. So I think, Phil, both those two things, those are really nuanced, but I can't stress how important those examples are as you think about rolling those out across the company. So you think about the box plant pilots. Fundamentally, what's happening, let's just use a simple -- if you're in a region and you have two box plants. And one effectively becomes a low mix, high-volume plant and the other becomes a high mix plant. And there can be a tendency for some to say, oh, well, we've now stratified our plant. No, what we've done is we specialized our plants. And so the one that's dealing with high volume, they can capitalize, build their labor force and build their entire plan around a certain business model that drives tremendous efficiency aligned with what the customer needs.

是的。所以我認為，菲爾，這兩件事都非常微妙，但當你考慮到在整個公司推廣這些例子時，我無法強調這些例子的重要性。所以你想想箱式工廠的試點。從根本上來說，發生了什麼，讓我們用一個簡單的例子——如果你在一個地區並且有兩個箱式植物。其中一個有效地成為低混合、高產量工廠，而另一個則成為高混合工廠。有些人可能會說，哦，好吧，我們現在已經對工廠進行了分層。不，我們所做的是我們的工廠專業化。因此，處理大批量業務的企業可以資本化、建立勞動力並圍繞某種業務模式製定整個計劃，從而根據客戶需求提高效率。

And then the high mix plant can get greater changeovers, right? They can get greater changeovers. Even the equipment can be different when you start thinking about what you're talking about there. So the entire capitalization, the workflow, those things can be different. And so we can't do that everywhere in the country. But we've got 20, 25 regions that I would expect call them regions.

然後高混合工廠可以獲得更大的轉變，對嗎？他們可以獲得更大的轉變。當您開始思考您正在談論的內容時，甚至設備也可能會有所不同。所以整個資本、工作流程，這些東西都可以是不同的。所以我們不能在全國各地都這樣做。但我們有 20、25 個區域，我希望將它們稱為區域。

And within that, probably at least half of those have the dynamics that we're talking about. And so we can look at that -- those kind of options. So that's exciting. And don't forget what comes in that is really important. So we closed five plants, but someone could look at that and say, hey, you're taking capacity out of the system. That's a problem. Well, those are plants that were underutilized, we can move 100% of the customer to some place that we have capacity.

其中，可能至少有一半具有我們正在談論的動態。所以我們可以看看這些選擇。所以這很令人興奮。並且不要忘記其中真正重要的內容。因此，我們關閉了五家工廠，但有人可能會看到這一點並說，嘿，你正在削減系統的產能。這是一個問題。嗯，那些是未充分利用的工廠，我們可以將 100% 的客戶轉移到我們有產能的地方。

And as we grow our overall capacity in the system by driving productivity, we open up service levels. And then put on that, the greenfields and the brownfields that we're looking at. And we'll get more specific in the future and probably after the -- after the fourth quarter call, we'll talk more about capital planning, and we can talk about what that means incrementally for capital. And I've said that as long as our strategy is going in the right direction, we're not going to be scared about investing. And so we're looking at these greenfields, we're looking at these brownfields to really drive productivity and hopefully, productivity for our customers rather and growth for our customers.

當我們透過提高生產力來提高系統的整體容量時，我們就提高了服務水準。然後加上我們正在看的綠地和棕地。我們將來會更具體，可能在第四季度電話會議之後，我們將更多地討論資本規劃，我們可以討論這對資本的增量意味著什麼。我說過，只要我們的策略朝著正確的方向發展，我們就不會害怕投資。因此，我們正在關注這些綠地，我們正在關注這些棕地，以真正提高生產力，並希望為我們的客戶提高生產力，而不是為我們的客戶帶來成長。

Relative to that one changeover example, what I love about that, right, is it's a total win-win to working with a customer who -- service levels aren't quite what they want. They've gotten really demanding about a very specific business model, not a specific outcome. And we're able to partner with them and say, hey, what do you need? And what they want is rapid on-time delivery, even same day, right?

相對於那個轉換範例，我喜歡的一點是，與服務水準達不到他們想要的客戶合作是完全雙贏的。他們真正要求的是非常具體的商業模式，而不是具體的結果。我們能夠與他們合作並說，嘿，你需要什麼？他們想要的是快速準時交貨，甚至當天交貨，對嗎？

Even kind of down the street show up, we order it by two and it's getting there by four that kind of stuff. Well, that's really hard to do when you have order patterns that are moving all around. And if you think about that, if you're trying to have that kind of delivery response to a customer, you either have to have inventory on hand or you have to be able to produce just in time. You got to be able to have one of the two.

即使在街上出現，我們也是兩點鐘點的，四點鐘就到了。嗯，當訂單模式四處移動時，這確實很難做到。如果你想一想，如果你想對客戶做出這種交付回應，你要么手頭上有庫存，要么必須能夠及時生產。你必須能夠擁有兩者之一。

And what we're trying to do is find that balance where we can meet that customer demand but also drive down our capital needs and our costs, and we've found that great win-win. I mean if you think about that, that's one customer, one facility or maybe two facilities, 1,300 hours of changeover time. That's a big, big, big number when you think about how that impacts us.

我們正在努力做的是找到一種平衡，既可以滿足客戶的需求，又可以降低我們的資本需求和成本，我們已經找到了巨大的雙贏。我的意思是，如果您考慮這一點，那就是一個客戶、一個設施或兩個設施、1,300 小時的轉換時間。當你考慮這對我們的影響時，這是一個非常非常大的數字。

Okay, these are all great exampeles. Thank you.

好的，這些都是很好的例子。謝謝。

Michael Roxland, Truist Securities.

邁克爾·羅克克蘭 (Michael Roxland)，Truist 證券公司。

Yes, thank you, Andy and Mark, for taking my questions. Great quarter. Obviously, you've all been slightly busy.

是的，謝謝安迪和馬克回答我的問題。很棒的季度。顯然，你們都有點忙。

Yeah.

是的。

More than a follow-up on Phil's question regarding the 20% to 30% productivity improvement. Can you talk about what that means for EBITDA on average at those box plants? And in terms of deploying this methodology at the box plants, over what timeframe do you see this rolling out? And lastly, just is this something that you can apply to your mill system as well?

