The ''Thomas Register of American Manufacturers'', now Thomas, is an online platform for supplier discovery and product sourcing in the US and Canada. It was once known as the "big green books" and "Thomas Registry", and was a multi-volume directory of industrial product information covering

distributors A distributor is an electric and mechanical device used in the ignition system of older spark-ignition engines. The distributor's main function is to route electricity from the ignition coil to each spark plug at the correct time. Design A ...

manufacturers Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

and service companies within thousands of industrial categories that is now published on Thomasnet.

History

The books were first published in 1898 by Harvey Mark Thomas as ''Hardware and Kindred Trades. ''In their heyday, ''Thomas Register of American Manufacturers'' was a 34-volume, 3 section buying guide offering sourcing information on industrial products and services, along with comprehensive specifications and detailed product information from thousands of manufacturers. The Thomas Regional Directory Company began as a division of Thomas Publishing in 1976. Thomas Regional Regional Industrial Buying Guides provided information in print and on CD-ROM, on local OEMs, distributors, MRO services and other custom manufacturing services in 19 regional editions covering much of the United States. Thomas Register and Thomas Regional were available online from the mid 1990s. The company stopped publishing its print products in 2006. Thomas moved its database

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

as Thomasnet, published and maintained by Thomas Industrial Network, one of Thomas’ five business units. Thomasnet has expanded to provide not only product and company information, but also online catalogs,

computer-aided design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

( CAD) drawings,

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

press releases A press release (also known as a media release) is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing new information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public releas ...

and

blogs A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

. In December 2021, Thomas was acquired by

Xometry Xometry is an Just-in-time manufacturing, on-demand industrial parts marketplace based in North Bethesda, Maryland, United States. Its CEO and co-founder is Randy Altschuler. Its customers include BMW, NASA, Robert Bosch GmbH, Bosch, Dell, and G ...

Thomasnet

Thomasnet is an information and technology company based in New York City. In April 2006 the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

named ''Thomasnet.com'' as one of it
25 Best of Reference
sources for the reference librarian, and is currently listed in thei
Best of the Web
list for Industry Information. Since November 2010, Thomasnet has been a founding partner of GlobalTrade.net, a marketplace for international trade service providers.

Thomasnet News

Thomasnet News is a product of Thomas Publishing Company, LLC. Thomasnet News was introduced with “the mission of delivering timely, new industrial product information covering the whole range of products …” It manually reviews press releases submitted through the website and publishes with a small description in one of 51 different categories. In 2000, Thomasnet News released Industry Market Trends (IMT), its first Journal. In the ''IMT'', editors published editorials, interviews, and long form journalism on issues ranging from career skills, developments in the industry, and discussions with leading experts. Soon after, IMT Green & Clean was launched in response to the growing interest in green technology and its impact on the world. In 2011, the IMT Machining Journal was launched followed by the IMT Fluid & Gas Flow Journal, the IMT Career Journal, and the IMT Procurement Journal.

Research

Starting in 2010, Thomasnet began reaching out to its database of manufacturers to get a better understanding of where the community was, where their shortcomings were, and where they saw the landscape going in the future. This yearly survey is called the Industry Market Barometer.

References

{{reflist Promotion and marketing communications Marketing books Directories