If 2001 was the year that manufacturing and machining industries embraced the Internet in earnest (as all indications imply), then 2004 stands to be the year it will become engrained in them. More and more, the professional metalworking Web—suppliers' sites, Web sites of shops, search engines, research models—is becoming not just a preference but a requirement when information is needed to support the complexities of running and growing a machining business.

Chances are greater than ever that you've used the Internet for business today or this week. And if you haven't, then you should count on the fact that your partners, prospects, customers and competitors have.

Slowly but surely, the metalworking Web is coming to grips with the supreme issue brought about by your adoption of the Internet: The inquisitor, the researcher, the buyer—you—now control the flow of information. And while individual metalworking sites are sometimes used to locate and research alternatives and solutions, more often, you're using combinations of several sites to assemble or locate information.

This accelerating adoption of the Internet by machining professionals brings with it potentially great rewards for you as a researcher. And it also brings with it responsibilities for anyone with a manufacturing-related Web site—shops, suppliers and associations—to step up and provide a greater level of useful technical information for prospects visiting those sites for research.

These repositories of information on the metalworking Web can support and accelerate your research efforts, when used properly. The following suggestions, tips, sites and observations are presented to give you the best tools and expectations to maximize your efforts to find information online in 2004.

During 2004, shifting technical and economic landscapes in search technology will dramatically affect how well metalworking and manufacturing professionals find information to support their businesses.

Finding Information Through … Search Engines

There may be no greater sign of the impact of the Internet on manufacturing than the popularity and predominance of search engines. While the overall number of search engines has dwindled some since 2001, there are still numerous options from which to choose. And "choice" seems to define our search habits in 2004. According to recent data from the market research firm ComScore, we use two different search engines per month on average. The ComScore data also shows that while Google serves the majority of searches, others such as Yahoo! and Microsoft's MSN are gaining popularity as alternatives. In short, competition looks to define search engine developments in 2004.

Competition is already affecting what you find when you search. Some search models return unadulterated results; some place advertisers unmarked within the results; and others include only paid participants in their lists. Add to this the emergence of formidable competition to Google, as well as Google's own commercial ambitions for this year, and the potential for change is great.

Google Going Public? Up to this point, Google (www.google.com) has made its name as the leading search engine by developing a platform hard on results but rather soft on commercialization, at least to the eyes of the manufacturer searching for information. But once Google goes public as is expected in the first half of 2004, the scales may tilt toward a more profit-focused model that serves shareholders at the expense of pure "merit" results for searchers.

Paid Placements. Some search engines, in a grab for profits, are already doing "pay-for-placement." Paid positions are "mixed" in with legitimately indexed returns so that the user finds them indistinguishable from one another, thus enhancing the chance that the paying site will get visited more often.

Some paid placements in search engines are more obvious than others. Google goes to great lengths to identify paid positions through labeling and consistent locations on their SERPs (search engine return pages). Other search engines make their paid placements more difficult to distinguish from indexed returns.

Competition.Yahoo!(www.yahoo.com) is looking to regain its once-dominant search position by coming right at Google in the first half of 2004. Last year, Yahoo! purchased Inktomi (a search engine that rose and fell with the Internet flame-out in 2001) and Overture (a technology platform for managing paid placements in searches). Yahoo! has already "dumped" Google as its search technology provider and has introduced its own new search model based on those recent acquisitions. Microsoft is currently in the "beta" stages of developing its own indigenous search technology (beta.search.msn.com) after reports last year that Microsoft had pursued and failed at partnering with and/or flat-out buying Google. It is believed that Microsoft's search strategies are greatly influenced by its intent to integrate seamless search into the desktop through the company's next generation of operating software, which is currently code named Longhorn (due for launch in early 2006).

And Yahoo! has just taken its first step into blatant "pay for play" search results, proclaiming outright that it will present paid results within "indexed" results without indicating which is which.