這不僅僅是 Phil 關於 20% 到 30% 生產力提高的問題的後續。您能談談這對這些箱式工廠的平均 EBITDA 意味著什麼嗎？就盒子工廠部署這種方法而言，您認為這種方法會在什麼時間範圍內推出？最後，這是否也可以應用於您的工廠系統？

Yes. Great questions, Michael. So if I were you, I wouldn't focus on EBITDA by box plant. I don't think the great -- that's the right measure. Because what you're really looking for out of your box plants is great customer service and a low-cost position while doing that. And so if we can move that from box plant to box plant within a region like I was talking about before, you want to have that kind of flexibility.

是的。很好的問題，麥可。因此，如果我是你，我就不會專注於箱式工廠的 EBITDA。我認為這不是正確的衡量標準。因為您真正需要的是開箱即用的工廠，提供優質的客戶服務和低成本的定位。因此，如果我們能夠像我之前談到的那樣，將其從一個箱式工廠轉移到另一個箱式工廠，那麼您就希望擁有這種靈活性。

The way that I would think about the math and all of this, and this kind of goes to your second part of your question, which is a mill is, if you create a unit of productivity in our business, right? So if you create a unit of true productivity, meaning I can put another dollar of production over our fixed cost base, right? That's the way to think of it.

我思考數學和所有這些的方式，這涉及到你問題的第二部分，即工廠，如果你在我們的業務中創建一個生產力單位，對嗎？因此，如果你創造了一個真正的生產力單位，這意味著我可以在我們的固定成本基礎上再投入一美元的生產，對嗎？這就是思考的方式。

When you do that, you drive on a contribution level, 60-plus percent incremental margins if you're able to drive productivity. It's huge, right? In my old world, you'd get 30% to 35% and now we're not going to put 60% or 65% in our pocket. Don't get me wrong because we're going to reinvest back in the business, and that's where the magic starts to happen. That's the virtuous cycle starts to kick in.

當您這樣做時，如果您能夠提高生產力，您就可以達到貢獻水平，即 60% 以上的增量利潤。它很大，對吧？在我以前的世界裡，你會得到 30% 到 35%，但現在我們不會把 60% 或 65% 放進我們的口袋。不要誤會我的意思，因為我們將對業務進行再投資，這就是奇蹟開始發生的地方。這就是良性循環開始發揮作用的時刻。

But if you think of it, let's go box plant and then let's talk mill. On the box plant side, as you do this, again, what it does is it creates local flexibility for great customer service, it lowers your cost structure and it allows you to grow, right? That's what these things ultimately allow you to do. And then also, it lowers your capital intensity needs, right? So you're improving profitability, you're improving customer service, you're lowering capital intensity. So your ROIC is just outstanding.

但如果你想到了，我們先去箱廠，然後再談工廠。在箱式工廠方面，當您這樣做時，它的作用是為出色的客戶服務創造本地靈活性，降低您的成本結構並允許您成長，對嗎？這就是這些事情最終允許你做的事情。而且，它還降低了您的資本密集度需求，對嗎？因此，您可以提高獲利能力，改善客戶服務，降低資本密集度。所以你的投資報酬率非常出色。

And the answer to your question is yes, you can do that in the mill system. It's different, right? It's a different thing, but philosophically, it's the same. So let's just think of -- let's use an example of a winder. So you're making paper, you're at the winder. For us, winders are the most dangerous place in the company, and they also tend to be bottlenecks, right? And so what that means is your people are interacting -- having to interact with the most dangerous place in your operations.

你的問題的答案是肯定的，你可以在工廠系統中做到這一點。這是不同的，對吧？這是不同的事情，但從哲學上來說，這是相同的。讓我們想一想——讓我們使用一個捲繞機的例子。所以你在造紙，你在絡筒機旁。對我們來說，繞線機是公司裡最危險的地方，也常常是瓶頸，對嗎？這意味著您的員工正在互動—必須與您的營運中最危險的地方互動。

So you start doing the analytics, you're focusing on what the bottlenecks are, you're focusing on the people interactions, you're introducing technology. One of the things that we're working on right now is optical technology that will actually shut down machines any time a human gets to a dangerous place, right?

所以你開始進行分析，你要專注在瓶頸是什麼，你要注意人們的互動，你要引進科技。我們現在正在研究的事情之一是光學技術，只要人類到達危險的地方，它實際上就會關閉機器，對嗎？

So we're starting to beta test that in certain mills. And like if anyone goes to an Amazon and go, look at the technology that is out there and just how do you put that into an industrial environment. So you can absolutely do that with mills and box plants.

因此，我們開始在某些工廠進行 Beta 測試。就像如果有人去亞馬遜，看看那裡有什麼技術，以及如何將其應用到工業環境中。因此，您絕對可以透過工廠和箱式工廠來做到這一點。

Very importantly, in 2025, we are going to create some, what I'm going to call lighthouses. And we're going to use a process called strategy deployment. Those of you who are familiar with the Danaher or the Toyota production system, if you think of ocean planning or in Danaher we call it, policy deployment. It's a very disciplined methodology of deploying strategy. So for us, we're going to focus on safety. We're going to focus on 80/20 and the integration of DS Smith. Those are going to be the things that we deploy next year.

非常重要的是，到 2025 年，我們將創造一些我稱之為燈塔的東西。我們將使用一個稱為策略部署的流程。那些熟悉丹納赫或豐田生產系統的人，如果您想到海洋規劃或在丹納赫我們稱之為政策部署。這是一種非常嚴格的戰略部署方法。所以對我們來說，我們將專注於安全。我們將重點放在 80/20 和 DS Smith 的整合。這些將是我們明年部署的內容。

In that deployment, there will be a handful of what I call white houses, where you're trying to create best-in-class examples of the strategy that we're trying to employ. So we're going to take these two pilots that we're using in the two regions of the country. Those will continue and there'll be box plant lighthouses. We're going to take two different mills, right?

