Stamford, CT, and Atlanta — March 26, 2003 — International Paper (IP), in an effort to automate and improve the flow of key information to suppliers, announced this week that it has provided scale ticket, contract and fulfillment status information electronically by way of the ForestExpress network hub. ForestExpress is a catalog content services company for the forest products and allied industries.
The e-commerce activities represent key elements of International Paper's wood fiber procurement and supply chain management strategy.
According to ForestExpress, electronic scale ticket information allows wood suppliers to evaluate and analyze their business. Additionally, the provider's Business Intelligence Center lets suppliers analyze and download scale tickets, shedding light on trends and patterns that could impact daily operations. As part of the introduction, IP sponsored a two-month free trial period for selected suppliers.
"Automating scale tickets and contracts are a part of our overall efforts within IP to reduce overall supply chain costs and to help our wood suppliers improve their business," said Dana Saucier, general manager of fiber supply for IP's Forest Resources business. "During February we transmitted more than 100,000 scale tickets and provided hundreds of our suppliers with information with greater efficiencies."
Thornton & Associates Inc., a wood supplier to International Paper, receives electronic scale ticket information from ForestExpress daily. "We've significantly reduced the work required to correct data entry errors, which used to take hours every week." According to Larry Jones, vice president and general manager of Thornton & Associates. "This way, we can put more focus where it should be — on our customers and our business."
An active participant in the ForestExpress Trading Center for online wood fiber procurement for more than two years, International Paper has expanded their relationship with ForestExpress recently to include electronic data interchange (EDI) and XML integration messaging.
ForestExpress provides integration services to the range of forest products supply chain participants, from large manufacturers to distributors to raw materials producers.
