UL Solutions announced updates to the Prospector search engine, created to make it easier to find and compare materials and suppliers in the plastics industry. These updates come at a time when many companies are evaluating the materials they use due to increasing pressure from stakeholders to balance the impact on the environment and rising costs. Prospector aims to enable product developers to accelerate their innovation process, helping manufacturers enhance the quality and safety of their consumer products. “The rising expectations and demands for environmental, social and governance reporting combined with the impacts of inflation throughout the global supply chain are driving manufacturers to consider all potential options when it comes to plastics and other materials – said Pam Walker, director of supply chain and product insights at UL Solutions –. Prospector from UL Solutions implemented substantial updates for the plastics industry to empower manufacturers with the information and technical specifications they need to make critical decisions when selecting materials that can affect their products, the environment and their bottom line”. Prospector combines the information and application platforms of Innovadex, a specialized chemicals and food ingredient search engine, and Integrated Design Engineering Systems (IDES), an online resource for plastics and metals. IDES and Innovadex were launched separately by engineers and scientists who recognized the information exchange inefficiencies between suppliers and product manufacturers. “Featuring technical information for tens of thousands of products and the ability to connect with suppliers around the world – UL Solutions highlights –, Prospector provides an efficient way to find many different kinds of materials or ingredients. Physical property data, technical specifications, compliance records and more are included in detailed product profiles within the search engine. The service adds to and refreshes its repository of technical product data with daily database updates”.