在該部署中，將會有一些我稱之為白宮的地方，您將嘗試創建我們正在嘗試採用的策略的最佳範例。因此，我們將在該國的兩個地區進行這兩個試點。這些將繼續下去，並將會有箱式植物燈塔。我們要採用兩個不同的工廠，對嗎？

We're going to take an integrated mill and a nonintegrated mill, and they are going to become lighthouses in that strategy deployment. And then we'll do so also with a couple of commercial teams. So you get to the end of 2025 and what you have is examples of how we should do it and do it with true excellence.

我們將採用一個綜合工廠和一個非綜合工廠，它們將成為該戰略部署中的燈塔。然後我們也會與幾個商業團隊一起這樣做。因此，到 2025 年底，您將看到我們應該如何做到這一點並以真正卓越的方式做到這一點的例子。

So my experience has been, when you try to do things kind of at all the same levels across the entire enterprise of 40,000 people, soon to be 70,000 people with DS Smith, you don't get anywhere. You get kind of a mile wide and an inch deep. And what we want to do is we want to get a mile deep and then demonstrate great results and then drive that out to different parts of the organization.

所以我的經驗是，當你嘗試在整個 40,000 人的企業（很快將有 70,000 人）與 DS Smith 一起在所有相同級別上做事情時，你將一事無成。你會得到一英里寬和一英寸深。我們想要做的是深入研究，然後展示出色的成果，然後將其推廣到組織的不同部門。

Got it. I appreciate the color. Obviously, it's got tremendous amount of work ahead, but the trajectory seems very positive.

知道了。我很欣賞它的顏色。顯然，前面還有大量的工作要做，但發展軌跡似乎非常樂觀。

And Michael, real quick. One of the things you guys are going to see also, so March '25, when we have the Investor Day, we'll definitely spend a bunch of time on these lighthouses, right? So we'll spend time on the lighthouses. We'll spend time on the DS Smith integration. So you'll get to see firsthand kind of how these things are working in practice. Sorry, Mike, you had another question?

邁克爾，很快。你們也會看到其中一件事，所以 3 月 25 日，當我們有投資者日時，我們肯定會花很多時間在這些燈塔上，對吧？所以我們會花時間在燈塔上。我們將花時間進行 DS Smith 整合。因此，您將親眼目睹這些東西在實踐中是如何運作的。抱歉，麥克，您還有其他問題嗎？

No. This is great. One quick follow-up. In terms of the potential for additional portfolio optimization, obviously, the company closed a mill, Orange earlier this year. I think at a recent conference, you mentioned trying to analyze where the company is over-capacitiised. Where does that analysis stand right now? And what's the potential for further portfolio rightsizing at the mill level?

不。這太棒了。一項快速跟進。顯然，就進一步優化投資組合的潛力而言，該公司今年稍早關閉了一家工廠 Orange。我想在最近的一次會議上，您提到試圖分析公司產能過剩的地方。該分析現在處於什麼位置？工廠層級進一步調整投資組合規模的潛力有多大？

Yes. Great question. So again, we talked about this in the second quarter. We've got to be careful there, in those conversations for lots of different reasons. Not least of which of course is highlighting the DS Smith acquisition, right? We're going through regulatory approvals. So we're being careful there. .

是的。很好的問題。我們在第二季再次討論過這個問題。由於許多不同的原因，我們在這些對話中必須小心。當然，其中最重要的是強調 DS Smith 的收購，對吧？我們正在辦理監管部門的批准。所以我們在那裡要小心。。

I think what's fair to say is we are looking at this stuff throughout the entire portfolio. And we're looking at sub segments of business that look like say, the SBSK example within GCF, right, which is more commoditized products that have lots of capital intensity. Those are -- and high earnings volatility. Those are places that, frankly, aren't good business for us.

我認為公平地說，我們正在整個投資組合中關注這些內容。我們正在研究業務的子部分，例如 GCF 中的 SBSK 範例（右），這是具有大量資本密集度的更商品化的產品。這些都是——以及高收益波動性。坦白說，這些地方對我們來說不是什麼好生意。

What you're going to see for us is a constant march. Some of you who have read the Jim Collins book, on a 20 Mile March down the path of how do we become a more integrated business with less volatility. One of the things that's been, I think, just a wonderful thing for people to understand here is our core packaging business isn't very volatile.

你將看到我們不斷前進。你們中的一些人讀過吉姆·柯林斯 (Jim Collins) 的書，講述了我們如何成為一家更加一體化、波動性更小的企業的 20 英里行軍之路。我認為，對於人們來說，了解我們的核心包裝業務並不是很不穩定，這是一件很棒的事。

When you actually look at the demand patterns are not very volatile. We induce a lot of volatility into that business, and therefore, uncertainty and being on your side of the table, right, that volatility, uncertainty, you're going to value it lower. I mean you just -- that's just going to be what you do. And I would too. And I think as we go forward, what you're going to see us do is look across our portfolio as the kind of businesses integrated high-value businesses that we want to be in, and you'll see us deemphasize things that are not that.

當你實際觀察時，需求模式並不是很不穩定。我們為這項業務帶來了很大的波動性，因此，不確定性和站在你這一邊，對吧，波動性、不確定性，你會降低它的價值。我的意思是你只是——這就是你要做的事情。我也會的。我認為，隨著我們前進，您將看到我們所做的就是將我們的投資組合視為我們想要參與的整合高價值業務的業務，您會看到我們不再強調那些不重要的事情那。

Thanks very much and good luck for '25.

非常感謝，祝 25 好運。

Mark Weintraub, Seaport.

馬克溫特勞布，海港。

Thank you. Congrats on all the progress thus far. So your sort of big picture, $2 billion to $4 billion, you talked about $1 billion from cost and ops, if I'm remembering correctly. And we certainly see some of the actions now being laid out, the strategic. Now you're $230 million which I don't know, I assume that would be something you'd consider on that $1 billion. And then I guess what I'm trying to understand a little bit is, particularly as I'm thinking about even '25, and obviously beyond that, too.

