July is SELECTION AND APPLICATION  MONTH.  Hey, better then hearing more about the law right?  How ready were you for that to end?  This month we keep it simple. We search the manufacturers websites daily and evaluate them based on clarity and accessibility of their recommended product applications.  Who provides the best information to the End User that demands easy to read overviews?  We found that suppliers have organized their product information in a way that makes a lot of sense - to them, but that makes no sense to the End User that is investigating their products for the first time.  This 'top design' is cumbersome to useless to End Users trying to find a metalworking fluid recommendation to align with the information the End User has in hand: materials and machine operations.  This is where the organization should start, but it seldom does.

MWFMAG has has assembled the following evaluation to grade the websites of the metalworking fluid suppliers.  Note, we are evolving the review process as we get experience comparing all of these sites, so our grading is about as consistent than the data provided by the MWF suppliers.

PAGE TEST: (3 points possible) Did they provide a listing of all products on a single page, or are End Users expected to flip back and forth to compare products? Scoring is 3 possible.  1 point if all products are listed on a single page; Plus 1 point if that page includes material and operation recommedations; Plus 1 point for links to PDS's or MSDS's on that page.

CLICKS TEST: (minus however deep they buried the information) How far from the home page must the End User travel to get the highest level of published product detail?  Minus one for each click required.

CHART TEST: (3 possible) Do they have a chart that aligns products with materials and operations?  Recommended and not recommenced?  Including other data?

LINKS TEST: (2 possible) 1 for the MSDS's.  1 point for a link to a detail PDS.

CLASSIFICATION TEST:  Three part evaluation helps us see if they are helping understand their products, or just blowing smoke.
   ORGANIZATION: (3 points possible) We like products by Material and Operation.  These are known constraints, where formulation might by negotiable.  1 point for material recomendations for all products; 1 point for operation recommendations; and 1 for formulation family.
   DETAIL:  (3 points possible) Now that we are this far, do they tell us more than the color of their product?
   UNIFORMITY: (3 points possible) Do they provide the same detail for all products, or is it a random narrative that makes comparison difficult.  Worse yet, is it repetitive general narrative that is just annoying.

Here's the Leader Board - updated daily (almost), which proves how easy it is to make a freggin chart:

BEST IN CLASS:
Blaser*
Henkel
Oelheld
Fuchs
Rustlick

NEXT BEST:
Cimcool
Oemeta

NEEDS A LOT OF WORK:
Everybody else

* not previously published