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

Pulp, paper and paper products
4.2.6 Summary and conclusions
The use of ICT is a key enabler of increased process efficiency in the P&P industry,
just as in other manufacturing industries. Relevant applications in this context are ERP
and SCM systems, other applications for managing capacity and inventory, collaborative
tools, e.g. for production planning (see Section 3.4). In particular, the integration of digital
information flows during all phases of B2B transactions (including ordering, invoicing
and payments) with production management and logistics has significantly facilitated
business processes between P&P producers and their suppliers and customers (see, as
examples, case studies "ICT for Production Tracking" and Nordic Paper).
Effects are most pronounced if companies operate ERP systems and use them as the
platform on which e-business processes are conducted. ERP systems are widely diffused
in the P&P industry among larger companies, but not yet among smaller firms (see
Sections 3.4.1 and 4.2.2). This translates into a significant gap between large and small
companies when it comes to more advanced forms of e-business.
On the whole, the impact of ICT adoption with regard to process efficiency certainly includes
the acceleration of processes (as illustrated by the VPK case study), an increased
company-internal transparency of processes (as illustrated by the Rexcell case study),
and improved use of production capacity. Ultimately, these effects certainly translate into
cost reductions for companies. However, this does not automatically imply an
opportunity for competitive advantage of individual firms. Particularly among the large
P&P firms, most companies are quite advanced in making use of sophisticated ICT
systems for their B2B processes. The use of these systems will therefore show in an
increase in productivity on the (aggregate) industry level. For smaller companies in this
industry, process innovation by means of ICT can be a strategy to gain competitive
advantage.
Acceleration of processes. In most of the larger P&P firms, the former manual
handling of orders and the related paper work has largely been automated by
means of ICT (e.g. by ERP systems). This has enabled companies to accelerate
processes and, thus, shorten lead times for their customers (i.e. reduce the amount
of time between the placing of an order and the receipt of the goods ordered).
Increased internal transparency of processes. ICT are a powerful tool to
increase the transparency of business processes within a company. This is an
important effect with implications for work organisation in this industry and should
not be underestimated.
Improved use of production capacity. ICT support P&P companies improving
their planning processes in sourcing, production and logistics, and enable wider
collaborative processes such as vendor managed inventory. This leads to an
acceleration of ordering and delivery processes and, thus, to improved internal use
of production capacity.
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