謝謝。祝賀迄今為止的所有進展。所以你的大局觀，20 億到 40 億美元，你談到了 10 億美元來自成本和運營，如果我沒記錯的話。我們當然看到現在正在製定一些戰略行動。現在你有 2.3 億美元，我不知道，我想你會考慮那 10 億美元。然後我想我想要理解的是，特別是當我考慮甚至是'25，顯然也超出了這個範圍。

If I have this base of, let's say, a $2 billion run rate entering into the year, and then I can layer in the strategic actions you've identified -- how much more from what you're doing 80/20 wise could potentially flow in, in 2025 and then beyond above and beyond, say, labor and benefits or something that you would be -- the typical offset. I realize that's a mouthful I just threw there, but hopefully, you understand that direction.

如果我有這個基礎，比方說，今年的運行率是 20 億美元，然後我可以將您已經確定的戰略行動分層——您正在做的 80/20 明智的事情可能會帶來多少收益2025 年流入，然後超出勞動力和福利或您可能會得到的東西- 典型的抵消。我意識到我剛剛扔在那裡的只是一口，但希望你能理解這個方向。

Mark, let me just -- let me make sure I understand what you're asking. Are you asking kind of what the benefits could be in '25 over and above inflation? Is that what I'm trying -- is that what you're asking?

馬克，讓我——讓我確保我明白你在問什麼。您是否想問，除了通貨膨脹之外，25 年還能帶來什麼好處？這就是我正在嘗試的——這就是你所要求的嗎？

At the heart of it, yes.

其核心是，是的。

Okay. Okay. The way that I look at this right is the numbers that I talk about are net numbers, right? So -- and I think, by the way, Mark, I think it will be more like a 60-40 split of cost versus commercial. And hopefully, that's something that there's a lot more near-term control of that. And I do think it's a multiyear journey, right? So it's not going to all happen in 2025.

好的。好的。我正確看待這個問題的方式是我所說的數字是淨數字，對吧？所以——我認為，順便說一句，馬克，我認為這將更像是成本與商業成本的 60-40 分配。希望短期內能夠對此進行更多控制。我確實認為這是一個多年的旅程，對吧？所以這一切不會在 2025 年發生。

Obviously, we want to pull as much forward as we can. I had the wonderful opportunity very early in my career to work for a gentleman by name of George Sherman, and George was the first CEO of Danaher. The Rales brothers, they started to build that business. They brought George in. And I had the privilege of being an intern and sitting across from his office and what an awesome opportunity. One of the things that George would say is, get ahead, right. Get ahead. And so what we're trying to do right now is we're trying to get ahead.

顯然，我們希望盡可能地向前推進。在我職業生涯的早期，我有一個絕佳的機會為一位名叫喬治·謝爾曼的紳士工作，喬治是丹納赫的第一任首席執行官。羅爾斯兄弟開始建立這項業務。他們把喬治帶了進來。我有幸成為實習生，坐在他辦公室對面，這是多麼棒的機會。喬治會說的一件事是，繼續前進，對吧。領先吧。所以我們現在要做的就是努力進步。

We're trying to get ahead of getting our cost base right. And frankly, while it's great to improve the cost structure and the profitability, guys, to be candid with you, that's a benefit right now. What that gives us is the ability to invest back in the business and we need to invest back in the business.

我們正在努力提前確定正確的成本基礎。坦白說，雖然改善成本結構和盈利能力很棒，但夥計們，坦白說，這現在是一個好處。這給了我們對業務進行投資的能力，並且我們需要對業務進行投資。

And so we're going to do two things at once. So Mark, I apologize for not being as specific as I'm sure you'd like, but we're going to try to pull as much forward as we can into '25. We'll be responsible. Organizations -- look, they're like the human body. When you don't exercise them, they get flabby and they start to fall apart.

所以我們要同時做兩件事。馬克，我很抱歉沒有像您希望的那樣具體，但我們將盡力在 25 年向前推進。我們會負責的。組織——看，它們就像人體。當你不鍛鍊它們時，它們就會變得鬆弛並開始分解。

At the same time, when you're trying to get fit, you can't just go run a marathon tomorrow, right? You have to work yourself into it. And we're running hard today, but we're trying to do it in ways by dividing and conquering, having different people in different parts of the organization focused on different things, so we can run this marathon. We can really run this marathon. And so we'll move as quickly as we can, but not so that we are irresponsible.

同時，當你想健身時，你不能明天就去跑馬拉松，對吧？你必須自己努力去做。今天我們正在努力奔跑，但我們正在嘗試透過分而治之的方式來做到這一點，讓組織不同部門的不同人員專注於不同的事情，這樣我們就可以跑這場馬拉松。我們真的可以跑這場馬拉松。因此，我們將盡快採取行動，但不會因此而變得不負責任。

I appreciate that. Is it conceptually fair to say though that the benefits from 80/20, even in the earlier stages, like in 2025, should outdistance inflation and provide you that --

我很欣賞這一點。從概念上講，即使在早期階段（例如 2025 年），80/20 帶來的好處也應該超過通貨膨脹並為您提供：--

Yes. I'm sorry, Mark. Yes, absolutely, right. We should -- my expectation is that the cost and inflation equation will be positive in '25.

是的。對不起，馬克。是的，絕對正確。我們應該——我的預期是成本和通貨膨脹等式在 25 年將是正數。

Super. Thank you so much.

極好的。太感謝了。

Matthew McKellar, RBC.

馬修·麥凱勒，加拿大皇家銀行。

Thanks. If you can comment, is this concept of regional box plant specialization that you talked about on this call already exist across the DS Smith box plant system? Or how would you characterize the opportunity to bring this approach to their system as well?

謝謝。如果您可以評論一下，您在本次電話會議中談到的區域箱式工廠專業化概念是否已經存在於 DS Smith 箱式工廠系統中？或者您如何描述將這種方法引入他們的系統的機會？

Yes. I mean look, DS Smith is -- they are a terrific company, and they've done some things really, really, really well that, frankly, better than us. They are better than IP, commercially. There's no doubt about it. And so I think they are further ahead of us in some regards, commercially -- there's no doubt. But yes, there will be opportunities. I think you probably have fewer -- proportionally probably fewer density plays in Europe than you have in the US

是的。我的意思是，DS Smith 是一家很棒的公司，他們在某些事情上做得非常、非常、非常好，坦白說，比我們更好。從商業角度來看，它們比 IP 更好。毫無疑問。所以我認為他們在某些方面比我們更領先，在商業上——這是毫無疑問的。但是，是的，會有機會。我認為歐洲的密度遊戲可能比美國少──比例上可能比美國少

I think that's probably true. You have fewer than that. And part of that is due to country boundaries. Even though you theoretically have a union. In practice, how it works? It doesn't work like that. And so you have uniqueness in Europe around country boundaries that will be different.

