International Paper Shares e-Commerce Benefits

Electronic logistics, fulfillment info made available to its wood suppliers

Electronic logistics, fulfillment info made available to its wood suppliers

Atlanta — October 24, 2003 — The world's largest paper and forest products company, International Paper, has selected ForestExpress, a provider of B2B integration and catalog content services for the forest products supply chain, to make available electronic scale ticket, contract and fulfillment data to all of International Paper's wood suppliers.

Suppliers can then access the business-critical information in any industry standard format through the ForestExpress Business Intelligence Center, an online data presentation and analytical tool.

ForestExpress and International Paper previously announced a two-month trial period during which selected wood suppliers received complimentary access to Business Intelligence Center and had an opportunity to review, analyze and download information.

The results of the trial led International Paper to sponsor free access for all its suppliers. "We received outstanding feedback from our supply base," commented Jim Fitzgerald, IP's general manager of fiber supply for its Forest Resources Business. "This data has never been available electronically before, and our wood suppliers valued it highly. Of course, we have an interest in sharing information more quickly, accurately and cost-effectively, and we're pleased that we can make this data widely available to our wood suppliers and partners through a shared platform."

ForestExpress said its Business Intelligence Center allows wood suppliers to reduce the manual work required to reconcile scale ticket and wood settlement information. "I'm delighted that International Paper has taken this step to help us," stated Jim High, Controller for Squires Timber, a North Carolina wood supplier. "In this business, margins are so tight that we do everything we can to become more efficient. I look forward to other wood buyers getting on the system so I can get all of my scale ticket and contract information through ForestExpress."

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