Buyer starts plastics Internet site

By Doug Smock -- Purchasing, 11/2/2000

The corporate materials manager for a major plastic molder didn't like what he found on the Internet-so he started his own Web site. "OnPlastics.com was born from my frustration with the Internet and my inability to find a site that contained all the information I was looking for in the plastics industry," says Ted Combs, founder of OnPlastics.com and still the chief resins and machinery buyer for Blue Water Plastics in Marysville, Mich.

The primary resource on the site is a directory of resin manufacturers and machinery builders with links to company home pages. There's also a news feed and a listing of major trade associations in the plastics industry. Advertising pays the bills.

Combs has several upgrades planned for his business. One is "Career Connection," a free job-posting service. Even though Combs is a one-man band with no venture-capital support, his site rang up 60,000 hits in July. "I believe one of the reasons why OnPlastics.com is becoming so popular is because it is fast and simple," says Combs. "The site does not require visitors to log on or provide personal data requirements that are major stumbling blocks for the Internet. People want to use the Internet without being bombarded with e-mails," Combs says.

He also believes that dot.coms designed to conduct plastics transactions may experience difficulties. "The large plastics and chemical manufacturers are not going to allow any Internet company to get between them and their customers or potential customers," he says. "The majority of the Internet sites within the plastic industry are looking to take profits out of this supplier-customer relationship without bringing any real value."