Purchasing - July 15, 1999
Features
American incomes climbed 4.4% in 1998, significantly outpacing inflation
American incomes climbed 4.4% in 1998, significantly outpacing inflation. Nationally, average income for 270.3 million U.S. citizens was $26,412 in 1998, up 4.4% from 1997, according to Commerce.
- AUTOMOTIVE/OEM
- Automotive/OEM
- BUYING ENERGY
- BUYING STRATEGY FORECAST
- Will copper prices rise if BHP shuts U.S. mines?
- BUSINESS BRIEFS
- Methanex sues over MTBE bans
- Ford to make low-emission pickups
- BellSouth tests fiber-optic service
- Japan faces lengthier recession
- Y2K unlikely to disrupt banking
- CAPACITY ACTION
- Packaging
- Steel
- Ceramics
- Specialty polymers
- OEM products
- Printers
- Plastics
- Energy recovery equipment
- Oilfield services
- Metal stampings
- Energy
- Plastic parts
- Chemicals
- ECONOMIC ANALYSIS & FORECASTS
- Macro forecast, revision
- Analysis, inflation scare
- Update, import prices
- Update, consumer confidence
- Update, Beige Book
- Update, consumer price index
- MARKETS & PRICES
- Market outlook, regional jets
- Market data, Internet
- Price update, nickel
- Price update, bismuth
- Market outlook, synthetic lubricants
- Market outlook, housing index
- Business update, semiconductor equipment
- Market forecast, networking
- Market update, e-commerce
- Price outlook, LME aluminum
- Price increase, sheet steel
- Market update, paper production
- Market forecast, cybershopping
- Business update, name change
- Price update, stainless sheet
- Sales forecast, microchips
- Price update, stainless plate
- Market update, machine tools
- Sales outlook, automotive
- Business update, computer virus costs
- SUPPLY CONDITIONS
- Commodities demand rallies and prices stabilize, survey says
- BUYLINES
- Help your supply chain compete!
- Conference survey finds PMs craving better tools for pursuing electronic commerce
- Gov't begins conversion to new NAICS industry coding system
- COMING UP
- BENCHMARKING
- Five mistakes that cause benchmarking to fail
- ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
- How modern companies integrate purchasing and design functions
- Inflation threat could burst the U.S. financial 'bubble'
- Grassroots Business Survey
- Less optimistic buyers watch commodity prices inch up
- JIT II PROGRAMS
- Don't use JIT II to downsize staff!
- MURRAY'S LAW
- Big changes are due in laws governing U.S. commerce
- NEGOTIATION PERSPECTIVE
- The art of persuasion
- PURCHASING SURVEY
- Euro currency intro makes small splash, at least for now
- Firms give purchasing more central control
- REGULATION WATCH
- Industry coalition wins rewrite on fastener quality
- UPDATE
- Metals Sourcing Guide goes online
- WASHINGTON PERSPECTIVE
- Battle to reform federal reg process shifts to new arena
- CAREER DEVELOPMENT
- More buyers seek career paths in purchasing
- CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS--PART III
- What's wrong with this picture? Barriers to effective teams
- COMPUTERS, PERIPHERALS & SOFTWARE
- Lexmark, HP test quality of recycled paper for printers
- PURCHASING NOTES
- 1999 PURCHASING SOFTWARE BUYERS' GUIDE
- Buyers' guide to software for purchasing
- BRIEFS
- Danka introduces digital high-volume copier printer
- IT ASSET MANAGEMENT
- Asset management is roadmap to PC, software cost savings
- CPI EDITION
- CPI Edition
- Buyer's News
- Two 2¢/lb price hikes in PVC's future
- CORPORATE CHANGES
- Business will be stable say buyers
- CPI book looks at supply strategies
- PRICE CHANGES
- CEF announces chemical product stewardship award winners
- Producers call for $30/ton price hike
- 'Natural' products help lift demand
- Tight market gets tighter
- Producers call for 3¢lb increase
- CAPACITY CHANGES
- How big is bulk?
