Digitization of the supply chain in trading of plastics: meet PlasticFinder at K 2019

“Sometimes a revolutionary and universal technology or idea emerges that triggers changes in every aspect of our lives: (…). It doesn't happen often, but when it happens the world is transformed forever" [Lou Gerstner, President of IBM, 1995].

"Marry the Internet. And let me see a plan that, in the transformation of your company, foresees something more than the simple juxtaposition of a website to the existing structure" [Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, 2002].

"The Internet is not just another sales channel. Nor is it just another medium for advertising. It is a tool intended to profoundly transform the way companies work, the way they receive orders from customers and provide them with value" [Esther Dyson, president of EDventure Holdings Inc., 2000].

Words spoken 20-25 years ago, when smartphones had not yet been invented and the completion of the digital revolution was not even comprehensible to most.

How much time has passed! Today we are completely immersed in a world interconnected in real time, yet still, for the majority of companies in the B2B markets, digitization is a difficult concept to digest, underestimated, considered little more than a fashion to follow to be "trendy", above all in functions such as the supply chain and sales, where traditional approaches are considered essential.

In reality, some simple considerations, focused on the plastic materials market that interests us most, lead us to see this revolution in a different light.

First of all, the goods traded are generally batches of identified or identifiable products, packaged and weighed correctly, equipped with technical data sheet and certificate of analysis; in short, the perfect example of a good that can be bought online (like a book, from which Amazon actually began its great adventure).

Secondly, we think how much "service" can make the web even to less standardized products, such as polymeric compounds (especially if made from composite alloys) or even more to regenerated / recycled products. For the latter in particular, the possibility of putting them on sale in a cascade procedure that describes them perfectly allows the potential buyer to evaluate and compare to the best and in a certain sense pushes the producer to "give quality" to his processes, to homogenize the product and provide it with specifications and certificates.

If we also consider the large inventories of slow moving that weigh down the entire production and processing chain of plastic, it is clear that the digital tool is a formidable aid to the development of the circular economy, reducing the use of new products and re-introducing the market existing products.

PlasticFinder (www.plasticfinder.eu) is the number one digital platform in Italy and in Europe for online trading of plastics, growing every day for the number of registered users and for transactions concluded positively.

"The turnover growth in the first 8 months of 2019 is over +30% compared to the same period in 2018", confirms Riccardo Parrini, CEO of PlasticFinder, invited last spring to the international conference "Polymer Sourcing and Distribution 2019" (AMI, May 13-15, Barcelona), to speak on the subject of digitization with the speech. "The role of the web in the trade of plastics as a real support for the circular economy", which has aroused great debate among the world's largest distributors of polymers.

The growth of the platform is even more significant if compared with the slowdown suffered by the plastics market in the first half of 2019, with prices falling both due to the reduction in domestic demand (particularly in the automotive sector) and to the great offer of products ( especially of extra EU import) available at very competitive prices.

Meet PlasticFinder at K2019 in Duesseldorf!

PlasticFinder will be present at K2019 in Duesseldorf (October 16-23, 2019): set an appointment with Riccardo and Stefano by writing to [email protected]t; we will meet you with pleasure and find out how to use the marketplace in a profitable way for your company!