Milacron Launches
E-Commerce Web Site for
100,000+ Smaller
Metalworking Shops
CINCINNATI, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Milacron Inc. (NYSE: MZ - news) today launched an
e-commerce site -- www.milpro.com -- to give the more than 100,000 smaller U.S.
metalworking businesses a new, easy-to-use and secure way of selecting and purchasing and
applying Milacron's more than 50,000 metalworking products.
Known as MILPRO™ Your Internet Tool Crib™, the site also gives customers interactive
problem-solving and technical assistance. Milacron believes it is the first large-scale,
business-to-business commercial web site for heavy industry.
''For the first time ever, this large and growing group of smaller customers will have immediate
access to all our products and a level of technical service beyond that supplied today to even the
largest customers. They will be provided with the expertise to correctly choose and apply the best
tools, abrasives and metalworking fluids for their specific needs,'' said Alan Shaffer, Milacron
group vice president for industrial products.
At the same time, Shaffer said, Milacron is also launching a new national network of MILPRO
trucks -- Your Mobile Tool Crib™ -- to bring the same products and services directly to smaller
metalworking shops on a weekly basis. 3M and Snap-On Tool's industrial tool subsidiaries,
J.H. Williams and Sioux Tools, are partnering with Milacron to sell their coated abrasives, tapes,
adhesives, hand and power tools and other supplies through the MILPRO Mobile Tool Crib
truck network.
''These new sales channels are both complementary to and integrated with our direct sales force,
independent distributors and industrial catalogs; another e-commerce first, we believe,'' Shaffer
said. ''You can use MILPRO.com to select the proper product and determine your machine
set-up and then choose to purchase from us via our direct sales force, any of our distributors,
any catalog carrying our products, from a MILPRO truck or, of course, right on line.''
''What sets this site apart is the massive technical and commercial services we have incorporated
in it in an extremely user-friendly system,'' Shaffer added. ''Milacron is the only company in the
world that makes cutting tools, metalworking fluids and grinding wheels. We've put it all
together with MILPRO in the fullest possible way to deliver to the customer complete processing
capability.''
MILPRO.com is open to anyone for review of Milacron's products, as well as access to all
technical assistance features and the commercial services that are designed to help customers
grow their business. Registration is required only to make an on-line purchase.
It took 120 Milacron employees working with key service providers a year to develop and
implement MILPRO.com and the MILPRO Mobile Tool Cribs, Shaffer said. Participating in
constructing the web site were GlobalLink New Media of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Open
Market, Inc. of Burlington, Mass. and EMC Corporation [NYSE:EMC - news] of Hopkinton,
Mass.
Among the features of MILPRO.com are:
The MILPRO Wizard™, an interactive application that matches product to application,
solves process problems and advises on proper set-up of the customer's machine tool.
OnLine Catalog containing entries for more than 50,000 products.
QuoteHelper™, an interactive application to assist metalworkers in developing and
estimating bids on metalworking jobs to their customers.
Job Shop Mall™ -- a free classified directory for metalworking shops to post their
services. Searchable by geographic location and service description.
Machinery Flea Market™ another free searchable directory where shops, machinery
dealers and machine builders post machinery of all types that they wish to sell; new or
used.
Technical Information -- lots of it. From metalworking formula to reference tables to
handy calculators to on-line Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for Milacron
metalworking fluids.
Customer Service for account information, on-line order tracking, feedback and on-line
help.
News and Events section.
FAQ -- Frequently asked questions
''Features like the MILPRO Wizard and QuoteHelper have never before been available to
customers of any size,'' Shaffer said. ''If we dedicate a top service engineer full time to an
automotive plant, we're providing that customer with as much as 1,800 hours of expertise per
year. Through MILPRO.com, a small five-man shop with one PC connected to the Internet has
up to 8,760 hours of expert service available per year -- five times more than we can provide our
largest customers. A shop with 20 PCs would have 175,200 hours per year of expertise
available; two orders of magnitude greater service.''
''With the help of Open Market and its expertise in e-commerce, we believe we have created a
friendly, easy-to-use and secure system of order processing, routing, billing and customer
service. The operative words here are 'have created.' MILPRO.com is not some futuristic plan or
projection. It's up and running and fully functional today. You can log on right now, get expert
advice and buy stuff,'' Shaffer concluded.
The MILPRO web site provides access to all the products of Milacron's industrial products
group, including WidiaValenite tools and metalworking fluids, Brubaker Tool, Weldon, Fastcut,
Data Flute CNC, Minnesota Twist Drill, New England Tap as well as Milacron Cimcool
metalworking fluids and grinding wheels.
Milacron Inc. is a world leader in plastics processing technologies and industrial consumable
products for metalworking. With estimated 1998 sales from continuing operations of $1.5
billion, the company has major manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe and 11,000
employees worldwide. Milacron's plastics technologies include injection molding machines,
blow molding equipment, extrusion systems and wear items, mold bases, mold-making
equipment and mold components, and aftermarket parts and services. Industrial products include
carbide metalcutting inserts, insert holders, carbide and high-speed steel round tools,
metalworking fluids, chemical and tool management services, precision grinding wheels, carbide
wear parts and industrial magnets. The company's stock is traded on NYSE under the symbol
MZ.
SOURCE: Milacron Inc. |