我想這可能是真的。你的數量比這還少。部分原因在於國家邊界。即使理論上你有一個工會。在實踐中，它是如何運作的？它不是那樣工作的。因此，歐洲在國家邊界方面具有獨特性，這將是不同的。

That being said, the segmentation insights, the ability to think about how we focus on our most important customers, what we call our [indiscernible] is absolutely going to be there, the ability to improve productivity is going to be there. And obviously, we've called a bunch of that in the synergies that we've outlined, right? So we've outlined $514 million of synergies, 500 of which are cost and we think there's potentially upside from there.

話雖這麼說，細分洞察、思考我們如何專注於最重要客戶的能力、我們所謂的[音訊不清晰]絕對會存在，提高生產力的能力也會存在。顯然，我們已經在概述的協同效應中提到了其中的一些內容，對嗎？因此，我們概述了 5.14 億美元的協同效應，其中 500 是成本，我們認為這有潛在的好處。

But again, we want to be responsible and we want to be able to deliver and get ahead there. So yes, there will be opportunities, but it will be different. DS Smith is in a different place than IP. And that doesn't mean always a better place, but some things are clearly better. Commercial, they are clearly better. They already have a decentralized corporate structure, which actually frankly makes it easier.

但同樣，我們想要負責任，我們希望能夠交付並取得進展。所以，是的，會有機會，但會有所不同。DS Smith 與 IP 處於不同的位置。這並不意味著總是一個更好的地方，但有些東西顯然更好。商業上，它們顯然更好。他們已經擁有去中心化的公司結構，坦白說，這實際上讓事情變得更容易。

I mean one of the big reasons for moving so quickly with the decentralization of the corporate structure at Memphis, isn't for the cost benefits. I mean, yes, there are some cost benefits. But what it allows you to do is it allows the organization to focus on the right things, right? So the businesses become highly focused on the customer, not on managing the matrix. DS Smith, they've already done that. That's a great thing. So what that means is we can kind of get to the fund, which is around customers and products and growth. And so there's lots of 80/20 insights that we'll have there, but it's going to be a fundamentally different path.

我的意思是，孟菲斯公司如此迅速地實現公司結構去中心化的重要原因之一併不是為了成本效益。我的意思是，是的，有一些成本效益。但它可以讓你做的是讓組織專注於正確的事情，對吧？因此，企業變得高度關注客戶，而不是管理矩陣。DS 史密斯，他們已經做到了。這是一件很棒的事。這意味著我們可以獲得圍繞客戶、產品和成長的基金。因此，我們將會有許多 80/20 的見解，但這將是一條根本不同的道路。

Great. Helpful color. And then just one quick one on GCF. As part of your review of strategic options there, are you evaluating options other than the sale? And then in the case of the sale, how are you thinking about an appropriate value for that business? And then just any color around timeline to reach completion of your process.

偉大的。有用的顏色。然後是關於 GCF 的快速介紹。作為您審查戰略選擇的一部分，您是否正在評估出售之外的其他選擇？然後，在出售的情況下，您如何考慮該業務的適當價值？然後只需時間軸周圍的任何顏色即可完成您的過程。

Yes. So I understand why you're asking those questions. Some of it is pretty tough. I mean yes, we evaluate other options. We will evaluate kind of every option, frankly. I think the most likely option is a sale. That's the most likely option. There are certainly interested parties. We've had a lot of people who have reached out to us and have expressed interest. We think the process will be very robust. We have no doubt about that. .

是的。所以我明白你為什麼問這些問題。其中一些是相當艱難的。我的意思是，是的，我們評估其他選擇。坦白說，我們將評估每種選擇。我認為最有可能的選擇是出售。這是最有可能的選擇。肯定有感興趣的各方。有很多人聯繫我們並表達了興趣。我們認為這個過程將會非常穩健。我們對此毫不懷疑。。

In terms of value, I'm not going to speculate on value because I don't want to negotiate against myself. And -- but very importantly, right, and I think this is important because more than just investors listen to these calls, right? One of the things that has impressed me, this is a good business, right? One of the things that people have failed to understand here or failed to recognize, and I don't mean recognize meaning you didn't see something that wasn't true. Meaning we didn't make it so. This is a good business.

就價值而言，我不會猜測價值，因為我不想與自己談判。而且——但非常重要的是，我認為這很重要，因為不僅僅是投資者傾聽這些呼籲，對嗎？令我印象深刻的一件事是，這是一筆好生意，對嗎？這是人們未能理解或未能認識到的事情之一，我並不是說認識到你沒有看到不真實的東西。這意味著我們沒有做到這一點。這是一門好生意。

We've got a 35% supply position in a highly valued global commodity. Our customers, specifically on the fluff side, our customers absolutely trust us to provide them with the best absorbent products, right? They absolutely trust us to do so. And we have a great team and great assets that make that so. So whether we own it or somebody else owns it, the performance of that business is going to be meaningfully different than what it's been.

我們在高價值的全球商品中擁有 35% 的供應地位。我們的客戶，特別是在絨毛方面，我們的客戶絕對相信我們能為他們提供最好的吸收性產品，對嗎？他們絕對相信我們會這樣做。我們擁有一支優秀的團隊和豐富的資產，這使得我們能夠做到這一點。因此，無論是我們擁有它還是其他人擁有它，企業的業績都將與以前大不相同。

Thanks very much. I will turn it back.

非常感謝。我會把它轉回來。

Charlie Muir-Sands, BNP Paribas.

