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Material sourcing can be an inefficient, challenging and expensive process. Especially when undertaken by a small organization without teams in place to search out what materials fit, the task can be especially daunting. Adding to the challenge is the wealth of flexible materials now available; i.e. smart materials, conductive materials, disposable varieties, materials with a long wear time on skin or for diagnostics on a patient or athlete.

Designed to take inefficiencies and challenge out of the equation, Boyd Technologies created Sourcebook’s Premium R&D subscription, a comprehensive material sourcing service that provides flexibility and considerable value to early stage projects. Targeting small organizations and business units that need to access materials and samples quickly, Premium R&D delivers access to more than 7,200 materials, early-stage risk mitigation, the ability for side-by-side comparison of material options and, sometimes most importantly, having samples in hand the day after requesting them.

Premium R&D

Ideal for small teams and companies that are in the research and development phase of a project and must quickly identify, compare and sample materials, the Premium R&D subscription provides for a short-term, low-cost, single project commitment, yet enables you to search, compare and sample thousands of flexible materials instantly. Premium R&D delivers full access to the Sourcebook Sample Library, Material Finder, Knowledge Center, Supplier Profiles and support from a full-time Sourcebook Engineer for your project.

Material Finder

Material Finder is a customized Sourcebook platform tool that takes users through initial steps that narrow down search results quickly and accurately, while leaving plenty of options to choose from. Dynamically populated filters reveal the most important property fields for each unique search. At this stage, resulting materials can be compared side-by-side and samples are easily ordered.

Sample Library

The Sourcebook sample library contains the physical samples of all the materials you’ll find within the database and access to it dramatically improves the time it takes to identify and receive sample materials. Sample requests are always shipped overnight, rather than waiting the typical two to three months to access samples, enabling on-track projects and rapid decision making.

Knowledge Center

Expand your knowledge with access to the latest resources and technical developments in material science through articles, white papers, webinars, infographics, tutorials, a wide-range of additional resources and an in-depth glossary of terms. Guest-contributed content is also available from industry-leading experts in advanced flexible materials, with a focus on the intersection of flexible materials and their technical applications.

Supplier Profiles

Sourcebook Premium R&D gives your team access to up-to-date supplier profiles that include information on the types of materials offered, geographic locations and their unique capabilities.

Sourcebook Engineers

One of the most important aspects and key values of Premium R&D is the access to Sourcebook Engineers. The assigned engineer supplements your internal materials sourcing team at a fraction of the cost of adding full-time staff. Sourcebook Engineers support your material sourcing and supplier management needs full-time. Our team of Sourcebook Engineers is deeply involved with the qualification and ongoing relationship with all Sourcebook material suppliers and is therefore uniquely suited to support your sourcing and development projects and ongoing supplier management. The engineers are also privy to the latest technology and material innovations that have yet to find their way into Sourcebook, yet may be just the solution you’re looking for.

Premium R&D platform elements combine to offer a great way to expand and control your R&D effort without the cost and frustration of reinventing the proverbial material-sourcing wheel, rapidly and with improved results.

The Role of Boyd Technologies

Boyd Technologies is an expert in advanced flexible materials. We work with composites, extruded nets, film, foams, foils, membranes, nonwovens, technical papers and technical textiles. Our capabilities are focused on the use of these flexible materials in such applications as biopharmaceutical filtration, advanced wound care and power storage and delivery.

Boyd takes the role of facilitator for our subscribers. We effectively and efficiently partner with subscribers and deliver access to information in an industry where it’s difficult for most companies to even begin to keep up. Boyd maintains samples of more than 7,200 materials, development processes, supply chains and in-depth knowledge, and we provide it at a fraction of the cost that you would typically spend on your material sourcing effort.

While material sourcing continues to gain in importance, personnel providing it are either not available, are beyond the corporate budget or are unable to keep pace with our staff that is entrenched in the complete end-to-end process each and every day.