Building relationships ... electronically.

Addressing the Rubber in the Americas conference for the second consecutive year was Dennis Campbell, Chief Operating Officer of the Americas for Elemica, Inc. He reflected on Elemica's startup in July of 2000, with 22 companies in the chemical industry for online order processing and supply chain management of contract and repeat chemical transactions. "We have been pretty aggressive since then," he pointed out. "As of May this year, we have over 68 active companies. * You can see a lot of great names. We even have distributors, who look at Elemica as an entryway into the industry, that will help acquire products from suppliers all over the world." He added that Elemica also includes 35 European automotive suppliers. "These 35 are currently at different points in their technologies. With our standardized approach, we can help those 35 companies take advantage of the Internet while keeping their costs down."

Stressing that Elemica's services "are not a bid-auction format," Campbell noted that Elemica is a global solution that helps build relationships. "Once you have a supplier-customer relationship, we want to help streamline it and take cost out of the system," he emphasized. "Once you execute a transaction, our job is to help you avoid errors in how information about that order is managed."

Industry funded and "stand-alone neutral", Elemica focuses on improving supply chain inefficiencies, through a browser-based interface and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) connectivity. Its powerful e-commerce solution focuses on connectivity, neutrality and security for users.

An advantage that Elemica brings to the table, said Campbell, is its ability to use its "chemical history", to act as a "translator" to clarify messages between buyers and sellers. For example, a metals and mining buyer wishing to purchase from a chemical supplier will use Elemica as an experienced intermediary.

Using a term coined by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christiansen, Campbell explored the concept of "disruptive technologies"--low-margin products or resources that can quickly develop into competitive threats, dramatically transforming the marketplace. For example, running water became a disruptive technology when it was turned into hydroelectric power. Similarly, the low-cost structure of e-commerce marketplaces qualifies them as disruptive technologies. "These innovations are valuable because our generation's most constrained resource is time," Campbell argued. He then pointed out how Elemica's connectivity business model saves time for companies by standardizing and automating flows of information that facilitate transactions in areas such as order management, planning and logistics.

Campbell closed his presentation by reflecting on the growth of business-to-business transactions. "In 1995, people thought that by 2003 there would be $3 trillion of business-to-business transactions. In reality, that number is somewhere between $2.4 trillion, and $3,6 trillion, perhaps actually exceeding the original projections," he said. "So some people will resist the Internet by saying it hasn't lived up to its promises, but many will underestimate where we are today," he added.

* As of the first week in July, Elemica membership now stands at 117 companies and growing.