A developer of a terminated plastics Web site is launching a second attempt in June that he said could become the benchmark for industrial portals. The new site, www.plastics.com, will offer a wide array of information and services to the plastics industry, said Greg Koski, chief executive officer of Worldwide WebLabs Inc., the site's developer.
It will include a sophisticated, plastics-based search engine, a matchmaking service to marry customers with processors or toolmakers, technical and reference data, a job-search area, and financial information on companies.
Koski's former plastics reference site, www.polymers.com, was dissolved last year after five years of operation. But, he said, that site was more of a technology test bed, without staff support or the resources to update information.
It provided the foundation for WebLabs to get its feet wet, Koski said. The new site — while seeking outside venture capital — is better funded and has 10 full-time staff members from WebLabs management, he said.
"This is a full-time, serious business venture," Koski said. "The other site was something we did as a part-time, nonvisionary effort. This is polymers.com but done right."
The e-business site from Fitchburg, Mass.-based WebLabs will be launched at NPE 2000 in June and go online immediately after that, Koski said.
The Web address will compete against several established plastics dot-com companies, including Akron, Ohio-based PolySort Inc. and PlasticsNet.Com, owned by Chicago-based Commerx Inc.
The new site will focus on matching companies, he said.
"We'll have a richness of content to become a benchmark for industrial portals," Koski said. "If you want to find a toolmaker or an extruder, you can gather the information quickly with us."
The site will charge fees to companies that want to be listed in its matchmaking area and offer a subscription service, Koski said. Other parts of the site, including technical information, will be free.
Koski provided no estimates of expected traffic or sales. "It will be within the top rung of companies on the Web," he said. "If you have great content, traffic takes care of itself."