查理·繆爾·桑茲，法國巴黎銀行。

Good morning, thank you for taking my questions. First one is just staying with the Global Cellulose Fibers business. Now that sale is very much potential option. Can you just give us a bit more detail on how much of the uplift in group EBITDA $4 billion in the targets you had anticipated coming from that is also a meaningful part of the $230 million EBITDA opportunity to identify so far? And then sorry, bundling into that $230 million, is the -- I think it was $25 million from procurement within that number as well?

早上好，謝謝您回答我的問題。第一個是繼續保留全球纖維素纖維業務。現在，出售是非常有潛力的選擇。您能否更詳細地介紹您預期的 40 億美元集團 EBITDA 目標中的增長有多少，這也是迄今為止確定的 2.3 億美元 EBITDA 機會中有意義的一部分？抱歉，在這 2.3 億美元中，我認為這個數字也有 2500 萬美元來自採購？

I don't think I've got -- make sure I captured it right. So relative to GCF, it's a pretty small part of the kind of the getting to $4 billion. It's a relatively small part of that. So -- and relative to the trade-offs of the capital that we'd expected to bring in, I don't think that, that would meaningfully impact our point of view. So that would be my perspective there.

我認為我沒有——確保我捕捉到了它的正確性。因此，相對於 GCF，這只是達到 40 億美元目標的一小部分。這只是其中相對較小的一部分。因此，相對於我們預期引入的資本的權衡，我認為這不會對我們的觀點產生有意義的影響。這就是我的觀點。

The procurement savings, no, those are not part of that. Those are two great wins that, frankly, what I love about 80/20 is once you kind of provide people with the insights and give them the guidance to go, they start digging. And the procurement team here, specifically on [caustic] had a couple of great opportunities where we were able to partner with suppliers.

採購節省，不，這些不屬於其中。這是兩場偉大的勝利，坦白說，我喜歡 80/20 的一點是，一旦你為人們提供了見解並為他們提供了指導，他們就會開始挖掘。這裡的採購團隊，特別是[腐蝕性]的採購團隊，有一些很好的機會，我們能夠與供應商合作。

And look, this isn't about beating down suppliers. I actually think that's a really stupid strategy. I think what you're trying to do is you're trying to partner with suppliers. You're trying to find win-wins just like we did with our customers on changeovers, where you're getting better service, better terms, and they get to profitably grow with you for those who can really play ball. And so you're trying to create those partnerships. So those two examples, one in the US, one in Europe, no they were not included in the $230 million.

看，這並不是要打擊供應商。事實上我認為這是一個非常愚蠢的策略。我認為你正在嘗試做的是嘗試與供應商合作。您正在努力尋求雙贏，就像我們在轉換時與客戶所做的那樣，您將獲得更好的服務、更好的條款，並且對於那些真正能夠發揮作用的人來說，他們可以與您一起實現獲利成長。所以你正在努力建立這些夥伴關係。所以這兩個例子，一個在美國，一個在歐洲，不，它們沒有包含在 2.3 億美元中。

Very clear. And just returning to the 20% to 30% productivity improvement, you've talked about achieving in the pilots. Can you just clarify what that actually means? Is that 20% to 30% lower total variable costs, including or excluding raw materials or yes, how are you measuring that?

非常清楚。回到 20% 到 30% 的生產力提升，您談到了在試點中實現的目標。您能澄清一下這實際上意味著什麼嗎？總變動成本（包括或不包括原材料）是否降低了 20% 到 30%，或者是的，您如何衡量這一點？

Yes. The simple way to think of it is in this example is, think of it as square feet per unit. I mean, that's kind of the way to think of it. So it's output over a fixed base. And then from there, you have choices, right? So you can either grow and that's the ideal thing, right? You're going to grow faster and you're going to drop through at very, very high levels of contribution margin. It could allow you to consolidate other facilities into certain facilities. So in our case, we kind of have two different stories. If you look in the US, you've got parts in the US that are, frankly, they're overutilized, right?

是的。在此範例中，簡單的思考方法是將其視為每單位平方英尺。我的意思是，這就是思考問題的方式。所以它是在固定基礎上輸出的。然後從那裡你就有選擇，對吧？所以你可以成長，這是理想的事情，對吧？你會成長得更快，但你會在非常非常高的邊際貢獻水準上下降。它可以讓您將其他設施合併到某些設施。所以在我們的例子中，我們有兩個不同的故事。如果你看看美國，坦白說，你會發現美國的零件被過度使用，對嗎？

There's demand that can't be satisfied and so we're trying to aggressively free capacity up to do that. And then you have parts of the country that have too much capacity and you need to take capacity out. So the five plants that we closed so far have been about being in parts of the country that have too much capacity. And so you get very specific fixed cost savings as the volume from those plants is successfully moved to other facilities. But the real objective, right, is to free capacity for growth and recognize much higher variable contribution margins.

存在無法滿足的需求，因此我們正在努力積極釋放產能來做到這一點。然後，該國部分地區產能過剩，需要削減產能。因此，我們迄今為止關閉的五家工廠都位於該國產能過剩的部分地區。因此，當這些工廠的產量成功轉移到其他設施時，您將獲得非常特定的固定成本節省。但真正的目標是釋放成長能力並承認更高的可變貢獻邊際。

So some of the five plant closures are kind of tied into the pilots and therefore, that's the --

因此，五家工廠關閉中的一些與試點項目有關，因此，這就是--

Yes. That has not been the case so far, but we'll certainly see opportunities as time goes on. So you'll see a mix of that as we go forward.

是的。到目前為止情況並非如此，但隨著時間的推移，我們肯定會看到機會。所以當我們繼續前進時，你會看到這些的混合。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Gabe Hajde, Wells Fargo.

加布·哈吉德，富國銀行。

Morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. I wanted to ask, Andy, a little bit of what you started to address here in the last question, which is, you're talking about freeing up maybe some capacity in certain parts of the system. And maybe the question is like -- how much of what you're seeing across your converting system is more about increasing productivity. I think about it maybe per employee basis, the square foot per employee or something like that, you talked about variable costs versus freeing up capacity because when we look across what's been added from other players, it doesn't seem like there's a shortage of converting capacity in the marketplace.

