New York—April 24, 2014—ThomasNet.com, a free supplier discovery and product sourcing platform, announced a re-launch to better enable supply chain professionals and engineers to find trusted suppliers and solve their most difficult sourcing challenges. Advanced functionality and new applications, added to a platform that is already home to a large database of North American industrial and commercial companies, now makes ThomasNet.com the resource to discover the right suppliers to partner with for direct and indirect spends.
“We work hand in hand with buyers from businesses big and small alike to understand their buying process. What we uncovered are the difficulties they are having in supplier discovery and the deficiencies in tools they are using, like search engines, to support the process,” said Tom Greco, vice president, ThomasNet.com. He added, “The ThomasNet.com platform is continuing to evolve in both content and functionality to not only satisfy these unmet needs, but also save them time in the process.”
The Supplier Discovery application, which includes 700,000 companies, allows buyers to quickly get to a shortlist of viable suppliers. Improvements to the application include defining all qualifiers right from the start, such as product/service, location, ownership type, quality certifications and company type. With a targeted list in hand, buyers can also now access enriched, individualized supplier profiles, unique to company type, which can include capabilities, equipment lists, product lines and brand names carried, demographics, certifications, news and videos to help in the decision to add to the shortlist. From there, they can issue a one-to-many request for information (RFI).
In addition:
- A new Diversity application eliminates buyers’ need to consult several resources to find suppliers to meet diverse spend goals. Now, one of the largest databases of minority, woman-owned, veteran-owned and other small disadvantaged businesses for direct spend makes downloadable certificates available, and provides links to other supporting proof of ownership.
- A new Certification application helps buyers identify suppliers that hold quality and other certifications/registrations, including ISO, ANSI, Nadcap, ITAR, FDA and C-TPAT, among 80 types.
- A Custom Quotes application eases the burden of finding the right machine shop to perform custom manufacturing services. This new application features smart request for quotation (RFQ) forms that allow buyers to easily define the capabilities they require from shops specializing in welding, cutting, finishing, fabricating and other services. Completed RFQs are submitted to the ThomasNet.com engineering team, who act on behalf of the buyer in identifying up to five job shops qualified to handle the job.
- The Product Sourcing Application, which uses both proprietary search technology and product taxonomies to locate an exact product from over 100 million items, now features 40 product selectors. Buyers needing to procure raw materials, components and finished parts for the first time can use these smart forms to step them through the specification process.
For further insights on suppliers’ products, technologies and innovations, buyers can use the Industry News application. In addition, the platform’s new Job Board features open positions in procurement/supply chain, engineering, manufacturing/production operations and sales/marketing.
ThomasNet.com logs nearly two million user sessions each month from buyers within Fortune 1000 companies, the government/military, institutions and small companies who are in a position to impact suppliers’ businesses. To get onto the short lists of these “power buyers,” manufacturers and distributors are being encouraged to build detailed profiles on the platform at no charge.
