Purchasing - March 11, 1999
Features
Look out for plans by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha)
Look out for plans by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha) to revise workplace standards for more than 400 toxic substances.
- Automotive/OEM
- BUYING ENERGY
- ELECTRIC POWER
- Big is out, small is in
- BUYLINES
- Clean trucks and fleets
- Buyers should prep for U.S. switch to metric system
- Which industries are hiding the biggest profit margin windfalls?
- BENCHMARKING
- Even the "Best of the Best" (the BOBs) can fall flat on their faces
- GRASSROOTS SURVEY
- Optimism lives among buying set
- PURCHASING SURVEY
- Outsourcing gains popularity
- Purchasing focus
- What will happen on the stock market? Will growth continue, or is the bubble about to burst?
- REGULATION WATCH
- EPA seeks PBT reductionin hazardous waste stream
- WASHINGTON PERSPECTIVE ; NEGOTIATION PERSPECTIVE
- A few ideas for switching costs
- Buying in the OEM
- PART II--PRODUCT DESIGN
- Purchasing unlocks supply treasures
- Part II- Product Design
- 'Design for environment' movement seeks to leapfrog regs
- Harley-Davidson explores 'community' on-site supplier reps
- Buylines
- Washington Perspective
- Pols jockey for position in race to spend budget surplus
- CAREER DEVELOPMENT
- BEST COMPANY TRAINING PROGRAMS
- Training: Part of TI's corporate culture
- CPI EDITION
- LEADTIMES
- Buyer's News
- Costs and prices.
- Buyers still cite titanium dioxide
- Buyers even more optimistic
- CHEMFORECAST
- Buyers predict modest growth
- CHEMICAL TRANSACTION PRICES
- Purchasing transaction price survey results
- Chemical Transaction Prices
- Plastic resin prices
- Index falls again. Where's the end?
- PETROCHEMICALS OUTLOOK
- Low prices will go LOWER
- WATER TREATMENT CHEMICALS & SERVICES
- Suppliers increase full service options
- CPI Edition
- INSIDE PURCHASING
- METALS
- Buyers are more optimistic, see no tight availability
- Japan says it shipped only what was ordered
- NEWS
- China still is world's top steelmaker
- News
- METALS CHIPS
- Ingot tags keep potlines going
- METALS CHIPS
- METALS CHIPS
- Who's 'dumping' on whom?
- METALS CHIPS
- Dofasco seeks world auto supply alliances
- METALS CHIPS
- Commodity prices may sink deeper this year
- METALS CHIPS
- METALS CHIPS
- METALS CHIPS
- METALS CHIPS
- Canada probes sheet imports
- METALS CHIPS
- Geneva Steel files for bankruptcy, but keeps operating
- Algoma quits two product lines
- METALS CHIPS
- METALS CHIPS
- Sandvik has new spring steels
- METALS CHIPS
- Copper stocks reach new high, prices slide
- Plymouth Tube consolidates
- World can make more steel than it needs
- METALS CHIPS
- Gallium use keeps rising
- METALS CHIPS
- METALS CHIPS
- Distributors ship record volume of aluminum in '98
- METALS CHIPS
- LME to introduce silver trading
- Russian metals industries need help
- METALS CHIPS
- Allegheny Teledyne aims to become specialty powerhouse
- STEEL PIPE & TUBE
- Stocks are up, but buying is cycling down
- Metals
- COPPER & BRASS MARKET
- Low-priced red metalswill be readily available
- Copper & Brass Market
- Service centers keep a wary eye on stocks
- Steel Pipe & Tube
- Steel pipe & tube producers
- NEWS
- AUTOMOTIVE/OEM
- Ford's buying of Volvo could affect supply
- PRODUCT UPDATE
- ADHESIVES & FASTENERS
- Mixed reviews on pricing
- PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
- PURCHASING HOTLINE
- Count on having to confront one sure-bet shortage in your future: Talent.
- Is your MRO buying strategic--or do you just wing it?
- Also dismiss sounds of pending doom about Y2K.
- EPA will ease rules for disposing lead-paint residues, which will reduce cleanup costs of construction.
- Expect machine-tool orders to pick up this year,
- Keep an eye on Surface Transportation Board vote on proposed merger of Canadian National Railway Co. and Illinois Central Corp.
- Plan on inflation staying low this year,
- Expect new rules from osha
- Keep an eye on new encryption bill that would liberalize exports.
- Count on Federal Trade Commission to vigorously fight boycotts by retail groups
- Office-rent rate hikes in most major U.S. cities will be minimal this year.
- Keep an eye on results of Senate hearing on railroad competition.
