Purchasing - April 23, 1998
Features
Turn purchasing excellence into competitive advantage
Jim Carbone's cover story on the electronics industry reminds us that good and bad times are relative. While buyers bask in the glow of readily available components at low prices, sellers fret for the return of strong demand.
- BUYLINES
- Purchasing in the cut-throatworld of high technology
- GRASS ROOTS REPORT
- Anxiety rises over expected shortages of skilled labor
- New Research
- IT poses stumbling block for supply chain management
- PURCHASING SURVEY
- Hoping for a big raise? Get technical training!
- REGULATION WATCH
- Many buying changes happen over lengthy periods of time
- SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
- UTC puts supply managers through tough basic training
- Computers, Business Systems and office products
- At Hasbro, requisitioners order supplies on Internet
- Purchasing Notes
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- Purchasing Notes
- ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
- Office supplies buy goes online
- MARKETPLACE
- Demand for dedicatedfacsimiles to endure
- Sourcing Strategies
- Big imaging-supplies OEMs team up to combat piracy
- Ten ways to spot a phone scam
- ELECTRONICS '98
- Electronics Purchasing
- A brave new IT world coming
- LSI unveils latest system on a chip
- Catto says semiconductor industry will recover
- SRAM tags stabilize
- Battery demand keeps on going and going...
- Electronics prices
- NEDA survey: Distributors invest in E-Commerce
- Avnet OMG restructures four business groups
- ELECTRONIC BUYING CONDITIONS
- Order volumes rise, prices stay stable
- ELECTRONICS BRIEFS
- Tiny op am introduced
- Electronic Buying Conditions
- Board costs rise
- Electronics Briefs
- More flash production
- INTERCONNECTS
- Growth, lower tags forecast for connectors
- HOTLINE
- ECONOMY
- Economic fundamentals may be laying the groundwork for an inflation spiral--beginning in 1999 or beyond
- Latest help-wanted reading does little to allay anxiety over tight labor markets
- Crystal Ball update: Uncle has finalized its GDP data for 1997
- Most analysts had been expecting the Asian flu to hurt the U.S. economy in first-quarter 1998
- U.S. consumer credit-card delinquencies fell in fourth-quarter 1997 to their lowest level in three years
- It would appear that anticipated "fire sales" on commodities from Asia have yet to materialize in a big way
- Markets
- U.S. production capacity for most paper products will expand just 1.2%/year
- World ethanol trade could fall again this year
- Some high-volume magazines are switching from lightweight coated paper
- World cobalt use will rise at an average annual rate of 5%
- Specialty chemicals maker Hercules is buying into the paper chemicals business
- Purchasing of flexible packaging has grown 6%/year for most of this decade
- Chemical conglomerate Ba-yer has dropped plans for a $1.5 billion toluene diisocyanate plant in Taiwan
- By 2010, new fuel-cell technology could cause platinum demand to increase by 500,000 ounces annually
- Global gold use rose 16% last year to 4,025 tons
- Airports worldwide handled 8% more cargo in 1997
- Lockheed Martin led U.S. defense contractors in 1997 with $11.6 billion
- Caterpillar has entered the growing $3.6 billion compact construction equipment market
- Even paper mills anticipate some slippage in near-term annual demand growth of office papers
- The 20-member European Commission wants to open negotiations with the U.S.
- Prices
- The decline in aromatics prices, including benzene, will be short lived
- Mills are telling customers of a $40-$50/ton price hike in April on linerboard and corrugating medium
- Ethylene tags are heading down
- Balmy weather through much of the U.S. has stuck a dagger into industry hopes
- Domestic sheet steel prices should gain about $10/ton this month
- The global aluminum market will be over-supplied with cheap metal
- Ammonia prices will weaken when fertilizer season ends
- Market price for high-carbon ferromanganese has risen to $500/ton
- Improved world demand for copper will lead to an upturn in cathode prices late this year
- Buyers can expect a flattening price trend for unbleached fine papers
- Analysts at Bear, Stearns have cut their aluminum price forecast for 1998 to 68(cent)/lb
- The world market continues to batter natural rubber prices
- Factory bundles of automotive scrap slipped $10/ton
- Australia's official commodity forecaster has revised down its outlook for world zinc prices
- North Pacific Paper, Smur-fit Newsprint, and MacMillan Bloedel have proposed an April newsprint price hike
- Despite solid demand, spot prices for welded stainless steel pipe products slipped 2%
- Ferrovanadium spot prices have drifted down to $14/lb from $14.50
- Processors reckon that prices for scrap corrugated will re-bound in coming weeks
- TRANSACTION PRICES
- Transaction Prices
- Hotline
- Count on erosion of flash memory card prices over the next five years or so
- Look for sram tags to head up in wake of International Trade commission (ITC) dumping ruling against Taiwan
- Don't forget to visit Purchasing's Web site
- Be prepared for more rail freight problems in the South and Southwest
- Be careful about how you treat labor costs in trying to estimate future electronic chip prices
- Expect Customs to push a new user fee on imported merchandise in the fiscal '99 budget
- Keep an eye on Korean machine tool shipments
- Russia may turn out to be a wild card in this year's coated-steel picture
- Be sure to enter Purchasing's welcome booklet contest
- Note: necx is now the top independent electronics distributor
- Add another 5% to your anticipated plane fares over the next few months
- Don't hold your breath waiting for those much touted low-cost "network computers."
- Expect gaskets and seals demand to continue rising at a 6.2% clip through 2001
- Be prepared to pay more for hotel rooms in many central cities
- Is your MRO buying strategic--or do you just wing it? Unfortunately many buyers do just that and are literally costing their companies millions
- Intel has begun shipping Pentium II processors for the mobile computer market
- Look for worldwide PC shipments to increase 17.5% this year, says Nomura Research Institute
- Get ready for release of new proposed ergonomics standard by osha early next year
- Expect shrinking demand for database products
- JOB SCENE
- On the Internet
- PRODUCT REVIEW
- PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
- PURCHASING SOFTWARE NEWS
- STRATEGIES
- PROCUREMENT CARDS
- AlliedSignal isn't timidabout expanding card use
- TEMPORARY HELP
- Stable demand sustains higher wages
- SUPPLY INSIGHTS
- FORECASTS
- Leading index gains in Q1
- Forecasts
- PMI came in like a lion
- Labor won't launch leads
- STRATEGIC COST INSIGHTS
- Gear prices speed ahead
- TRANSPORTATION
- LOGISTICS BUY
- Manufacturers take aim at end of the supply chain
- NEWS
- Are you putting your goods in the right location?
- News
- Shippers doubt UP's promise to end rail delays
- More ocean carriers enter the Americas' trade fray
- NACS boosts rail box supply
- Skyway offers supply chain visibility over the Net
- Lawmakers give green light to highway funding
- Top 100 Electronics Distributors
- TALES OF DISTRIBUTION
- Richey sees value add, acquisitions as growth engines
- Independent resellers may face tough year unless prices rise
- Avnet sees tags recovering later in '98 as unit demand remains strong
- Sager stresses material management as it looks to crack $300 million in '98
- Wyle's challenge: Reduce cost for customers, suppliers
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