Mark rushton is Editor, Pulp & Paper International (PPI)
We at PPI recently learned a lot about the reading, operating and buying habits of pulp and papermakers at the sharp end of the industry. late last year PPI conducted a Brand awareness and Preference Study where altogether we had over 500 high quality survey returns from mills and offices all around the globe, the respondents coming from a vast variety of different functions and job roles from within the industry.
this included in-depth information from technical, engineer-
ing and Production to Marketing and Sales, traffic and Ship-
ping, purchasing and corporate Management
Here are just some interesting survey results:
It seems that those who work in the industry are avid receivers
of instant information, and are modern in the choice of delivery
method: 59% of you preferred to receive up-to-date information
on the industry by e-newsletters, next was via online digital maga-
zines at 36% with printed magazines and newsletters coming in at
third place with 34.4%. lowest on the list was webinars and visiting
websites as a preferred way to glean information. PPI incidentally
was top of your list when it came to industry magazines received,
with 89.3% of respondents saying they received it, and 87.3% say-
ing they read this magazine regularly.
Industry professionals also revealed the frequency of their online reading habits with 26% visiting websites for information daily, 47.6% weekly and 25.9% monthly. Google not surprisingly came in at number one with 315 respondents claiming that it was the most useful when looking for information, but rISI.com scored highly here with 243 of respondents claiming that it is the most useful industry website, its nearest competitor was way behind with just 147 votes.
also revealed in the survey was buying habits, which again made for interesting reading. In fact what is most enlightening is just how small some supply sectors have become in certain areas due to consolidation. For instance when respondents were looking at buying paper machine equipment including sensors, analysers and laboratory equipment, there were only seven suppliers mentioned. However when when it came to consumables, suppliers were into the double figures. this clearly illustrates that paper makers are limited in choice for specialist equipment; however, they have plenty of options once their machines are up and running.
What a survey of this kind really does is animate and illustrate the industry in an important and realistic way. It allows the reader to see buyers/customers/readers habits, and then act and adjust their products and marketing accordingly depending on their answers.
our survey also revealed what all of us in the paper industry cannot escape from: the threat of the Internet to the future of printing and paper as we know it. even in this industry, the preferred way of gathering information is headed up by the Internet: 15 years ago it would have undoubtedly been by weekly and periodical journals and magazines – printed on paper of course. We at PPI are currently in the midst of organising our european Pulp and Paper outlook conference, and by far and away the main theme is how the paper industry can triumph in the midst of such a threat. It is clearly time for the great minds and individuals in the industry to address this issue.
on the subject of great minds, you will see from our front cover that Jouko Karvinen, ceo of Stora enso has been voted as our european ceo of the year for a second time in the space of three years. What I can say is that the financial community, who voted for Karvinen, has the greatest respect for this industry as it transforms and ultimately triumphs through these tough times. a number of ceo’s and what they had done over the last year were mentioned in my conversations with the analysts, but one form of action was mentioned more than ever – speed. It is not necessarily the ceo’s who make the right decisions that win industry admiration, it is the ones that make the right decisions in the quickest and most painless ways that really prove their worth. Perhaps we can all learn something from their comments and from the interview with Karvinen in this issue.
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