- CONTAINERS/BULK HANDLING
- What will bulk container price tags do?
- FIBCs: Domestic suppliers seek niches
- Suppliers provide one-stop shopping, more services
- Drums still major players
- IBCs--more than an option
- Chemforecast
- Contracts down, market quiet
- INDUSTRIAL GASES
- Prices stay stable despite margin pressure
- PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
- Catalytica Pharmaceuticals
- SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
- Witco moves toward globally integrated supply
- ELECTRONICS
- PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
- SCI Systems
- ELECTRONICS PURCHASING
- Lower prices are on the way for power supplies
- Wireless data market to take off
- SIA sees 12% growth for semiconductor chips in 1999
- Capital spending drops
- Hard-drive shipments to increase 16.1%
- DRAM industry will become a house divided
- Electronics Prices
- Buyers plan for memory shortage
- Solid growth forecast for flash in 1999
- IBM, Acer ink 7-year $8 billion procurement deal
- Buying in the world of high-tech
- Little growth for SRAMs
- Intel moves to 12-inch wafers
- ELECTRONICS BRIEFS
- DISTRIBUTION WATCH
- Allied to be sold; Newark reorganizes
- DRAMS
- Say Sayonara to the DRAM supply glut (in about six months)
- ELECTRONIC BUYING CONDITIONS
- Is the electronics market tightening?
- Overall component tags fall
- INSIDE PURCHASING
- JOB SCENE
- METALS
- News
- Buyers see flat production, good availability
- Cold-finished steel bar group works on new standards
- Placer Dome's Cerro Casale
- Steel coaters express optimism about markets
- Transtar Metals
- Europe probes HR sheet from China, India, and Romania
- Inco expands nickel battery manufacturing operations
- Copper distribution slows
- Heartland Steel
- Sherritt International
- Sandvik Steel
- Rynolds Aluminum Supply Co.
- SouthStar Steel Corp.
- Consolidated Steel Service
- Co-Steel to acquire, absorb Slater Steel
- Steel Dynamics Inc.
- American Axle & Manufacturing
- Ryerson Tull creates sheet steel sales group
- Sandvik opens steel unit for medical market
- Gautier Steel is back in business
- Nisshin Steel Co.
- Almetals
- Wolverine Tube
- Mills target cold-rolled sheet
- Carpenter Technology
- New 'designer alloys' from Specialty Steel & Forge
- Duferco Farrell Corp.
- World aluminum smelter output up in May
- Boom continues for steel products
- Some steel tube shipments up
- Japanese hit with HR tariffs
- Marmon/Keystone
- Canada confirms HR dumping
- AK Steel
- Metro Metals
- AK Steel and Armco to marry, again
- World silver use fell in '98
- Altos Hornos de Mexico
- Leroux eyes U.S. business
- Steelmakers still anxious despite drop in imports
- Environmentalists challenge N.C. steel mill
- Legislation eyes import surges
- Metals suppliers available online
- Kaiser Aluminum
- Commerce sets stainless sheet and strip duties
- Hutchinson Products
- Precision Castparts
- Special Metals revamps nickel alloys businesses
- BHP studying U.S. steel units
- Australia favored for future alumina production
- Silver miner sees steady output, prices
- OECD: World steel rebound is in sight
- Slow growth depresses global CR sheet tags
- MetalSite expands e-commerce to steel plate from InfraMetals
- Aluminum Outlook Forum on Sept. 2
- Is BHP Copper for sale?
- New aluminum output will dampen price increases
- Mead Metals
- Asarco
- World steelmaking continues to slide
- Copper demand falling in Europe as construction slows
- Chicago White Metal Casting
- Aluminum centers moving metal
- Magnesium capacity needed to meet growing demand
- Steel Technologies
- Merrill Lynch, Global Minerals charged in 'copper crisis'
- British, Dutch metals companies to merge
- Brazil agrees to reduce HR imports to U.S.
- Quanex Corp.
