Analyst Freight

Overview

PCA is a Fortune 500 ideas and solutions company. Our corrugated packaging business seeks to be a leader in helping customers package, transport and display products. Our white paper business delivers Paper With Purpose by providing the highest level of customer service and operational excellence. We have approximately 15,000 team members in more than 100 locations in the United States and strive to meet local needs with products and services that exceed expectations for performance and environmental responsibility.

This position follows a hybrid work model, with 3 days per week onsite at our Lake Forest, IL office. The specific onsite schedule may vary based on team needs and responsibilities.

This job is necessary to support the automated freight payment process for the Corrugated Division. Staff is required to control the quality and flow of carrier contract rate documents, bills of lading, invoices, funding, business rules, financial controls, and other third-party factors needed to rate and pay carrier invoices; address carrier invoicing problems. Staff focus is to keep invoice payments through the system accurate and timely.

Support plant accounting staff with system training and use.

The automated freight payment process involves controlling the quality and movement of several thousand carrier contract specifications between the plants/corporate and the freight payment company for approximately 300 carriers for 80 box plants, plus warehouses, for the invoices of about 376,000 shipments per year. The annual freight spend through this process is $164mm. This process eliminates the need for manual review, preparation, approval, and payment of invoices by individual plants.

The environment is dynamic with new/changed rates, new/changed carriers, third-party software updates, security requests, business rules, audits, and financial/process controls of the system. Controlling the resulting obligations and funding on a regular basis is critical. A small central corporate staff provides consistency and control on the environment that affects a significant cash expense for the Company.

• Reconcile the freight payment funding requests (obligations) to actual carrier invoice processing results prior to authorizing funding to be released from PCA’s bank account.
• Compare the obligation from the freight payment vendor to the G/L feed, control reports, and history of regular fundings to ensure timely payments and accurate PCA G/L entries for expenses and accruals.
• Update control reports and logs with each funding.
• Control contract rates from the plants/corp to the freight payment company; ensure rate approvals and rate specifications are clear and tracked, with escalations as needed.
• Prevent unilateral rate increases by carriers and ensure exact rates are in the system for accurate invoice payments.
• Address payment disputes and issues using rates, policies, business rules, the freight payment website, and other tools to resolve problems with carrier-wide or company-wide impact.
• Monitor payments and pending/holding status for the top 20 carriers at least twice per week, addressing backlogs or gaps in payment flow and escalating as needed.
• Audit a sample of invoices each week to verify system accuracy, deconstruct payments into rates, zones, miles, fuel, and other charges, document calculations, and escalate issues as appropriate.
• Develop and implement business rules and tolerances for the freight payment vendor to use when calculating PCA payments; document rules and approvals for reference.
• Learn and use the vendor’s invoice management and reporting tools; train plant accounting staff as needed in system use.
• Maintain knowledge of company policies and procedures; share information with the team and seek ways to improve service to internal and external customers.
• As part of the Freight Payment and Administration Department and the PCA team, strive to meet needs and exceed expectations for customers; support our Commitment to Service by doing what’s right, adding value, and keeping promises.

This position has the authority to…