ICT and e-Business in the Pulp, Paper and Paper ... - empirica

Pulp, paper and paper products
modules to exchange data via EDI, e.g. with customers in the retail sector, where EDI is
still widely used. The system will also enable the exchange of data in XML-based
standards. When trading with paper and cardboard manufacturers, companies may have
agreed to exchange data using the papiNet® standard (see Section 4.1), which will
normally also be enabled by the system.If companies decide to conduct e-business with
each other via their ERP systems and using papiNet, an initial mapping process has to
take place to ensure that the systems "talk the same language". This will normally take a
few days; some test orders and invoices will be exchanged to see that the receiving
system can read the information in the way intended by the sender (for example, to check
if the "address" is also understood to be an "address" by the receiver).
The exchange of order-related data in standardised electronic format is the most common
form of e-business between large firms or between large and medium-sized firms in the
P&P industry. The business example of Karl Knauer KG / COPACO Group (see following
box) is a typical example. The case study on Stora Enso (Section 4.1) also confirms the
"primacy of ERP" for e-business exchanges.
Business example:
papiNet®-based B2B Integration at Karl Knauer KG /
COPACO Group
Karl Knauer KG in Biberach, Germany, is a producer of innovative
packaging solutions. The company employs about 400 people and is part of
the international COPACO Group, a European cooperation of mostly
medium-sized producers of cardboard packaging solutions. In 2005, the
group employed about 1900 people and had a turnover of about 258 million
euros. Customers are mainly companies from the food & beverages and the
pharmaceutical & healthcare industries (about 70% of revenue).
A few years ago, COPACO adopted the strategy of standardising based on
the papiNet® standard as much as possible, its data exchanges with
producers, customers and suppliers. In this framework, Karl Knauer AG
digitally integrated business processes with cardboard producer Mayr-
Melnhof (Vienna), one of their major material suppliers, by implementing a
system for standardised data exchange (using papiNet®). The company
selected Seeburger AG to realise the system integration. The case served
as a pilot for the whole COPACO group.
The main hub for the data exchange is a Seeburger Business Integration
Server (BIS). Data are transmitted via the internet in XML format. BIS
connects specific modules of the ERP systems of the participating
companies, as well as certain legacy systems and programmes. In this way,
most of the former paper-based documention exchange has been converted
to electronic data exchange.
According to Richard Kammerer, Managing Director of Karl Knauer KG, the
process integration based on BIS has improved supply-chain management
by accelerating processes and reducing error rates. This, he concluded, is "a
win-win situation for all parties involved – supplier, producer and customers".
Sources: Seeburger (Customer references, see www.seeburger.de);
COPACO Group (www.copaco.de); Karl Knauer AG (www.karlknauer.de)
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