Fischer, president and COO, and his colleagues worked with NineSigma (www.ninesigma.com) in a Request for Proposal initiative to solve Greif Packaging's (www.greif.com) stickiest manufacturing problems, and received 61 RFPs in fall 2007.

In this 7-minute Podcast interview with Packaging World's Rick Lingle, Fischer discusses Greif's experience, and the advantages of going outside the company for new concepts and ideas. Already the company, a supplier of industrial packaging, has begun implementation of new technology to save energy and cut operating costs.

To learn more about NineSigma's RFP process, see Soliciting packaging ideas and innovation, published Oct. 2007.