So, why is this so important to those of us in and supportive of the machining professions today? For one thing, we have precious little time to waste determining the relevance or validity of returns while in the hyper-competitive, information-rich environment of 2004. Worse, when the very validity of a source is questionable or fails, the overall number of useful online machining resources that are linked to is reduced and we all lose. To further complicate matters, each of the formulae and algorithms developed and used by the "big three" search engines are diverging farther from each other, which will undoubtedly confuse the returns you'll see in the coming months. Add to that the requirements that divergent models place on the Web strategy of your business (try getting to the top of these search engines now)—and it's likely that finding and being found on the metalworking Web in 2004 will become more difficult, at best.

Personalization. The next stage of search technology development appears to center around personalizing our search efforts. Many sites that serve purchasing models (such as Amazon) have deployed personalization features for some time. As with those sites, a great deal of the motivation behind personalizing the search experience is coming from the emerging "cash grab" in search technology. On the surface, the personalized search experience is intended to inspire greater loyalty to individual search models. And it's widely believed by the search engine community that by developing technologies that allow us to personalize searches by specifying our individual preferences and saving them as "traits," we will get better results over time. But this model will require a huge leap in our relationships with search engines because of the privacy concerns that will follow.

Tool bar, like this one from Google, will become more prevalent in 2004, and they can help machining professionals manage their Web-based research more efficiently.

Search Engine Suggestions. Like any tool in your shop, there are tips and tricks to using search engines that can make your search for information more efficient and effective. Some of the ideas listed are commonplace; others are less so. All may offer you greater agility and skill when searching the Web.

Finding Information Through . . . Forums And Newsgroups

Whatever you call them (forums, bulletin boards, message boards, discussion groups, newsgroups or even chat), the numbers of online models that serve machining interests by allowing users to post questions, replies or comments to groups have grown significantly during the past 2 years.

The alt.machines.cnc newsgroup best represents how the forum/bulletin board format can serve metalworking research online. To access newsgroups, contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

But words from these pages 3 years ago still ring true for forums and newsgroups as they relate to the research-minded machining professional: "From advice to opinion, whether fact or fiction, if you're asking or answering, the information exchanged in these areas—especially in support of machining processes, product research or just seeking to help out—require scrutiny, finesse and a little healthy skepticism."

Like search engines, the growing numbers of machining-related forum models have resulted in more options and alternatives than were available 3 years ago. Savvy researchers can use some or all of these models in tandem to get greater exposure for a question or to get greater volumes of data.

Look Before You Leap. As always, this advice may be the best when it comes to discussion group models: Before you post a question, try searching first. Most forums have built-in searches that allow you to search across previous postings. Using this feature can serve particular types of research, such as those associated with machine comparisons, assessing CAD/CAM software, researching alternative processes, and others, quite well. And because there are more online models available, that means there are more repositories of metalworking information for you to search across.

Searching across forums before posting a question can also minimize the number of often-repeated questions and reduce the amount of "post pollution" found on many online discussion groups. Overall, this practice can make everyone's experiences in forums more productive.

Lurking—observing posts without participating—is a preferred method for many machining researchers, and it may offer you advantages over active participation. Finding a particularly useful forum directly related to your specific need (for example, a forum on the Web site of a software company you're evaluating) may allow you to learn about opinions or applications more efficiently.

Posting On Forums. The only successful posts are those that get useful answers; those that don't, aren't. It's that simple. But if you're going to participate, you should keep these points in mind to maximize the chances you'll have a rewarding experience:

Once located, alter the address in this field. Using my e-mail address as an example (ajsweatt@mmsonline.com), include numbers that are not part of the address in both the name and the domain portions of the address (aj4sweatt@mms4online.com, ajs8weatt@mmsonl8ine.com and so on). This alteration will prevent anyone from "lifting" your real address. To allow for participants in a newsgroup to contact you directly (if you would like that), simply add a line at the end of each message you post that reads, "To e-mail, remove both ‘4s' (or both ‘8s') from my e-mail address."