早安，夥計們。感謝您回答我的問題。我想問安迪，您在上一個問題中開始解決的一些問題，即您正在談論釋放系統某些部分的一些容量。也許問題是——您在轉換系統中看到的內容有多少更多是為了提高生產力。我想可能是按每個員工，每個員工的平方英尺或類似的東西，你談到了可變成本與釋放產能，因為當我們查看其他參與者添加的內容時，似乎並不缺少市場的轉換能力。

So it seems a little circular to free up capacity. So how do you think about that balance? Or maybe again, like you said, quantify for us, oh, this many plants we see is there's cost savings and productivity on the cost side, and here is where we have a bottleneck issue.

所以釋放產能似乎有點循環。那麼您如何看待這種平衡呢？或者也許再次，就像你說的，為我們量化，哦，我們看到這麼多工廠是在成本方面節省成本和提高生產力，而這就是我們遇到瓶頸問題的地方。

Yes. So you're touching on something that's very, very important. And one of the conundrum, when you look at it at the highest level. So when you look at converting capacity on the highest level, you're absolutely right. There is not a shortage of converting capacity in the United States. However, region by region, that is not true, right? So as you look region by region, you have places that have way too much capacity and you have places that do not have enough. And one of the mistakes that we have made over time is we have not made the tough choices and then the aggressive choices about finding that right balance.

是的。所以你正在觸及一些非常非常重要的事情。當你從最高層次來看時，這就是難題之一。因此，當您考慮最高等級的轉換能力時，您是絕對正確的。美國並不缺乏轉換能力。然而，從各個地區來看，事實並非如此，對嗎？因此，當您逐一地區查看時，您會發現有些地方的容量過多，有些地方的容量不足。隨著時間的推移，我們犯的錯誤之一是我們沒有做出艱難的選擇，然後做出積極的選擇來尋找正確的平衡。

So taking capacity out of places where we shouldn't have it. And then investing aggressively in places that we should have it. I think that's what we're trying to do is, we're trying to find that right balance.

因此，將容量從我們不應該擁有的地方移除。然後在我們應該擁有的地方積極投資。我認為這就是我們正在努力的，我們正在努力找到正確的平衡。

And really look very importantly, the places that we have real strength and a really differentiated position, we need to play ball there, right? We've got to play, and we've got to play to win in the places that we're a little bit on our heels. We got to retrench, and we got a subsegment. And we got to get to places where we can win.

看起來非常重要，我們有真正的實力和真正差異化的位置的地方，我們需要在那裡打球，對嗎？我們必須比賽，我們必須在我們落後的地方贏得比賽。我們必須緊縮開支，我們得到了一個細分市場。我們必須到達可以獲勝的地方。

And so we've got to be very thoughtful. I mean this -- again, one of the most exciting things about this business in the US and in Europe is that this is a local business. I mean, this is a very, very local business, which actually, it ended up looking a lot more like what I had at IDEX, right, which is you can be highly decentralized. You can build strategies that are around working with local customers because -- when you think about the -- how local the businesses is, is that the overlay of that is there tend to be very specific market segments that are in those locations, right.

所以我們必須非常深思熟慮。我的意思是，在美國和歐洲，這項業務最令人興奮的事情之一就是這是一個本地業務。我的意思是，這是一個非常非常本地化的業務，實際上，它最終看起來更像是我在 IDEX 的業務，對吧，你可以高度去中心化。您可以圍繞與本地客戶合作制定策略，因為當您考慮企業的本地化程度時，這些業務的覆蓋範圍往往是非常具體的細分市場，對吧。

There's general market segments and then there's specific market segments. And the performance requirements on those market segments are different. And so while the general strategies are the same, when you think about low cost position, when you think about service excellence, when you think about investing in strength locally, how that is actually executed based on the needs of the market is very different.

有一般細分市場，然後有特定細分市場。而且這些細分市場的性能要求也不同。因此，雖然整體策略是相同的，但當你考慮低成本定位、當你考慮卓越服務、當你考慮投資本地實力時，如何根據市場需求實際執行是非常不同的。

And we should be different. We should allow our people to be entrepreneurial and allow them to drive that differentiation in the market. but then allow IP and therefore, competitively to have a huge advantage because of our scale and our scope.

而我們應該有所不同。我們應該讓我們的員工具有創業精神，並讓他們推動市場的差異化。但隨後允許知識產權，因此，由於我們的規模和範圍，我們在競爭中擁有巨大的優勢。

You talked a lot about early wins and stuff you're encouraged by and maybe this is just the -- I'm always cautious or I mean that way. (multiple speakers)

你談了很多關於早期的勝利和你受到鼓勵的事情，也許這只是——我總是很謹慎，或者我的意思是這樣。（多個發言者）

Are there examples or things when you've walked across the organization and have been meeting with -- looking at assets and things like that where I don't want to say, you stub your toe, but it caught more of your attention or things that could trip us up.

當你走過整個組織並會見資產和類似的事情時，是否有一些例子或事情，我不想說，你絆倒了你的腳趾，但它吸引了你更多的注意力或事情這可能會讓我們絆倒。

Yes. There are a few things that I look at that I know we've got -- they are potential bottlenecks or roadblocks to success. I think that's what you're getting. So again, one of the reasons of the early focus on Memphis and is -- and this is no one's fault. Actually to be clear, this is -- the people who live and work here in Memphis are working their tails off and they're doing exactly what they're being asked to do and they're trying to do it with excellence. But the bottom line is we created a matrix structure that's really, really, really hard to work through, right? That's what we have. It makes it very complicated. It makes it difficult to understand what the priorities are and who your boss is.

是的。我看到了一些我知道我們已經擁有的東西——它們是成功的潛在瓶頸或障礙。我想這就是你得到的。再說一次，早期關注孟菲斯的原因之一是——這不是任何人的錯。實際上要明確的是，在孟菲斯生活和工作的人們正在竭盡全力工作，他們正在做他們被要求做的事情，並且他們正在努力做到卓越。但最重要的是我們創建了一個矩陣結構，它真的非常非常難解決，對吧？這就是我們所擁有的。這使得事情變得非常複雜。這讓你很難理解優先事項是什麼以及你的老闆是誰。

And at the end of the day, the boss is the customer, right? The customer is the boss. And we need to be aligned to the customer, not to the CEO, not to the Board of Directors, not to you folks, the investor, sorry. But it's to customers. And we needed to be aligned there, and we weren't. And so the reason for the early focus around that is working through that.

