Georgia-Pacific’s extensive manufacturing and distribution network comprises sophisticated procurement technology, skilled transportation management and hundreds of facilities, all of which come together to move millions of loads each year. But one piece of the puzzle wasn’t keeping pace.
The company ranks among North America’s largest manufacturers of building products, tissue, packaging and consumer goods. The one thing preventing it from delivering all that efficiently, however, was the yard.
Operations there were stuck in manual mode, with drivers checking in through a paper-based process that took an average of five to 10 minutes per truck. Staff at the gate carried clipboards and made phone calls to verify load assignments, then communicated with spotter drivers via radio. Often the tracking of trailer locations depended on yard workers’ institutional memory, rather than a formal system of record.
The consequences were significant. Carrier schedules were often disrupted and exposed the system to detention charges. Trucks might depart without valid load authorizations. And drivers, lacking a self-service check-in option, would often leave their vehicles, exposing them to active yard traffic.
“The yard had become a constraint on what every other part of the supply chain was trying to accomplish,” said Chris Gross, senior director of logistics at Georgia-Pacific.
To solve the problem, Gross and his logistics team looked to decision-intelligence provider project44 for implementation support and configuration of an automated yard-management system. Together they addressed the initiative across four dimensions:
People. Gate staff discarded their clipboards and switched to exception handling. Spotter drivers relied on real-time trailer position data instead of radio calls. And drivers were able to check in from their abs.
Process. Georgia-Pacific and project44 laid out a phased deployment schedule, beginning at the company’s flagship site at Sweetwater, Texas. There, they redesigned check-in and check-out flows around driver self-service kiosks, with gate authorization tied directly to load-assignment status within the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system of SAP. As a result, no truck can exit without a confirmed assignment.
Data. The new architecture generated, for the first time, reliable data on gate activity and trailer dwell times. Spotter moves were now coordinated by voice, and project44’s yard management system (YMS) became the system of record for all yard activity. Across all live sites, the network in 2026 has recorded more than 114,000 driver check-ins and tracked around 274,000 spotter and equipment moves. That adds up to an average of more than 5,100 gate events per week across the 28-site manufacturing network.
Technology. The stack was built expressly for the integration of multiple enterprise systems, including project44’s YMS for kiosk-based check-in, real-time trailer tracking, gate-authorization logic, and SAP integration, synching physical yard events with ERP records. In addition, a data platform from Snowflake allowed for high-volume event capture and network analysis.
Results of the implementation were dramatic. At Sweetwater, driver check-in times dropped to an average of one minute and 42 seconds, while check-outs averaged 11.8 seconds. SAP integration established hard controls over truck departures. And safety improved as well: The newly installed in-cab check-in process reduced driver-on-foot incidents near active yard traffic.
Gross called project44 “a key part” of digital transformation at Georgia-Pacific Building Products. “We’re currently using p44 at 28 of our manufacturing facilities for truck check-in and check-out for live loads, and several sites also leverage it for yard visibility on preloads.”
The company cites significant returns on investment across multiple categories in 2026:
- Gate throughput. A 66% reduction in check-in and check-out time.
- Driver time recapture. Approximately 12,540 hours saved, worth between $600,000 and $1 million based on an hourly detention rate of $50-$75.
- Trailer dwell reduction. Fewer detention fees and staging delays.
- Spotter/jockey efficiency. More trailer moves per shift, with unnecessary moves eliminated.
- Staffing and labor optimization. Higher gate throughput per shift, as a result of the driver self-service model.
- Inventory loss prevention. Elimination of unauthorized departures.
To Georgia-Pacific, the project validates the improvements that result “when the yard is treated as a data-generating enterprise asset rather than a physical lot managed by informal process.”
The scaling up of implementation from the Sweetwater facility to 28 sites, including those for production of gypsum, lumber, plywood and plaster, was accomplished with “a consistent playbook, now being studied by peer manufacturers as a replication model,” Georgia-Pacific said.
Efforts are underway to extend the system to 40 sites. By year’s end, Georgia-Pacific expects to formally quantify results for trailer dwell, spotter efficiency, staffing optimization and gate throughout.
“The architecture is built,” the company said. “The data is accumulating. The story being written at GP this year is the story the industry will be telling for the next decade.”
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