Current Metalworking Forums. The following list of online forums that are open to the general metalworking public represents just some of those available for machining professionals. To get to a more comprehensive list, see the Learn More box at the end of this article.

Finding Information Through . . . Emerging Web-Based Research Models

Online models such as SourceApp.com represent the types of creativity that the 2004 online machining community requires. They open up more efficient channels between information retrievers and providers and allow for more effective exchanges between enterprises.

The broadness of the Internet often makes it difficult to recognize or find applications that are pushing the envelope. Some of these models are stand-alone models represented by individual sites. Other emerging models may be evolving across several sites that serve a specific area of commerce or context.

The metalworking Web of 2004 is not without its pioneers. Some are just now recognizing their potential as the manufacturing community gradually adopts them. Others are so young that they do not have traction, but they deserve a visit, encouragement or your attention as they grow. Regardless of the current standing of each of these models, they represent the overall creativity that has defined manufacturing as an industry through the years, and they hint at what is possible.

SourceApp(www.sourceapp.com)— This very new model and site is setting some very lofty goals for itself and, in turn, for the online metalworking community. Founded by a group of northern-Ohio manufacturing professionals with years of experience, SourceApp looks to take applications and process research to a new level. Its site appears quite simple, but it aspires to serve the complex, ever-shifting relationships between "consumers" (those with questions about a part, application or process) and "manufacturers" (suppliers with the wherewithal, experience and products to provide solutions). The simple description of SourceApp is this: A consumer with an issue (a tooling question, process problem, or other concern) submits it to a broad or narrow collection of participating SourceApp manufacturers proficient in the area(s) of machining expertise. The manufacturers may then respond to the consumer with their proposed solutions or collaborate toward an acceptable resolution together. But SourceApp has also included distributors in its model, allowing them to participate in the system either as consumers (on behalf of a client) or as manufacturers (to provide applications solutions to end users). Behind the scenes, there is a lot going on at SourceApp as it moves toward a full launch in the coming months. According to company sources, there has been strong interest from many manufacturers who are willing to participate. Registration is said to be required for all participants, and work continues to build organizational and measurement tools for all participants within the SourceApp model. This model stands to redefine how research is conducted online by machining professionals.

Industry-Specific Search/Marketplaces—Online RFQ marketplaces have been hit from both sides during the past 2 years. Companies that have successfully manipulated those channels to develop new customers have revered these marketplaces—albeit quietly. The less successful have vilified them, sometimes focusing on them the frustrations that shifting markets and offshore competition bring. Nonetheless, these models have survived and are either developing or inspiring a compelling, new adaptation on this theme—industry-specific search. The goal of these models has always been to put buyers of industrial product or discrete parts manufacturing together with suppliers, and that meant making it easier for one to search for and find the other. And that feature is being taken to new heights in 2004. GlobalSpec (www.globalspec.com) will launch on March 25, 2004, an updated version of its site that is heavy on search, making it easier for buyers and specifiers to locate suppliers. As a matter of fact, the GlobalSpec folks are creating what may be the first search engine that returns only manufacturing-related results from relevant Web sites. But GlobalSpec is going beyond that model to provide access to what it calls the "engineering web" through partnerships with top line information providers—such as applications data, patents, standards, statistics, and materials information. GlobalSpec is also actively pursuing partnerships with magazines and other online models through its SpecSearch initiative, which is intended to drive better-defined buyers into the GlobalSpec database. MFG.com (www.MFG.com) has recently launched MfgShops(www.mfgshops.com), an online service designed to allow buyers to drill down into market segments to locate potential suppliers. Thomas Register (www.thomasregister.com), which knows a thing or two about serving the manufacturing market, is rumored to be developing a search-centric, online behemoth to streamline buyer-supplier research. These developments are of great importance to your business, because these emerging search channels will be where your prospects will be going more often to find suppliers—and you.

GlobalSpec, long known for its online directory-based platform, is branching into search, applications data, specs and other information challens relevant to the design and engineering communities.

Online Metalworking Training—Shopfloor training has always been crucial to the success of the manufacturing enterprise, so it makes perfect sense that it is one of the most natural real-world applications to transition online. Few functions of the enterprise are better served online than training, because the student or administrator can customize the curricula and the pace of consumption. ToolingU (www.toolingu.com) has been growing its hands-on, shopfloor-focused training model since 2001. ToolingU's list of "classes" has grown significantly during the past year, and its combination of curriculum development, enhancements to assessment- and administration-oriented tools and savvy partnerships have ToolingU poised as the leading industrial training site in 2004. Its successes are leading others to develop unique online training applications of their own. For example, oxygenED (o2ed.com) is a relatively new training portal that stresses customization in its training program development, as stated by its tagline, "Just-in-time training for a just-in-time world." Make no mistake, despite oxygenED's generic name and URL, this site is all about manufacturing and machining. Not only are curricula customized for specific processes, but oxygenED also says it can and will develop machine-specific training programs or elements. Another unique characteristic of oxygenED's metalworking training model is its use of animation. Following the "samples" link on the site will eventually put you in front of a collection of three machine-specific training modules that efficiently portray the core of oxygenED's delivery methods. Just as these models inspire others to create better industry-wide training models for manufacturers, they should also inspire manufacturing companies to develop and expand their own indigenous training models in similar ways.

Finding Information Through . . . Centralized Metalworking Web Sites

Centralized sites (those that act as "conduits" to solutions or repositories of information online) are available in many forms in 2004. Along with the other channels in this article, centralized sites can enable "research by comparison," providing ample resources for finding alternative techniques, applications or products. These "hubs" can be broken down into three categories: associations, publications and specialized sites.

Associations. These professional groups can offer a surprisingly specific level of information to the metalworking researcher, depending on the creativity you're willing to apply. On the surface, many organizations' Web sites are built to serve their members or constituencies, but the ancillary benefits they offer may actually help you when you're researching online. For example, pay a visit to the American Gear Makers Association's (AMGA) Web site (www.agma.org). If your business makes or uses gears in assemblies, the site's directory—primarily built to connect buyers of gear-related products with the association's members—may help you to assemble lists of prospects that may have a need for your services.

The Web sites that serve machining more directly, such as the National Association of Manufacturers (www.nam.org) and the National Tooling & Machining Association (www.ntma.org), not only contain deeper repositories of information to help with the sales and marketing sides of a machining enterprise, but they also offer promotional opportunities through their sites' own databases and directories.

The member or product directories of Web sites for AMT—The Association of Manufacturing Technology (www.amtonline.org) and the American Machine Tool Distributors Association (www.amtda.org) present outstanding compliments to machine tool-based Web research. Each presents up-to-date contact and descriptive info for its members—the manufacturers and resellers.

Calendars on many association Web sites can offer up useful information alternatives. Many present technical programs that are affordable and quite useful for specific applications or training issues (the Society of Manufacturing Engineers site at www.sme.org presents an outstanding example). Other association sites that are seemingly unrelated to an immediate research need might turn out to be more useful than expected; the site for the Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society (www.isa.org) not only contains an astonishing depth of technical content, but it also offers links to nearly 200 of its local chapters around the world—many of which have their own Web sites with useful technical information.

Publications. Because it's 2004, it is more than likely that your favorite trade publication has a Web site. To avoid becoming too self-serving here, suffice it to say that these sites may offer excellent starting or complimentary points for professional research because, as a minimum, most present their magazine content in archives that are searchable or may be browsed in some fashion.

Personalizing Your Own Metalworking Web

Amidst the cacophony of search engine proliferation and divergence, metalworking information forum evolution, manufacturing process and product data emerging in the Web sites of suppliers, shops and publications, one fact gets lost: Never before have machining professionals had immediate access to more useful information.

Consider this edition of the Guide to Metalworking On The Internet your roadmap and owner's manual to the 2004 metalworking Web.