- Analyst applauds steelmaking cutbacks
- Ispat International
- Mag shipments slide 11%
- Japanese steelmaking forecast downgraded
- Harvard Industries
- PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
- Metals USA
- SUPERALLOYS & SPECIALTY METALS
- Boeing production cuts may loosen supplies
- Demand keeps FLYING HIGH
- Market at a glance
- Specialty metals par excellence
- Cobalt price trend unclear
- MRO/DISTRIBUTION
- OFFICE PRODUCTS & BUSINESS SYSTEMS
- BRIEFS
- Neopost tests PostagePlus
- OUTSOURCING THE SERVICES BUY
- Smart purchasing is key to outsourcing success
- PURCHASING NOTES
- Electronic Purchasing for Business-to-Business Commerce
- Georgia-Pacific and Unisource Worldwide are joining forces
- Kaiser Permanente presented its Supplier of the Year Gold Award to Reynolds & Reynolds at its Strategic Supplier Conference
- Independent office-supplies dealers look forward to the rest of 1999 with confidence and enthusiasm
- OfficeMax has selected the Humboldt Industrial Park in Hazleton, Pa., for the location of its second distribution facility, PowerMax II. The company's first PowerMax II
- TELECOMMUNICATIONS
- New service helps reduce telecom maintenance costs
- ON THE INTERNET
- PRODUCT UPDATE
- Cutting tools
- Buyer's market prevails
- INDUSTRIAL TOWELS & WIPES
- Wipe market stays smooth this year
- PROFILE 1999
- THE PURCHASING PROFESSIONAL
- PROFILE OF THE PURCHASING PROFESSIONAL
- PURCHASING HOTLINE
- Minimum wage will go up in 2000
- Expect cold-rolled steel sheet pricing to remain low
- Don't expect government to tighten export controls on high-tech products to China too much
- Expect electronic commerce service providers to create self-regulating rules to protect user privacy
- Fastener quality will remain largely self-regulated by industry
- Expect aluminum supplies to be plentiful into middle of next year
- Look for electronic commerce standard framework by fall
- Shippers want faster express delivery services
- Get up to speed on the Internet with Purchasing's new book on Internet-based procurement
- Microprocessors based on 0.18 micron process technology could push prices down in coming years
- Electronics buyers: Expect feds to slap dumping duties on drams from Taiwan
- Do you think your company is a great place for a purchasing professional to work?
- Look for stricter enforcement of trucking violations
- Expect more deals like one between Fujitsu and Siemans
- Count on growing demand for oil-refinery construction and equipment for next several years
- Expect intermodal upgrades at ports to continue for some time into future
- Count on recovering Asian markets and strong growth in telecommunications to help push demand for personal computers
- Expect air cargo capacity glut to continue
- Are you using pirated software?
- Have technology products you buy been Y2K tested?
- Shippers should expect air traffic congestion in Europe to stay messed up for some time
- Supplies of electric power should be better this year than last
- Look for chlorine prices to begin to rebound
- Don't miss the 1999 Purchasing Conference
- Count on speedier Internet service to spread quickly
- Keep an eye on bill that would allow states to increase allowable truck weights by more than 20%
- Internet-related revenue will "explode" in next couple of years
- Expect electronic business processes established by RosettaNet to become defacto standard
- Discount talk of automotive strikes this year
- Expect more increases in health insurance costs, possibly as much as 15% next year
- Is your MRO buying strategic--or do you just wing it?
- What's your favorite Web site? Purchasing's December 16 issue will include readers' opinions on what sites are their favorites and why
- Plan on surge in intermodal traffic from New York and New Jersey ports
- Are you an "exporter?"
