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

Pulp, paper and paper products
4.1 papiNet® – a Success Story in e-Standards 62
The following section contains – inevitably for a discussion of technical issues such as
electronic standards – a lot of technical terms and acronyms. A glossary with brief
explanations of the most important terms is included in Annex III of this study.
4.1.1 Introduction
papiNet® 63 is a global paper and forest products industry e-business initiative. It is the
product of a not-for-profit cooperative international initiative of papiNet® GIE, IDEAlliance,
and the American Forest & Paper Association. The objectives of the cooperative are to
develop, maintain, and support the implementation of a single set of XML based global
electronic business transaction standards for parties engaged in the buying, selling and
distribution of forest and paper products. Where possible, papiNet® also aims to align
itself with other standards and to give assistance to implementation work.
The papiNet® standard is a single complete standard. It is developed and maintained by
customers, suppliers and other trading partners involved in the paper and forest industry
in order to improve the efficiency and accuracy of transactions throughout the paper
supply chain, while reducing the cost of operations. To facilitate implementation,
papiNet® recommends a company to identify its business segments and follow the
appropriate segment implementation guidelines.
The standard is relevant for all companies in the forest and paper products supply chain.
In addition, many aspects of the strengths of its organisation and its processes have
strong potential for similar cooperative developments in other sectors. The lack of a
certification structure is not necessarily a weakness, but does allow for divergence.
4.1.2 The organisation of papiNet
Over 60 customers, producers, and technology firms from Europe and North America are
involved in the initiative with industry association partners – CEPI, American Forest and
Paper Association, and IDEAlliance.
The papiNet® Executive Committee is the global advisory and coordinating body of
papiNet. It provides direction and sets policy with regard to the strategic priorities of the
papiNet® organisation, standard, budget and allocation of resources. This is performed in
close coordination with the governing boards of papiNet® Europe GIE and papiNet® NA
(North America). Both of these groups are chartered to encourage and facilitate
implementation of the standard through supporting tools and guidelines, market segment
implementation groups, and related publicity.
The Central Work Group manages the content of the papiNet® standard. It is focused
on promoting adoption, implementation and use of the standard, maintaining the standard
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The assistance of David Steinhardt, Art Colman and Michael Merz in the preparation of this
section is gratefully acknowledged.
papiNet® is a registered trademark of the European Union and United States.
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