E-Marketplaces

ELEMICA has direct enterprise resource planning (ERP) system connectivity available to its 22 chemical company investors. Trading partners on Elemica can now connect their ERP systems for buy and sell transactions. Customers and others will soon be able to link to the transactional hub as well. Rather than point-to-point integration between individual companies, only a single connection is needed to the Elemica hub to reach others also connected. In this initial stage, Elemica is using Chem eStandards to support order management processes. Future updates will support supply-chain and logistics processes.

ENVERA has released a Web browser interface for companies that do not have ERP systems to access its chemical industry business-to-business hub. It launched its ERP integration capabilities last year. The new application will allow more companies to connect to Envera's services and enable them to send transactions to trading members on the Envera network using standards created by the industry. Envera says all trading member companies were compliant with the new Chem eStandards last month.

CHEMATCH.COM has closed a round of financing, raising an undisclosed amount from investors Battery Ventures and Sprout Group. CheMatch management says the firm's "capital base is now sufficient to finance operations well into next year and, based on current projections, should fund us through profitability." CheMatch also has formed alliances with Laycan ASA, an online ship-brokering company, and EssentiaLink, a provider of industrial maintenance, repair, and operational (MRO) and commodity goods sourcing solutions. Through an integrated service, CheMatch users will be able to make purchases from a catalog of 700,000 industry MRO and commodity items.

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Services

BASF and software company Peregrine Systems have set up an Internet site, http://www.extricity.com/cidx, at which companies and industry organizations can test their implementation of the new Chem eStandards. The open, nonproprietary, and free standards were developed by the Chemical Industry Data Exchange (CIDX) and several chemical firms to facilitate online transactions. Sponsoring the site demonstrates commitment to industry adoption of the standards, BASF says.

ONECHEM, an e-business application service provider for the chemical industry, has trimmed its operations while simultaneously expanding its business. The company has cut the number of employees by a third, to about 40 people, including changes in management. Its primary offices are now in Florida, Switzerland, and Ireland. The company recently signed on Harcros Chemicals, Mitsubishi's U.S. chemical operations, and Clariant's masterbatches division as new customers. OneChem also announced an alliance with software company Manugistics to add that firm's supply-chain management and e-marketplace applications to its e-commerce platform.

VERTICALNET and staffing provider Kelly Scientific Resources will create online professional development centers across VerticalNet's scientific e-marketplaces. Kelly's career services will be available starting this spring on VerticalNet's BioresearchOnline.com site and later rolled out to its DrugDiscoveryOnline.com and LaboratoryNetwork.com sites. The services include job searches, news and features, business services, skills analysis, and career counseling. Kelly also operates the Science Learning Center, a distance learning campus offering science- and management-related online courses.

NEWIDEATRADE.COM has been launched as a free online forum for trading intellectual property, including inventions, trademarks, patents, and copyrighted work. Unlike sites that charge searching fees or commissions, this site provides a central registry and is advertiser supported. Another company, Licensing Products & Services Group, has started up a site called Patent Triage for selling and buying patents that otherwise would be abandoned. Listing and searching patents are free; patent owners will pay 35% of revenues as a commission if their patents are sold.

INDUSTRY

AMERICAN CHEMISTRY COUNCIL (ACC) and FROST & SULLIVAN have both come out with reports on the chemical industry's increasing adoption of e-business. Despite the demise of many dot-coms, Frost & Sullivan reports that chemical companies are embracing e-business. The market research firm says activities are focused on increasing supply-chain efficiencies to gain tangible benefits. Electronic procurement is one of the most advanced transaction functions, with 40% of surveyed firms testing electronic links for raw material purchasing. In sales, only 10% of firms are fully active in transactional e-commerce. According to ACC, although the impact of e-business is clearly being felt, electronic sales accounted for only 1.6% of total U.S. chemical industry sales in 2000, up from just 0.2% in 1998. Included are transactions through integrated direct systems, company sites, and third-party marketplaces, as well as those using electronic data interchange. E-business activities have been adopted most rapidly in basic industrial chemicals and downstream derivatives, particularly polymers. Adoption is also high in specialty chemicals. ACC predicts a lower rate of adoption than many consultants do, but it still believes that chemicals will be one of the leading industries migrating to e-business.

Please send submissions for E-Business to Ann Thayer , a_thayer@acs.org

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Chemical & Engineering News
Copyright © 2001 American Chemical Society

E-Business Story Financial Risks Electronic commerce is opening up new and varied channels for chemical firms, with an uncertain impact on the bottom line.

Cover Story Chiral Chemistry Driven by the needs of the drug industry and fueled by the ingenuity of chemists, sales of single-enantiomer chiral compounds continue to grow.

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