Pulp & paper on-line
The newest effort to bring the pulp and paper industry in Asia on-line is a step further along yesterday by signing on Ariba to deliver its e-business plateform.
Launched only last month by Andover E-pulppaper Ltd. (AEPP), www.epulppaper.com, a pulp and paper B2B hub, is scheduled to begin first initial transaction by October. That gives Arthur Anderson, Ariba's system integrator for the project, less than 90 days to complete implementation of Ariba's program.
Present at the signing ceremony today between the three companies are Keith Krach, co-founder and chief executive of Ariba Inc, Timothy Siddik, chief executive officer of AEPP, and Darren Rock, Arthur Anderson partner for digital market, Asia Pacific. Mukesh Aghi, senior vice president, Asia Pacific, Ariba makes up the fourth member of the party.
The planned hub comes at a juncture when the Asian pulp and paper industry is in a state of massive fragmentation.
According to Siddik, the largest player in the industry commands only about 4% of the global market.
It is hoped that www.e-pulppaper.com will bring industry players into closer and more integrated association.
Positioning itself as an experienced brick-and-mortar company turning into a click-and-mortar business, AEPP is set to bring on industry players from the get-go.
3 Asian pulp and paper companies have already lent their support to the hub: an Indonesian pulp and paper trading business under PT Suryamandiri Buana; Rich Well Asia Ltd., a Hong Kong-based pulp and paper trading company; and Shandong Huazhong Paper Co. Ltd in China.
Collectively, the business of these companies included distribution networks in Indonesia and China, several warehouses and a number of mills.
Interestingly, AEPP itself does not have overt ties to the pulp and paper industry, itself being the offspring of a joint venture between two other dot-com's.
A closer look, however, reveals that the owners of its parent companies, ATD.com Pte Ltd, and The-eWorld.com Ltd, both have stakes in PT Suryamandiri Buana.
Siddik sees the development of the hub as a natural business decision for the company.
Calling e-commerce "a whole new paradigm for how business is conducted," Siddik believes that B2B commerce platform is a direct extension out of the needs and nature of the pulp and paper industry.
In a separate release, Sinduchajana Sulistyo, Chairman of AEPP, added, "epulppaper.com crystallizes our years of experience in the pulp and paper industry-a fragmented sector ripe for integration. The global e-commerce trend is for leading corporations to aggregate their offline strengths in industry megahubs that far outclass the dot-com's. We will be the first to do this here for pulp and paper."