Transformations · Case Study
Digital Operating Foundation
Business context
Wilmington Paper Corporation is a $190M+ paper-recycling and recovered-paper brokerage enterprise serving approximately 150 producers and managing or brokering more than one million tons annually. When I joined as Director of Technology in 2007, the company operated from one location with approximately 20 employees—in an industry defined for decades by manual, paper-driven workflows.
Challenge
Growth required operating discipline the industry's manual practices could not provide: binders, mailed statements, phone-and-fax coordination, and disconnected plant, brokerage, and Finance operations. No commercial software adequately served the industry's specific workflows.
My role
Over twelve years, I built the technology function, the architecture, and the multi-location operating standards that supported the company's expansion—staying hands-on as architect and builder while leading the function.
Transformation
Before
- Paper workflows and binders
- Mailed statements and reports
- Manual weighing and inventory
- Disconnected single-location operations
After
- Barcode scanning and automated weighing
- Digital inventory and real-time reporting
- Digital statements and producer services
- Standardized workflows across 12 locations
- Architected custom OMS, WMS, plant-management, brokerage, Finance, logistics, and inventory capabilities, connecting previously fragmented operations through integrated digital workflows.
- Modernized infrastructure and operations, delivering approximately $150K in annual savings.
- Developed industry-specific digital capabilities that anticipated functionality later incorporated into commercial software serving paper-recycling operations.
Measurable outcomes
- Technology foundation supported growth from ~20 employees at one location to roughly 500 employees across 12 locations.
- Approximately 150 producers and more than one million tons annually supported on the platform.
- Approximately $150K annual savings from infrastructure and operations modernization.
Lessons applied today
When commercial products don't fit the business, disciplined custom architecture can become a durable competitive foundation. That builder's instinct—paired with governance—now drives the HaloBridge platform portfolio.
Descriptions summarize professional experience. The technology foundation supported company growth; it did not single-handedly cause it.