Imagine that your job as a procurement manager involved sourcing your company's needed resources from 500 different marketplaces. If you needed steel, you would go to a steel marketplace. If you needed gypsum, you would go to the gypsum marketplace, and so on.

Seems absurd, but that's what some early settlers in the online marketplace frontier once offered -- a niche so narrow that it drove them out of business. After all, normal people don't go to an egg store for eggs, a flour store for flour and a cheese store for cheese. They go to a supermarket that offers myriad choices and even has the added convenience of banking, dry cleaning, florist and photo services.

For those online marketplaces that understood the big picture, the reward has been longevity and prosperity.

Forecast: What's In Demand? The Freedonia Group Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm, offers demand projections on numerous direct and indirect materials. Reports are available for purchase via the company's Web site: www.freedoniagroup.com. Injection molded plastics: U.S. demand is projected to grow 2.8% annually to 16 billion pounds in 2010. Packaging machinery: Global demand is expected to expand 4.9% per year through 2010 to more than $33 billion. Displaying 1 of 3 Page:<< Back · Next >> View article on one page Print Email Discuss Bookmark Digg Newsvine RSS Recent Items in Operations Teens Show Little Interest in Manufacturing Chinese Policies Continue to Undermine U.S. Manufacturing Sector Weekly Jobless Claims Flat Singapore Says Recession's Over U.S. Leading Indicators Up for Seventh Month in Row December 2009 Issue Subscribe Now Buy a link now The Inaugural Class In some way, these 10 outstanding people likely have touched all our lives. China's Undercutting the U.S. The latest report from a Congressional panel warns against Chinese trade, cyber activities. First Up Bold, concerted action is needed to put the manufacturing sector back on track. Plant Tours Best Practices on Display: Photo highlights from two IW Excellence in Action plant tours Integrating Your SCM with People, Processes For perhaps too many manufacturers, supply chain management software is an underutilized resource. New Webinars How a Chemical Manufacturer Boosted Safety, Operational Excellence, and Efficiency with Mobility Best Practices in Supply Chain Execution: AMR's Insight, SAP's Vision and Sony's Innovation Future of Manufacturing Study, Insights and Warnings: A Roundtable of Industry Experts Weigh In More Webinars » New White Papers From Lean Enterprise to Value Innovator: Using value innovation to identify and capture new growth opportunities. Four Capabilities Required for 21st Century Sales and Operations Planning Front Office Lean - Taking Lean Manufacturing Beyond the Shop Floor The Future of Manufacturing 2009 Supplier Viability and the Threat to Your Business More White Papers » Will you change your employee health coverage if a Health Care bill passes? Yes No Unsure until bill is passed Comment in the IW Forums. Leadership & Strategy | Operations | Economics & Public Policy Technology & Innovation | Rankings | Related Knowledge Directory Subscription Services | Advertising | Terms of Use | Privacy Notice | Contact Us Copyright© 1998-2009 Penton Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Technical questions or bug reports? E-mail webmaster@industryweek.com