Purchasing - May 20, 1999
Features
Staples Inc. has signed a lease for a multichannel distribution center in Charlotte, N.C.
Staples Inc. has signed a lease for a multichannel distribution center in Charlotte, N.C. Scheduled to be operational in the fall of 1999, the center will serve Staples contract, catalog, and e-commerce customers.
- BUYLINES
- CAREER DEVELOPMENT
- Computers, Peripherals & Software
- BRIEFS
- Hewlett-Packard adds monitors to PC line
- PC SOURCING STRATEGIES
- Foxboro's strategy for PCs & peripherals cuts costs
- PORTABLE PCS
- Look out notebooks! Use of handheld PCs to rise
- PURCHASING NOTES
- The 17th annual pc expo
- Hewlett-Packard and Lanier Worldwide have formed a new relationship in which Lanier will distribute, service, and support HP's Mopier line of network copiers,
- Lexmark used the Business Technology Expo held recently in Las Vegas as an opportunity to introduce its Linea line of print cartridges for HP LaserJet printers.
- While sales of notebook PCs to corporate buyers remain strong, demand for handheld computing devices is expected to grow,
- ELECTRONICS 1999
- Electronics Purchasing
- Resistor tags to fall despite healthy demand
- Spending cuts spell trouble for buyers
- Low PC prices will change computing
- Electronics Prices
- Contract Manufacturing
- More OEMs sell facilities to contract manufacturers
- ELECTRONIC BUYING CONDITIONS
- Buying conditions still favor purchasers
- ELECTRONICS BRIEFS
- Bell to carry Ambient ICs
- Intel to offer network processors
- Arrow launches new groups
- Electronic Buying Conditions
- Resistor costs drop
- SEMICONDUCTORS
- Memory modules to recover, but prices will stay low
- INSIDE PURCHASING
- Job Scene
- MRO/DISTRIBUTION
- AmEx, Visa partner with e-commerce providers
- BRIEFS
- FiberVisions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hercules Inc. based in Covington Ga., has entered into an agreement with Material Management & Services, Inc.
- Motion Industries has formed a joint venture with Refacciones Industriales de Mexico (rimsa), a bearing and power transmission specialist in Mexico City.
- imark Group, a member-owned marketing group serving more than 180 independent electrical distributors has added three new members:
- Eastern Industrial Supplies, a pipe, valve, and fitting distributor
- General Tool & Supply, Portland, Ore., has merged with Industrial Tool & Supply, Tucson, Ariz.
- I.D. One has selected two industrial supplies distributors as new members:
- NEWS
- MRO purchasing plays role in reshaping the distribution channel
- ON THE INTERNET
- Office Products & Business Systems
- Mita introduces laser facsimile for corporate workgroups
- BRIEFS
- Savin rounds out its line of digital output devices
- BUSINESS FORMS
- Outsourcing helps cut forms purchasing costs
- OFFICE SUPPLY DISTRIBUTION TRENDS
- Channel consolidation due to changing buying habits
- PURCHASING NOTES
- Looking for alternatives to OEM-brand toner cartridges for copiers, facsimiles, and printers?
- When purchasing a new copier, keep in mind that rated speed--a factor to consider because it helps cut costs--often is inflated.
- Office Depot has acquired the remaining 50% of its Japanese operations from its joint-venture partner, Deo Deo Corporation.
- Watch the U.S. Postal Service save millions of dollars in revenue as U.S. businesses switch use of mechanical to electronic postage meters.
- New G-P Premium Express service from Georgia-Pacific promises to reduce delivery leadtimes of the company's premium printing papers by more than half.
- PRODUCT UPDATE
- PROGRAMMABLE CONTROLLERS
- Pricing, leadtimes look good for buyers
- PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
- PURCHASING HOTLINE
- Keep an eye on efforts of European regulators to codify so-called "Taca-2" settlement.
- Expect 16-megabit drams to become scarce over next two years.
- Expect prices for power management ICs to drop through rest of year.
- IBM's new electronic commerce product
- Are you able to squeeze out waste in office buying?
- Watch out for Y2K fraud.
- Keep an eye on efforts of group trying to establish self-declared internationally recognized standards for high-technology products.
- Expect fuel cells for small business power generation to be available by 2001.
- Most ERP systems don't pay back what they cost,
- Think your small suppliers may not be ready for Year 2000?
- Be sure to enter Purchasing's Welcome Booklet contest.
- Get up to speed on the Internet
- Look for Samsung to devote more production capacity to Rambus drams.
