B2B Opportunities at CSX Corporation

Source: http://www.marketbeat.com/stocks/NYSE/CSX/

CSX Corporation has become known for its innovative business-to-business strategies in the rail and intermodal industries. The company recently implemented a peer-to-peer electronic data interchange (EDI) system, which enabled it to cut out expensive third-party services and achieve cost reductions approaching $84.5 million. The new EDI exchange channel not only eliminates unnecessary expenses, but it also decreases billing time and improves cash flow. 

Within its B2B tool, CSX also utilizes a data mapping functionality to eliminate data programming costs at its bank. The company experienced significant improvements in overall cash application matching, primarily by assembling customized data conversion maps for each freight payer. More than 40 percent of all cash at CSX is processed by the B2B tool.

In recognition of its accomplishments in B2B, CSX received the Sterling Commerce Innovation Award for “Seamless and Secure B2B Integration.” CSX eBusiness also holds a spot on the IBM Smarter Commerce Customer Advisory Council.

CSX Wellness Initiatives Encourage Healthy Habits for Employees

Committed to the well-being of its employees, CSX provides Beyond Our Rails, an outreach initiative that counts wellness as among its four primary goals. In order to realize this objective, CSX offers a range of wellness initiatives that encourage employees to take responsibility for their personal health. The Health & Wellness team at the company consists of wellness coaches, health fitness specialists, licensed dietitians, ergonomists, certified diabetic educators, and registered nurses. These professionals are regularly available to CSX staff to address concerns and help in creating personal fitness regimens and diets.

In order to promote regular exercise, CSX also established the Small Steps program that encourages individuals to make walking a regular part of their lives. Through this initiative, employees keep track of their steps to help make more conscious decisions about walking whenever possible.

With an understanding of the many harmful effects of smoking, CSX provides employees who are serious about quitting with cessation support. Smoking cessation can be a difficult process, and CSX is committed to ensuring that employees have the tools and guidance they need to be successful.

CSX CFO Speaks at Deutsche Bank Global Industrials Conference

In early June 2015, Fredrik Eliasson, the chief financial officer of CSX Corporation, spoke at the Deutsche Bank Global Industrials and Basic Materials Conference in Chicago. During his speech, he provided details about the company's strong performance over the course of the previous decade. In this period, CSX achieved an average annual growth in earnings per share of 20 percent, and grew margins by more than 1,600 points. This growth occurred despite a reduction in coal transportation, which formerly served as the company’s most profitable area of business. 

Looking to the future, Eliasson explained that the company is on track to deliver steady earnings per share during the second quarter of 2015, with slight gains possible. CSX continues to grow due to its efforts to expand merchandise and intermodal businesses, its commitment to efficient operations, and its above-inflation pricing. Additionally, a dedication to service underpins the company’s success and will prove extremely important in this year’s second quarter, as new resources across the network become operational.

For the entirety of the year, CSX expects earnings-per-share growth to approach the mid- to high-single-digit range. Individuals can learn more about these projections at CSX.com.

The Man Who Designed the Course for the Masters

The Masters Tournament, held each spring at the Augusta National Golf Club, has become an iconic event in golf. Since its inauguration in 1934, the tournament has drawn competitors playing at the top of their game. The list of golfing greats who have won multiple Masters includes Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Nick Faldo, Tiger Woods, and Phil Mickelson. Nicklaus holds the record for total number of Masters wins, at six. He, Faldo, and Woods are the only players to have won in consecutive years.

These players’ careers would have taken different paths were it not for Alister MacKenzie. The renowned golf course architect worked with the legendary Bobby Jones, newly retired after winning multiple championships in the US and UK, to design a course that would fulfill a longtime dream for Jones.

MacKenzie, known for designing courses throughout the British Isles and the world, fought convention by crafting bunkers with large-scale swaths of sand and holes canted away from the fairway’s line of sight, presenting new challenges to golfers. He took advantage of the natural features surrounding any course, using them to enhance the aesthetic experience of play.

MacKenzie gave his last effort to creating the Masters. The Yorkshire native and former British Army surgeon began the project in 1929, and he died the year of the first tournament. His original course has been altered, due to advancing technology and players' skill, but today’s golfers can still sense his devotion to the game.

Volunteers from CSX Dedicate Time to Washington, DC, School

More than 80 CSX employees volunteered to work alongside service partners from the Alliance for Community Trees, City Year, and Action for Healthy Kids in late April 2015. The volunteers spent time at an elementary school in Washington, DC and collaborated to enhance school facilities. The projects at the school represented the key focuses of the CSX “Beyond Our Rails” program: environment, community, safety, health, and wellness. Volunteers restored a basketball court, created a new school garden and greenhouse, planted trees across the campus, and painted stencils around the playground. In addition, they drew murals dedicated to safety along the hallways.

To honor the volunteers' contribution, CSX gave a grant to the Alliance for Community Trees to plant more native trees at another local school and provided sponsorship for the annual Earth Day Anacostia River Clean-Up undertaken by the Anacostia Watershed Society.

The events were part of CSX’s #LocalMotive campaign, which has created a forum to discuss the ways the company benefits local communities through service projects, job creation, and other activities. Individuals can take part in the conversation online at BeyondOurRails.org/LocalMotive.                            

CSX Launches Trees for Tracks “Treequel” at NASCAR Event

In April 2015, CSX Corporation launched the newest incarnation of its Trees for Tracks program at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Food City 500, held in Bristol, Tennessee. At the same event, NASCAR unveiled its Race to Green campaign, a part of the larger NASCAR Green initiative, which encourages the planting of trees. CSX started the Trees for Tracks program in 2009 and has since planted significantly more than the promised 21,000 trees, one for every mile of track. The program’s “treequel” doubles the goal to 42,000 trees planted by 2018.

At the event, NASCAR driver Chris Buescher, who normally drives a car decorated to promote the CSX Play It Safe initiative, applied Trees for Tracks graphics to the back of his Ford. In addition, he passed out autographed driver cards printed on seed paper that grows into flowers when planted. In commemoration of the new Trees for Tracks program, CSX vowed to plant 50 trees locally after the race, bringing the total of plantings up to 26,233.

The Trees for Tracks program targets communities around the nation in need of more green. The program also pushes for the planting of larger specimens known to establish quickly or varieties native to a site.                            

CSX Teams with Action for Healthy Kids to Promote Healthy Lifestyles

CSX corporate culture emphasizes the importance of an active, healthy lifestyle. While the company encourages its employees to lead healthy lives, it also seeks to improve the health of people around the nation. To meet this goal, CSX has renewed its partnership with Action for Healthy Kids, a nonprofit organization that works in schools to teach children and adolescents about healthy eating and motivate them to become more physically active.

For the 2015-16 school year, CSX will make up to 300 Every Kid Healthy Grants available through Action for Healthy Kids. These grants will fund initiatives at local schools to create healthier environments and physical activity programs. Throughout the year, CSX also sends employees to local schools to spearhead its Get in the Action events, which aim to get kids moving.

For employees, CSX has launched a Healthy Wage Program, which inspires individuals to create weight-loss teams and motivate each other to achieve health goals. Certain CSX offices also host farmer’s markets to allow employees to purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables.