The Chain is a new online community platform developed by the Society of Plastics Engineers to enhance networking and collaboration with plastics professionals around the world. It provides tools for individuals to share information, ask for help, discuss problems, exchange lessons learned, search for information… or simply stay connected with colleagues in the industry.

People logging into The Chain are given access to all of these features and more—and they’ve been joining and logging in at a fast rate since the platform officially came online in early 2015. So Plastics Engineering asked two key players behind the creation of The Chain for an update on its progress:

• Scott Owens is the president and CEO of Chemtrusion, Inc., a plastics compounder headquartered in Houston, Texas, USA. He’s been a member of SPE for nearly 30 years and is currently SPE’s senior vice president. Owens has served as the committee chair leading the efforts to launch The Chain,
  recognizing the potential of social networking to enhance the membership experience and improve overall operations of the Society.
• Willem De Vos became CEO of SPE in January 2012. Previously, as a member of SPE, he had served as chair-elect of SPE’s European Thermoforming Division (he speaks Dutch, English, French, German, and some Italian). De Vos came to SPE from Vitalo, a leading global supplier of plastics packaging and thermoformed plastic components, where he had been CEO since October 2009.

Plastics Engineering: As of the beginning of March, roughly how many people are connected using The Chain? How quickly is it growing? And which “Place” in The Chain is the most popular thus far?

Owens: To date more than 3,000 members have signed in to use The Chain. The number of users has been growing at a very steady rate of 10% per week. “Tech Talk” has been the most popular Place for members to connect with other members via The Chain. We are very excited that our idea of creating a networking community specifically designed for people in the plastics industry to connect has become a reality.

De Vos: Tech Talk is by far our most popular forum. Plastics professionals from around the world are coming together to discuss current issues felt by many engineers, exchanging ideas on how to tackle these problems moving forward. As Tech Talk becomes more well-known and popular I can see this as the premier source of information and trouble-shooting for plastics professionals around the world.

PE: In Tech Talk, what kinds of discussions are emerging? Which seem to be most active, drawing the most responses?

Owens: Tech Talk is proving to be the Place where our members can go for help solving problems, making recommendations, and general industry knowledge on a variety of technical topics. There are currently numerous ongoing discussions covering subject matter ranging from material applications, testing methods, and operational challenges to industry innovations.

De Vos: There are a variety of questions and discussions going on. All have a technical or technological nature related to polymer and plastics processes and materials. Some people look for solutions to their problems, others search for advice, others are looking for sources of materials or additives or even equipment with a specific capability. I like to [describe] it as a “mountain” of knowledge with a world-wide network underneath—so just like Moses went up to the mountain for advice, any plastics professional can tap into The Chain mountain for any technological counsel.

PE: Can you describe an example of a particularly active, recent discussion topic? Why do you think it was so popular?

Owens: The most popular subject to date has been the sharing of member experience related to the application of a common industry test—melt flow rate—as a method for quality control. The topic is closely related to an earlier discussion on “Melt Flow Rate Correlation.” In that case, a user was seeking to draw on the experience of others to determine if the test method could be used to correlate target end-product attributes. Together, these subjects represent the strength The Chain has to offer: users coming together, sharing their experiences, and inspiring others to consider related topics, as even more users share their experiences.

User Benefits

PE: Are the individuals using The Chain now primarily SPE members, or do the discussions include professionals outside of the SPE core membership?

De Vos: During its initial launch in early 2015, The Chain was only open to SPE members, so all of the discussions thus far have been amongst active SPE members. At the NPE show in March, SPE launched a free “e-Membership”—available to any professional with an interest in plastics and polymers. The e-Membership gives an individual full access to Tech Talk and SPE Café, and read-only access to the Career Central forum. All of these benefits are free as part of the SPE e-Membership.

Individuals also have the option of a Premium membership, which provides full access to all of the forums in The Chain, access to the largest technical library in the plastics industry, networking access to 20,000+ contacts worldwide, registration discounts to SPE conferences, subscription to Plastics Engineering magazine, and so much more, for the traditional yearly rate.

PE: How do discussions on The Chain compare with other plastics group discussions like those on LinkedIn®?

Owens: There is no question that The Chain offers a superior experience to its users. The operating platform used to create The Chain enabled us to establish a number of forums, known as Places. Thus far those Places include Tech Talk, The SPE Café, Career Central, Leadership Lane, and Campus Connection. [Professional] moderation of discussion traffic within The Chain ensures that content is aligned with each Place’s intended purpose.

Additional enhancements provided by The Chain’s platform include the ability to contribute to a discussion from within the application or by email response; share information via discussions, blogs, and standard file formats; search content across the member’s communities; customize contact information; etc. All of these features are available to SPE members at no cost.

De Vos: I like to make the following comparison: LinkedIn is a good platform to locate fellow professionals in your network, but The Chain is the ideal platform to find relevant answers and solutions for your everyday business and also to connect with fellow professionals on a more meaningful level.

LinkedIn is used a lot by HR professionals to find people or by people to find new jobs. In the LinkedIn discussion groups there are a lot of commercial postings of events and new products, which are not often useful. With The Chain, and more specifically with Tech Talk, the focus is on moderated and significant technology discussions which prevent advertisement postings, so people are not “disturbed” with commercial messages. Moreover, you can follow those discussions or technical topics you have interest in and enhance your skill set as a plastics professional.

PE: Are there any significant challenges felt by those who moderate the discussion platforms?

Owens: Beyond the simple goal of ensuring that content is driven to the appropriate Place within The Chain, substantial effort is necessary [on behalf of our moderators] to ensure a balance when it comes to commercialization. Our goal is to offer our users the ability to seek answers to their real-world problems without being overwhelmed by general marketing propaganda.

Social Connectivity

 PE: What about the more “social” uses of The Chain—the casual exchanges (in SPE Café, etc.)? How are people using these Places thus far?

Owens: The Chain was designed with the user in mind. Its structure provides users specific forums to request and share information as well as meet other users. Unlike other platforms, The Chain uses what we know about our members to connect them with others of similar interests. For example, all SPE Leaders have access to Leadership Lane—a place designed to share best practices and drive solutions to common problems faced by our leadership volunteers.

Like other platforms, The Chain provides a comprehensive and searchable member directory linked to each community Place. Users can build networks and share information directly with others by creating their own personal contact list based on other users of The Chain.

De Vos: One of our original tactics to keep Tech Talk free of commercial and social talk was to create a social forum where plastics professionals can be more social. In the SPE Café forum, The Chain users can chat about virtually any topic, and in the Career Central forum you will find job openings, resumes, and sound HR advice to help enhance your career aspirations.

PE: Is there much student activity yet on The Chain? What kinds of interactions are possible?

Owens: We are pleased to announce the recent launch of Campus Connection, a Place designed to specifically address the needs and interests of our student members. Campus Connection was created with the understanding that our students likely have a need to build their general awareness of the plastics industry. Inside Campus Connection, student members throughout the world can connect with academic and industry professionals, and fellow students.

De Vos: The Chain is also ideal for students. With so many engineering programs around the world, students can benefit from The Chain’s interactive and responsive design by asking questions about technical projects, core engineering curriculum, job prospects, and more—[to] students and professors who have the resources to provide sound answers. The Chain will also be used by our SPE Student Chapters and the SPE Next Generation Advisory Board (NGAB) to share best practices, pictures, and other resources on how to bring our students and young professionals together.

Extending the Links

PE: What new changes should we be looking for in The Chain?

Owens: We have a very exciting future planned for The Chain. In addition to the continued growth of fully searchable user-generated content, we have plans to expand the number of Places based on user needs and interests. We expect the use of The Chain to grow rapidly as we begin to promote awareness and interest of activities held in conjunction with our numerous conferences held throughout the world.

Additionally, we hope that our technical and geographic affiliate groups around the world take advantage of The Chain’s user-friendly platform to manage their group activities. The goal of The Chain is wholly consistent with SPE’s overall goal of being the “go-to” place for knowledge and information about the plastics industry.

De Vos: With the official opening to the world-wide plastics industry, we expect this platform to grow exponentially in the coming years as the reference platform for plastics technology. We expect that in the near future people will say: “You have a technical issue in plastics? Go to The Chain and you’ll find the answer!”