歸根究底，老闆就是客戶，對嗎？顧客就是老闆。我們需要與客戶保持一致，而不是與執行長、董事會、各位投資者保持一致，抱歉。但這是針對客戶的。我們需要在這方面保持一致，但我們沒有。因此，早期關注這一點的原因就是解決這個問題。

The reason I mention this is that I am not [poignant] here, just because we've made the announcements and we've made the structural changes, people are used to decades of work, right? And there's a lot of institutional memory. We have to change how we actually work. And that is a potential stumbling block is that we don't change how we work. That's one of the reasons of bringing the strategy, deployment process in and deploying 80/20. So every single function. And I'll give a goofy example of this. Our earnings prep, right? So we 80/20 our earnings prep. I don't -- I can't even guesstimate how much Tim, how much time we took out of earnings prep? 50%, 60%?

我提到這一點的原因是我在這裡並不[辛酸]，只是因為我們已經發布了公告並且我們已經進行了結構性改變，人們已經習慣了幾十年的工作，對吧？還有很多機構記憶。我們必須改變我們實際的工作方式。一個潛在的障礙是我們不改變我們的工作方式。這是引入策略、部署流程並部署 80/20 的原因之一。所以每一個功能。我將舉一個愚蠢的例子。我們的獲利準備，對吧？所以我們 80/20 的獲利準備。我不知道——我甚至無法猜測蒂姆，我們花了多少時間來準備收益？50%、60%？

Yeah.

是的。

Just of the prep because, frankly, guys, we were trying to answer every potential question it could ever come out of anything you would ever ask.

只是準備工作，因為，坦率地說，夥計們，我們試圖回答您可能提出的任何潛在問題。

Well, we're not going to -- and so let's get to the 80%. Let's get to the things that really matter. We know the general questions you guys are going to work on, and let's get the answers to that with excellence. And I know that sounds like a goofy example, but the downstream work that gets caused by stuff like that. Things like how we do capital, things like how we do budgets. Those things matter. And so we have to change how those things happen.

好吧，我們不會——所以讓我們討論 80%。讓我們來談談真正重要的事情。我們知道你們要解決的一般問題，讓我們以出色的方式獲得這些問題的答案。我知道這聽起來像是一個愚蠢的例子，但下游工作就是由這樣的事情引起的。例如我們如何做資本，例如我們如何做預算。這些事情很重要。所以我們必須改變這些事情發生的方式。

And let's remember, four weeks ago, there were 2,600 people who you would define is working in the corporate center. That's what you would have defined as a corporate center. Today, it's 226, right? That doesn't mean all those people went away. That is not what happened, right? You saw the number of people that we announced that are leaving the organization. And again, we're doing everything to make sure that those folks land in a good place on their feet.

讓我們記住，四個星期前，有 2,600 名員工在公司中心工作。這就是您所定義的企業中心。今天是226，對嗎？這並不意味著所有這些人都消失了。事實並非如此，對吧？您看到了我們宣布的離開組織的人數。再說一遍，我們正在盡一切努力確保這些人能夠站穩腳跟。

But the reality is that we don't need 2,600 people in the center. We need 226 at the center because we get a zero up, and that's what we need to be excellent at the functions of running a corporate -- public corporate company. Everybody else is in the business. So everybody else is now aligned with the boss and the boss is the customer.

但現實情況是，我們中心並不需要 2,600 人。我們需要 226 位於中心，因為我們得到了一個零，這就是我們在經營一家上市公司的職能方面表現出色所需要的。其他人都在做生意。所以現在其他人都跟老闆一致，老闆就是客戶。

Thank you for that.

謝謝你。

And I will now turn the call back over to Andy Silvernail for any closing comments.

我現在將把電話轉回給安迪·西爾弗內爾（Andy Silvernail）以徵求結束意見。

Well, look I want to thank all of you for taking your time and spending time listening today through our journey. Again, just a tremendous amount of work that has gone in, in the last six months. I'm incredibly proud of this team for all they've done.

好吧，我想感謝大家今天抽出時間來聆聽我們的旅程。再說一次，在過去的六個月裡，我們已經投入了大量的工作。我為這個團隊所做的一切感到無比自豪。

Also, let's remember that organizations are made of people. And the things that we're doing are tough. We are having to do the tough stuff so we can get to the good stuff. And -- but those -- that means that people are impacted. And I'm really mindful about that. And we are going to move with pace. We are going to move with excellence. We are going to do the right things. And even though it's difficult, we are doing the right things and we're doing the right things because the goal is to build a great organization that delivers for our customers. It delivers for our owners. And when that happens, we deliver for our people.

另外，我們要記住，組織是由人組成的。我們正在做的事情很艱難。我們必須做困難的事情，這樣我們才能得到好的東西。而且——但是那些——這意味著人們會受到影響。我真的很注意這一點。我們將加快步伐。我們將以卓越的姿態前進。我們將做正確的事。儘管這很困難，但我們正在做正確的事情，我們正在做正確的事情，因為我們的目標是建立一個為客戶提供服務的偉大組織。它為我們的業主提供服務。當這種情況發生時，我們就會為我們的員工提供服務。

And so as we move through this and turn this into something very special, we're going to do it through our people and I'm proud to be part of this team. I'm proud of what we have here, and I feel great about the direction we're heading. So thank you very much.

因此，當我們解決這個問題並將其變成非常特別的事情時，我們將透過我們的員工來做到這一點，我很自豪能成為這個團隊的一員。我為我們這裡所擁有的一切感到自豪，我對我們前進的方向感到非常高興。非常感謝。

Once again, we'd like to thank you for participating in International Paper's Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. You may now disconnect.

我們再次感謝您參加國際紙業 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。您現在可以斷開連線。