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

Pulp, paper and paper products
3.4 Internal and External e-Integration of Processes
The use of ICT and e-business to support and optimise intra-firm processes has become
increasingly important, particularly in manufacturing. By digitisation of formerly paperbased
processes, information and documents related to incoming or outgoing orders
can be seamlessly processed along the company's value chain; orders can be linked
with production and inventory management, and the underlying software systems support
controlling and management by enabling full transparency of all business processes.
Furthermore, collaborative processes within and between companies are supported,
such as information sharing among employees (for example by use of an intranet),
planning and demand forecast, organising and archiving documents, and human
resources management. In general, ICT applications for these purposes are predominantly
used initially by large companies, and eventually also by medium-sized firms.
How companies from the P&P industry make use of ICT as a driver of process efficiency
is explained and discussed in detail in section 4.2. This section describes the diffusion of
specific applications in this field.
3.4.1 Use of software systems for internal process integration
In the P&P industry, only about one in four companies interviewed said they used an
intranet. This facility can be a useful platform for the secure exchange of information
within a company and, possibly, the implementation of internal training programmes (see
Exhibit 3-15).
Exhibit 3-15: Use of ICT systems for internal process integration
Intranet
Accounting
software
ERP system
Document
Management
system
Weighting scheme:
% of % of % of % of % of % of % of % of
empl. firms empl. firms empl. firms empl. firms
Pulp & Paper (EU-10) 53 24 79 66 45 16 16 10
Micro (1-9 empl.) 14 58 8 9
Small (10-49 empl.) 29 80 18 11
Medium (50-249 empl.) 53 83 45 12
Large (250+ empl.) 74 86 70 25
NACE 21.1 (p&p man.) 60 28 80 76 46 18 20 14
NACE 21.2 (converting) 50 23 79 63 45 16 14 9
All 10 sectors (EU-10) 42 23 70 57 19 11 19 13
Micro (1-9 empl.) 19 50 7 11
Small (10-49 empl.) 28 70 16 13
Medium (50-249 empl.) 43 85 25 19
Large (250+ empl.) 76 88 45 42
Base (100%)
firms using
computers
firms not using an
ERP system
firms using
computers
firms using
computers
N (for sector, EU-10) 964 705 964 964
Questionnaire reference D1a D1e D1d D1c
Source: e-Business W@tch (Survey 2006)
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