- Count on more job-discrimination complaints
- Visit Purchasing's Web site at www.purchasing.com
- If you want to know what to expect in purchasing over the next decade
- Expect big increases in office rental rates in big cities
- Economy
- Most economies in the Asia-Pacific region are likely to improve in 1999
- Not all regions enjoy nonexistent consumer inflation
- U.S. first quarter GDP growth estimate was revised down from an annual rate of +4.5% to +4.1%
- Fastest falling product prices in May
- PMs predict strong second half, weak inflation
- The Conference Board's (CB) index of 10 leading economic indicators fell 0.1% in the latest month
- Markets
- Companies that purchase the right to drill for natural gas can claim billions of dollars worth of methane gas found with coal under federal land
- The National Association of Home Builders has boosted its 1999 housing starts forecast to 1.627 million units
- The U.S. is poised to pass the Year 2000 milestone with minimal problems thanks to often costly and time-consuming fixes
- Acer Group and IBM have formed a technology alliance
- A record domestic auto sales year "is within reach," says Ford marketing chief Bob Rewey
- Merger talks between Chevron and Texaco have halted amid disagreements over the complexity of the deal
- The Internet's impact on society and how it is changing the world economy will be tracked in a study funded in part by rivals America Online and Microsoft
- Siemens Diesel Systems Technology will build a $100 million plant in South Carolina
- The DRAM glut in U.S. markets could moderate when Commerce imposes punitive tariffs on Korean chips
- The technology segment of U.S. industry has created a million jobs in the U.S. since 1993
- Almost 40% of business software installed worldwide in 1998 was pirated
- National labor talks between Detroit's automakers and the United Auto Workers union have begun against a backdrop of record-breaking sales that have left General Motors, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler flush with cash
- Business travelers--who don't appreciate paying extra to go online--are becoming increasingly annoyed with hotel telephone surcharges
- Justice and the European Commission have initiated an antitrust investigation of the bromine business
- Airbus Industrie now sees a softer-than-expected downturn in the aerospace industry, says Chairman Noel Forgeard
- Home sales should hit record levels for a fourth consecutive year even if the U.S. economy cools down
- Corrugated box shipments are stronger than last year
- Major international oil firms are maintaining a tight leash on spending, raising concerns as to the impact on world oil supplies, says the International Energy Agency, energy watchdog for the West
- The computer industry's shift to selling systems and not just personal computers should trigger strong second-half sales
- Air Products and Chemicals will expand triethylenediamine catalyst capacity at its Paulsboro, N.J.
- AlliedSignal is buying Honeywell for $14.82 billion in stock, strengthening its aerospace business with the addition of Honeywell's control systems
- Prices
- Copper prices will rally to $2,500/metric ton ($1.13/lb) by the end of 2001
- Boston is the city with the most expensive office space in the nation
- Mills have announced a $40/ton price increase for folding cartonboard grades
- Sales tags for carbon cold-rolled steel sheet are stuck at $380/ton
- Average newsprint prices have plunged $40/ton since the first quarter
- Coated and uncoated free-sheet paper prices are moving up
- A $40 forms bond increase took effect in June
- Once a luxury, wireless phone service is storming the mass market as prices drop
- Rules proposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would have callers to wireless phones, rather than receivers, foot the bills
- Compaq Computer has introduced a "barebones" Presario 5300 line of personal computers
- Nucor has cut $30/ton from its price for wide-flange steel beams produced at its new light sections mill in Berkeley County, S.C.
- Indium buyers report a softening of spot pricing due to excess domestic and imported supply
- Spot prices for corrugating medium have crept up $5/ton, but that's nowhere near the $30/ton price hike proposed for May shipments
- With business travelers complaining loudly, major airlines cancelled 4% summer fare hikes
- Ferrovanadium prices are stuck at $5.10-$5.25/lb for 80% material
- A June price increase on envelope paper grades has flopped. Buyers think the mills will try
- Iridium is cutting commercial service prices worldwide for its satellite phone service
- PURCHASING SOFTWARE NEWS
- Personal computers
- Recycling resources
- SUPPLY INSIGHTS
- STRATEGIC COST INSIGHTS
- Nuts and bolts costs fall
- TRANSPORTATION
- Transportation '99
- GLOBAL ECONOMIC RALLY puts heat on shippers and carriers
- REGULATORY ISSUES
- Buyers: Rail line competition should be fostered
- TRANSPORTATION AND THE INTERNET
- More shippers will turn to the Net
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