Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Who is the architect of the ALERTdata.com web site and the ALERTdata Blueprints?
  2. Who are the people behind Thinking Cap Solutions, Inc?
  3. How much does it cost to become a member of ALERTdata.com and gain access to the ALERTdata Blueprints?
  4. Do you publish any other information products?
  5. Do you provide forecasts?
  6. Where are you located?
  7. What are your office hours?
  8. How can I contact someone for more information?

Who is the architect of the ALERTdata.com web site and the ALERTdata Blueprints?

The ALERTdata.com website and ALERTdata Blueprints for Supply Chain Managersare products of Thinking Cap Solutions, Inc. Formed in 1994, the company’s mission has been to provide front-line business decision makers with timely and reliable expert information about emerging price, cost and margin trends. Thinking Cap Solutions’ breakthrough has been its proprietary industry cost escalation alert modeling system, called the Leveraged Metric Intelligence (LMIQ) model. Focusing first on purchasing professionals with a monthly report called ICE-Alert, now the company has pioneered a publishing system which allows the ALERTdata Blueprints to be updated and posted online every month for each of 450 distinct U.S. manufacturing industries. (Services and other non-manufacturing industries will be added later in 2008.) Thinking Cap Solutions’ goal remains to help you stay on top of the changing risks and rewards in your supply chain.

Who are the people behind Thinking Cap Solutions, Inc.?

The company founders are Victor Maliar and Elizabeth Baatz. Victor is the lead economist behind ALERTdata Blueprints. Elizabeth is the chief editor and company spokesperson. For more detailed history of Thinking Cap Solutions, Inc. see the 'About Us' page.

How much does it cost to become a member of ALERTdata.com and to gain access to ALERTdata Blueprints?

Thinking Cap Solutions offers an annual membership subscription for individuals as well as corporate subscription packages with multi-user access to ALERTdata.com at fixed and affordable rates. For the advanced corporate subscriber, more comprehensive information packages (which include forecasts and EXCEL databases) also are available. ALERTdata.com is not yet enabled for online transactions, so for now send us an email and we’ll make sure you receive a subscription order form, or if you prefer, someone will call to take your order and get you started. 

Do you publish any other information products?

Yes, Thinking Cap Solutions also publishes:

  • ICE-Alert — monthly summary of key core industries from the ALERTdata Blueprints collection, includes Buyer’s Briefing (Victor Maliar’s analysis of recent inflation events) and EXCEL advance tables
  • BasicIQ Reports — updated monthly, this is a collection of detailed charts, tables and EXCEL database files available for every 6-digit NAICS industry in the LMIQ model)
  • ICE-Alert Outlook Supplement— updated periodically, this is an EXCEL file with quarterly short-run forecasts of price, cost, margins, and end-market demand for about 350 industries in the LMIQ mode

Do you provide forecasts?

Forecasts are not published in the ALERTdata Blueprints collection nor are forecasts posted on the ALERTdata.com web site. Thinking Cap Solutions, however, does produce short-term quarterly forecasts for four concepts — price, manufacturing cost, cost-per-$100 (margin proxy) and end-market demand — for about 350 industries in the LMIQ model. These forecasts are updated and released periodically in the ICE-Alert Outlook Supplement as part of the ICE-Alert subscription product. The Outlook is released two to three times a year and can be purchased separately.

Where are you located?

Thinking Cap Solutions is located in Port Angeles, Washington—about 60 miles northwest of Seattle on the Olympic Peninsula. For you travelers, we’re across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Victoria, British Columbia. When we’re not working, we’re hitting the hiking trails or simply enjoying a landscape that goes from sea-to-mountaintop in about eight miles!

What are your office hours?

Our office hours are Monday through Friday, 9AM to 5PM Pacific Time, but we are work a lot of overtime. If you call and get the voice mail system, please leave a detailed message. Or you can leave an email message via the Contact Us form. Either way, we do our best to respond as promptly as possible.

How can I contact someone for more information?

To communicate with Thinking Cap Solutions via email click the link below:
Contact Us

Mailing address is:
P.O. Box 2925, Port Angeles, WA 98362  USA

Telephone is: 360-452-6159 (mailbox 2 to leave a message for Elizabeth)

Fax number is: 360-457-2913