The first common international standard for wood industry e-business is being rolled out.
WoodX was established in 2002 when the paper industry’s papiNet organisation joined forces with the Finnish and Swedish wood product industry to develop a common standard for the wood product industry.
It is currently being used or tested in more than 100 customer relationships – and this number is now expected to grow rapidly.
Customers will have access to detailed information about ordered goods, delivery times and transport details, plus billing.
Martin Cunliffe of Travis Perkins said: “WoodX will improve our efficiency and reduce our expenditure. With the entire wood industry using the same standard we will be able to develop our operations to make them more streamlined.”
Marketta Vuorjoki, IT manager at Stora Enso Timber and chairperson of the WoodX standard working group, said: “The largest wood product suppliers in Finland and Sweden will be adopting WoodX this year. They will be offering the service to their entire clientele, irrespective of customer size. At the same time, the largest buyers will be requiring their suppliers to adopt WoodX.”
WoodX is based on an XML language which enables standard communications – for instance documents, to be used in Internet browsers and Excel, as well as between information systems.
The standard features all the normal documents needed for business activities, including billing, ordering, package information and dispatch instructions.
