Buy more materials and machines on-line. (In Brief).

Among the ever-expanding opportunities for plastics e-commerce, on-line purchasing of polyolefins is a new feature of the redesigned website of Equistar Chemicals, LP, Houston. Equistar's new Customer XPress.com e-business facility at www.equistarchem.com asks the customer to specify the product, amount, type of packaging, desired ship date, and receiving location. The order will be acknowledged within one business day. Customers can go online to change orders, verify order status, review past orders, check anticipated delivery time, and even find the location of an order at that moment. Documents such as certificates of analysis can be printed.

Plastics compounders now can also buy antimony oxide on the Web. Albemarle Corp., Baton Rouge, La., has begun distributing antimony oxides from Laurel Industries of Dallas through the e-commerce site, www.PolymerAdditives.com. The site offers Laurel's Fireshield and Thermoguard products under the trade names Saytex FS and TG, respectively Albemarle itself produces brominated and other types of flame retardants.

PolymerAdditives.com LLC, Charlotte, N.C., is an e-business joint venture of Albemarle, Cytec Industries Inc., and GE Specialty Chemicals.

Buying machinery isn't quite as simple as a mouse click, but Atlanta-based Omnexus recently launched the first multi-supplier e-business site for plastics equipment. The Omnexus Equipment eMarketplace at www.omnexus.com allows customers to compare information and request quotations on machines from Engel, Demag Ergotech, and Van Dorn Demag. Users can search the suppliers' offerings by machine parameter, keyword, or supplier; view detailed product information and dimensional drawings; and submit RFQs.