- Similar scenario in '99 for pulp prices,
- Watch for "skill standards for manufacturing and retailing,"
- Don't expect ocean shipping deregulation to lower rates much,
- If you're a purchasing pro in the chemical process industries (CPI), don't miss our latest book,
- Paper prices will begin to recover this year
- Don't expect chemical exports to pick up until at least third quarter, perhaps even later.
- Dismiss any attempts to pass legislation that will keep Y2K problems out of the courts.
- Visit Purchasing's Web site at www.purchasing.com for up-to-the-minute buying data
- Look for national chemical distributors to go global,
- Economy
- Latest member survey from the Manufacturers' Alliance finds only 31% of firms reporting capacity utilization in excess of 85%.
- The economy went out with a boom in fourth-quarter 1998, growing at a 5.6% annualized pace.
- Manufacturing productivity surged 5.6% in fourth-quarter 1998
- Despite the economic growth surge in fourth-quarter 1998, employment cost pressures appear to have moderated.
- Tune in next issue to see who won Purchasing's 1998 Crystal Ball
- Latest industry survey from the National Association of Business Economists (nabe) finds that, "price weakness prevailed
- Markets
- Forest Alliance USA Corp. is the new name for the Stamford, Conn.-based firm
- Oriented strand board now accounts for 50% of structural panel sales in North America
- A marketing alliance to integrate office furniture and cabling to create more efficient workplaces
- Makers of wireless phones sold a record 162.9 million units worldwide last year
- Compaq Computer has formed Compaq.com
- Industrial hydraulics supply has a new global leader in Eaton of Cleveland.
- U.S. net purchases of printing and writing papers (domestic shipments plus imports less exports) grew 2.3% in 1998
- Supply of coated printing papers continues to exceed domestic demand
- U.S. paper and paperboard production totaled 94.69 million tons in 1998
- Compaq Computer was the leading seller of personal computers worldwide last year
- AlliedSignal's Specialty Chemicals business will expand its supply of specialty chemicals
- U.S. shipments of major home appliances rose 10.2% in 1998 to 56.6 million units
- U.S. paper industry sales rose less than 2% last year to $116.2 billion
- The strong market for executives should continue through first half 1999
- Watch for new super-hard-alloy cutting tools from Kennametal.
- Buyers can expect a 200,000-tonne surplus in the global aluminum market this year
- The merger of No. 8 papermaker Union Camp with No. 1 producer International Paper
- At 15.6 million units, motor vehicle production
- A new type of flexible thermoplastic insulation to cover hot and cold piping
- Prices
- Natural rubber producers Malaysia and Thailand are accusing rubber consumer countries of behaving unfairly
- Merchant mercury prices may be ready to tumble.
- Prices have risen up to 30% on active-matrix flat-panel computer monitors.
- Despite heady demand for copper mill products from domestic builders and manufacturers, cathode is stuck at 60¢-62¢/lb
- Spot polyethylene (PE) prices dropped an average 6¢/lb in 1998
- Nucor's decision to boost sheet steel prices by $10/ton
- Corrugated container producers plan to boost box prices 11%-14%
- An early-February short-lived surge in London Metal Exchange nickel was triggered by speculators
- Bismuth continues to average $3/lb
- Dow Chemical has boosted spot prices by $25/dry short ton
- Wood pulp prices will inflate little (if at all) this year
- North American cadmium is stuck at 20¢/lb
- Weyerhaeuser, the world's largest maker of market pulp, has cut $15/metric ton
- Prices for solid-state disk drives slipped to $16/megabyte in 1998
- Natural gas for March delivery from U.S. wellheads averaged just $1.77 per million
- Mainline 64-Mb dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips have gained more than a buck a piece
- World crude oil is selling for $10/barrel, and could fall lower.
- Intel cut prices on Celeron microprocessors by as much as 24%
- Major airlines have raised fares 2% for business class and 4% for economy.
- American Pad & Paper wants to increase the price of its white wove commodity envelopes by 7%
- Product Update
- LATCHES
- Price increases are non-existent
- Purchasing Hotline
- Recycling Resources
- SUPPLY INSIGHTS
- BUYING PLANS/PRICE EXPECTATIONS
- LEADTIMES
- FORECASTS
- Economy has momentum...
- and businesses invest
- as shoppers buy, buy, buy...
- STRATEGIC COST INSIGHTS
- Unsticking glue suppliers
- TRANSPORTATION
- Anti-pest initiatives may raise shipping costs
- BULK TRANSPORT AND STORAGE
- Government can help with hazmat transport
- NEWS
- Atlantic shipping in flux
- News
- Manugistics faces major cutbacks
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