The forest products industries are keeping pace with the explosion in e-commerce. Many new dot-coms have sprung up to take advantage of the rich marketing and trade opportunities provided by the Internet and electronic communication in general. Information centers, either stand-alone or coupled with electronic trade, have also been established in several flavors. Which models will survive? How will they be tied to mills and manufacturers? What sales system will be most valuable? The race is on. We'll try to keep you posted on the latest offerings in this fast-paced arena.

A valuable resource on this topic is "Using E-Commerce in the Forest Products Industry" by David T. Damery, a Lecturer at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in their Building Materials and Wood Technology Program. This document is part of an online book.

Another insightful report is "Forest Products Industry Still Trails Others in Adoption of Internet Technologies" by Sanna M. Kallioranta and Richard P. Vlosky, 2006, published by APA - The Engineered Wood Association. (Tacoma Washington).

Links to E-businesses:

RISI (formerly Paperloop.com)

RISI provides information for and about the global forest products industry. They work with clients in the pulp and paper, wood products, timber, tissue and nonwovens industries. Resource Information Systems Inc. was founded in 1985 and acquired by PaperLoop in 2000. In Jan. 2006, Paperloop changed its name to RISI. The company owns a variety of publications, including the Pulp & Paper family of magazines and newsletters and the Lockwood-Post Directories.

Forest Express

This new business-to-business enterprise made headlines when it was launched by Georgia-Pacific Corp., International Paper, and Weyerhaeuser Co. It's an electronic marketplace that will serve manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, buyers, and sellers. Functions include processing quotes and sales contracts, providing catalog information, and assisting in inventory management, insurance, credit, and both forward and reverse auctions. The service is now part of a larger suite of services offered by Liaison, whose Real-Time Infrastructure Platform connects trading partners and then manages and publishes their product information for any supply chain purpose, including UCCnet data synchronization. Their services also extend to office products, furniture and pharmaceuticals.

Pulp and Paper.Net

A site dedicated to many aspects of the global pulp and paper industry. You can locate products and suppliers from around the world, keep track of key events and conferences, stay in touch with the job market, and access a library of information.

Pulp and Paper Online

A site with product information, news items, info on machinery, equipment, and material for papermaking.

ForestryIndustry.com

A leading forestry vertical community on the Internet. A variety of journals are featured dealing with issues such as logging, wood processing, and forestry. One example is Paper Industry.