- Improve supplier relations if you want to get the most out of your IT spend,
- Are you up to the competitive challenges of the electronics marketplace?
- Beware of bogus office supply firms!
- Don't expect any taxes on e-commerce for awhile, at least
- ECONOMY
- Two factors--an apparent U.S. manufacturing rally plus a tentative turnaround in world oil prices
- The U.S. won't see another recession until 2002 or beyond
- The U.S. goods trade deficit continued to set records
- Plant operating rates for manufacturing declined appreciably in first-quarter 1999
- Calculations from Thinking Cap Solutions in Port Angeles, Wash., show that for the twelve months ending March, biggest wholesale (PPI) price declines
- U.S. import price index gained a tenth of a point in March
- Markets
- W&O Supply of Jacksonville, Fla., a distributor of marine valves, pipe, fittings, and metals, has been purchased
- EPA's plan to phase in low-sulfur gasoline beginning in 2004 will be difficult and costly
- Toyota and General Motors have reached a five-year agreement to develop cars and trucks powered by fuel cells
- Based on continued strong demand in the U.S. and Canada, Navistar International has raised its demand forecast
- DuPont will spend $275 million on a new Teflon development and manufacturing facility
- U.S. steel mills shipped 15.3 million net tons of steel in the first two months of 1999
- In a classic example of "worst to first," US Airways has emerged as the top-ranked U.S. carrier for passenger service
- Harris Corp. plans to spin off its Lanier Worldwide office systems unit
- Lucent Technologies will open a research facility at North Carolina State University next spring
- FirstMiss Steel will cease melting operations at Hollsopple, Pa.
- Only a big demand surge or major production cuts could ease the copper supply surplus
- Fairchild Semiconductor has completed its $450-million purchase of Samsung Electronic's Power Device Division
- The world will soon be flooded with cheap and surprisingly powerful PCs
- Tenneco is selling its five-plant folding carton business to Caraustar Industries.
- North American demand for lumber and plywood is expected to remain strong for at least two more quarters
- Prices
- Shipments and prices of corrugated containers, folding cartons, and industrial bags hit bottom in first-quarter 1999
- Unbleached 42-lb kraft linerboard appears to have stabilized at $380-$390/ton in the East and $380-$400/ton in the West.
- North American uncoated free-sheet commodity paper prices gained $40/ton in April
- London Metal Exchange aluminum averaged 54¢/lb in first-quarter 1999
- The spot-market average price for cold-rolled steel sheet is nowhere near the $400-$410/ton claimed by integrated mills
- Canadian newsprint maker Donohue says it expects prices to remain under downward pressure for the near term.
- Gold traded in a narrow range of $285-$295/oz throughout the first quarter,
- Four major North American producers of corrugating medium have proposed price increases for May-June
- Two of North America's largest unsaturated polyester resins producers have announced price increases.
- Sellers are quoting benchmark northern bleached softwood kraft (nbsk) at $525 this month
- Polystyrene (PS) market leader Nova Chemicals and other producers are pushing for a 4¢/lb increase
- Visit Purchasing Online (www. purchasing.com) to enter Purchasing's 1999 Crystal Ball
- Overcapacity and intensifying competition have lowered nylon prices since late 1998 by an average 10¢/lb
- Computer equipment maker Hewlett-Packard has cut prices on several notebook computers
- PURCHASING SOFTWARE NEWS
- Purchasing Hotline
- SUPPLY INSIGHTS
- BUYING PLANS/PRICE EXPECTATIONS
- LEADTIMES
- FORECASTS
- Productivity growth to slow
- Unit labor costs look flat
- Confidence remains buoyant
- STRATEGIC COST INSIGHTS
- Nonferrous forgings' tumble
- TRANSPORTATION
- Top 100 Electronics Distributors
- Distributors beef up contract manufacturing revenue
- Sales up by more than $2 billion
- Avnet sees globalization as key to growth
- Last year's acquisitions change top 100 ranking
- At Pioneer-Standard, managing information is key
- Distributors see Internet as a tool
- Arrow looks to ride outsourcing wave
- Arrow stays at top of heap
- Fewer dollars to make the top 100 ranking
- Distributors look for rebound in 1999
- Value-added services save distribution in 1998
- 1999 NORTH AMERICAN RANKINGS SALES BREAKDOWN
- Changes ahead for EDI
- The Genie Group tops list in productivity
- Kent views contract manufacturing as key to growth
- Independent distribution
- NECX tries to reinvent itself
- Profiles in Distribution
- Marshall sees growth in supply chain management, e-commerce
- What's ahead in 1999
- Price pressures hurt profits of IC distributors
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