Purchasing - May 21, 1998
Features
Cost is the bottom line
It's no secret that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are outsourcing more of their electronics manufacturing to contract manufacturers (CMs).
- BUYLINES
- Buyers: Recession, deflation unlikely
- Survey finds few firms lend real resources to suppliers
- Coming Up
- Import price index continues to fall
- Some commodity sectors defy low inflation climate
- Cheap imports fail to arrive on U.S. shores
- GRASS ROOTS REPORT
- Business may be good, butbuyers proceed with caution
- REGULATION WATCH
- Reg changes affect buyers
- SUPPLY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
- Seven rules for creatingwinning sourcing strategies
- Computers, Business Systems and office products
- PURCHASING NOTES
- PURCHASING NOTES
- PURCHASING NOTES
- New color copier from Canon sports connectivity option
- PURCHASING NOTES
- BRIEFS
- Compaq introduces notebooks based on Intel's new chip
- MARKETPLACE
- Demand for digitalperks up industry
- TECHNOLOGY SOURCING STRATEGIES
- Manage suppliers to improve cycle time
- THE NETWORKED OFFICE
- Copiers can be connected to a network of desktop PCs
- Electronics Purchasing
- Sager to carry General
- High-end computers to drive microprocessor growth
- Strong demand, low tags forecast for resistors
- What price Celeron? $155
- Korean chip companies delay DRAM plants
- Healthy forecast for memory modules
- PC revenue growth slows
- Asian financial woes may lower DRAM tags
- ELECTRONIC BUYING CONDITIONS
- Order volumes to increase as business improves
- ELECTRONICS BRIEFS
- Hitachi restructures operations
- Electronic Buying Conditions
- Connector tags head up
- Electronics Briefs
- Arrows signs on TDK
- Big Blue, Intel join forces
- Insight gets extended
- Hard times at National
- Coming soon: A $400 PC
- Solectron adds capacity
- Joint venture to produce IGBTs
- Astec restructures
- Outsourcing
- CMs offer more services to OEMs
- HOTLINE
- Look for the worldwide semiconductor market to grow 8.1% to $159 billion in '98
- Count on semiconductor manufacturers offering more "systems-on-a-chip" products that combine multiple functions on a single piece of silicon
- Purchasing's new Supply Chain Strategies book opens the door
- Keep an eye on NEC
- No doubt about it! Asia's economic woes and a slowdown in the computer industry is impacting the semiconductor equipment manufacturers
- Expect U.S. demand for engineered plastics to grow at a 5%/year rate through 2001
- Be sure to enter
- Expect Intel to release a plethora of new microprocessors aimed at the higher end of the computer market
- Count on the prime rate staying put for the next few months
- Beware of the temptation to ignore the marketplace
- Economy
- To file your Crystal Ball Entry electronically
- More manufacturers are now operating at either 91%-95% or 86%-90% of operating capacity
- Strong domestic demand and relatively high capacity utilization rates have done little to hinder supplier delivery speed
- Economic growth may be steaming ahead, but most major inflation engines remain idle
- Consumer confidence re-bounded nearly three points (to record levels) in April
- The economy grew at an annual rate of 4.2% in first-quarter 1998
- Markets
- USG Corp. will build a $112-million plant in Aliquippa, Pa.
- Corning is seeking a ban on optical fiber imports from Holland
- After growing 16% last year, the world personal-computer market will grow 13% to 97 million units in 1998
- Domestic thermoplastics ca-pacity is expected to rise 4.8% this year to 77.2 billion lb
- DuPont will spend $40 million to increase capacity at its ethylene/acid copolymer facility
- Acrylic manufacturer Cyro Industries will expand its polymer capacity
- MB Paper Ltd. will now go by the moniker Pacifica Papers Inc.
- Domestic steel production is slipping
- Independent refiner Sun Co. is buying AlliedSignal's phenol plant in Philadelphia
- Prices
- The European stainless steel market will be oversupplied this year
- Steel plate makers are supporting U.S. Steel's latest $10/ton price hike for summer deliveries
- The 1998 domestic market for copper plumbing tube is so promising that another price hike can not be ruled out
- Energy firms will face a "very challenging business environment throughout 1998
- Led by Avenor, domestic wood pulp producers will boost prices by $50/metric ton in June
- Demand for methanol is steady, but prices are slipping due to expanding supply
- High-carbon ferrochrome prices "should increase slowly to around 50(cent)/lb by the end of the year
- Used beverage can (UBC) scrap aluminum stock has slipped to 52(cent)
- Compaq has cut up to 25% from U.S. market prices for select models of its Deskpro
- Copper spot on the New York Commodity Exchange will average at 77(cent)/lb in 1998
- Several aluminum mill product firms have announced 2(cent)/lb higher conversion charges
- Fiberglass reinforcements producers Ashland Chemical, PPG Industries, and Owens-Corning have boosted tags
- Despite record high prices earlier in 1998, U.S. market demand for cedar wood continues to grow
- Several makers of supercalendered paper are hinting around about a $40/ton price increase in July
- Price volatility in the lumber market is expected to dissipate this year
- Makers of carbon flat-rolled steel are supporting a leading move by Weirton Steel for another $10-$15/ton price boost
- Market prices for gigabit ethernet switches are following a downward path
- Asarco is trying to boost premiums this month for the continuous-cast copper rod
- Prices for standard lead-coated architectural copper sheet have risen by 10(cent)/sq ft
- INSIDE PURCHASING
- MRO/DISTRIBUTION
- On the Internet
- PRODUCT UPDATE
- PROGRAMMABLE CONTROLLERS
- Technology advances outpace price increases
- PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
- Helio precision products, inc.
- ELECTRONICS PURCHASING
- Solectron
- PURCHASING SOFTWARE NEWS
- SUPPLY INSIGHTS
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