Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. apparently isn't concerned about whether PeopleSoft Inc. has a future as an independent company. The Canadian company, one of the world's largest manufacturers of newsprint and wood products, is implementing PeopleSoft supply-chain applications at 21 of its paper mills in the United States and Canada.

Abitibi-Consolidated, with revenue last year of about $3.5 billion, says it's hoping to reduce inventory with more-accurate forecasts.

Abitibi-Consolidated says it will use PeopleSoft's EnterpriseOne Customer Order Management software to give sales reps real-time visibility into inventory. That way, they'll have up-to-date information when customers call to ask about availability of supplies or shipment delivery dates. "Customer service representatives have their world in front of them, with all their information needs in one location," Barry Warren, VP of sales services at Abitibi-Consolidated, said in a statement Monday.

By year's end, Abitibi-Consolidated will begin deploying PeopleSoft Supply Chain Planning so it can analyze mill capacity and existing inventory against forecasts to reduce excess inventory. The software also will help the company determine which mill is best-suited--because of its location and capacity--to fill customer orders. That kind of information is critical to a global company like Abitibi-Consolidated, which owns or is a partner in 27 paper mills, 21 saw mills, 4 remanufacturing facilities, and one engineered wood facility across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, South Korea, China, and Thailand.