Industry-wide, producers have greatly reduced their fixed costs and rationalized their physical facilities, their organizations and their processes. Industry suppliers are now a primary source of new processes and technology. In addition, producers are outsourcing the supply of an increasing range of products and services. Producers are increasingly dependent upon the performance of their suppliers to obtain a competitive cost, efficiency and/or quality advantage.

New or modernized production facilities intensely depend upon the technology and services of suppliers for their configuration, erection, installation, startup and optimization. Once operational, the typical pulp and paper facility purchases differentiated products and services worth between $20 and $40 per ton of production. This does not include raw material, commodity chemicals, energy, or labor.

This is where we find the intensified opportunities and risks facing paper industry suppliers today. In this environment, even the most successful industry suppliers acknowledge that "they need help and do not internally have all the answers in" fulfilling the critical role they play in their customer's success. ASPI's purpose is to provide assistance, motivation, and unique insights to the leadership to its member companies, so that they can take advantage of the opportunities in the paper industry marketplace.

This assistance takes the form of valuable membership benefits, including:

• Two annual Membership Meetings
  
• Three annual newsletters, which include Members' Forums
  
• Two annual Performance Benchmarking Surveys
  
• Periodic Industry Advocacy Resolutions
  
• Annual Supplier/Customer Best Practices Awards

Current ASPI membership is very diverse and is open to any company that supplies differentiated products and/or services to the pulp, paper, paperboard and/or converting industry.

ASPI's mission is to create a competitive advantage for its member companies by helping them provide unique benefits to their customers through the supply of differentiated products and/or services.