November 17th, 2025

Focused Strategy, Stronger Business, Customer Experience Excellence 

Since 2024, International Paper has taken bold steps to reshape its business. In North America, our 80/20 focus is driving dynamic allocation of resources and sharper commercial and operational execution.

A Year of Strategic Moves

This year, we announced several strategic moves to position us for the future:

  • Acquired DS Smith to form a global leader in sustainable packaging, allowing us to serve our customers more effectively, accelerate innovation, and advance sustainability across the value chain
  • Broke ground on our new, massive, state-of-the-art box plant in Waterloo, Iowa
  • A $250 million investment in our Selma, AL containerboard mill to provide our most strategic customers with more lightweight and high-performance grades

These moves reflect a clear strategic direction. We are now a packaging company, fully focused on delivering customer value through sustainable packaging solutions.

Smarter Asset Decisions

We’re investing in our North America business to better serve high-growth markets while aligning our resources to deliver greater reliability, responsiveness, and value for our customers.

IP Transformation
IP Transformation

Elevating the Customer Experience

One of our greatest strengths is our footprint. International Paper has the most advantaged footprint in the industry, especially in major metro areas where profitability and growth intersect. But our business is hyperlocal. Most of our competition happens within 250 miles of a customer’s facility, which means we must win in each local market.

To do that, we are focused on the fundamentals of service:

  • High-quality packaging
  • On-time delivery
  • Rapid response times

For our customers, the goal is to respond as quickly as possible. That level of responsiveness is now the standard. Why? Because the cost of packaging is small, but the cost of failure is enormous. When we deliver consistently, our customers can reallocate or reduce labor in their facilities, gaining efficiency and reducing risk.

This creates mutual value. Our customers benefit from reliability and simplicity. Switching suppliers becomes costly and complex, especially when we are embedded across dozens of facilities. That trust opens the door to innovation, allowing us to collaborate on total cost reduction across the value chain.

We are proud of the progress we’ve made and excited about what’s ahead. This is more than a shift in strategy. It is a complete transformation of how we operate, invest, and serve our customers.