Internet sites and business issues relevant to Canadian processors and moldmakers (August 01, 2000)
By Cindy Macdonald
Each new web-based company is trying to carve a niche for itself and pry business away from existing resources. In the interests of helping you to determine what makes each one a little different from...
Each new web-based company is trying to carve a niche for itself and pry business away from existing resources. In the interests of helping you to determine what makes each one a little different from the next, here’s a partial list of the dot.coms found at NPE, with a notation of products or services, and a brutally brief statement of my understanding of their niche.
INDUSTRY MARKETPLACES
Web site
Products/services
Niche
Will be marketplace for resin, machinery, auxiliaries, tooling and MRO for injection molding.
Launches Oct. 1. Coalition of the big guys. If you aren’t already a client of BASF, Bayer, Dow, DuPont or Ticona, don’t expect much of it.
Marketplace for resin, machinery and auxiliaries.
Has a new look but still stands as the market leader in plastics marketplaces.
CHOOSING AND BUYING RESIN
Web site
Products/services
Niche
Sells resin.
Emphasis on technical support. Focused on selling engineering resins and compounds.
Sells resin. Soon to add sheet, films and profiles.
Finds material and aggregates demand primarily for those who don’t consume large volumes.
Resin exchange.
As with most exhanges, will only be as good as the number of valid players trading on it. Emphasizes spot buying, obsolete inventory, regrind or scrap.
Materials database.
A broad spectrum, on-line materials property database. Collected independently from supplier and literature sources.
Exchange for resins and chemicals.
Anonymous, real-time trading exchange for bulk commodity resins (PE, PP, PS and PVC) and chemicals. Focused on bulk transactions — minimum three-railcar order for prime resin.
Industry portal recently added resin sales.
Long-time provider of content has moved in to e-commerce, aimed at small businesses.
Exchange for resins and chemicals.
Real-time global trading exchange.
PORTALS AND HUBS
Web site
Products/services
Niche
Industry portal, information resource.
A start-up plastics industry search engine “developed to eventually house 40,000+ companies and their profiles.” Good luck.
Industry portal, produces and hosts web sites.
Sounds like an anitquated notion with no strong draw to pull in users.
Industry portal, sourcing service.
Truly global, with interesting value-added services, such as financing and CAD file translation.
APPLICATION SERVICE PROVIDERS
Company/web site
Products/services
Niche
Commerx www.commerxplasticsnet.com
E-procurement applications and
hosting
The developers of PlasticNet.com have turned their focus to helping processors implement e-procurement, setting up a “private trading network” which can be like a mini, private version of buying through PlasticsNet.com.
Apps4biz.com www.apps4biz.com
Business applications
Suite of software applications for plastics covering manufacturing, order processing, supply chain management and e-commerce. Focused on small- to mid-sized businesses.
Mascon www.masconit.com
Business applications
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software that is now web-enabled “to catapult plastics manufacturers into e-business”.
Sand Hill Systems www.sandhillsystems.com
E-commerce applications
Hosted systems allowing customers to order on-line and managers to analyze sales.
