Purchasing - April 1, 2004

Businesses have used optimization or operations research—a proven, mathematics-based approach for complex decision-making—for many years. Airlines use it in flight planning. Manufacturers use it in factory scheduling. Transportation companies use it in advanced logistics management. But only recently—say within the past three to five years—have the pieces started falling...

• CPI Edition
• Chemforecast
• Contract price tops charts as supply shortfall emerges
• Exclusive Business Data
• Chem recovery gathers steam
• International Sourcing
• Purchasing chemicals from India: Lots of opportunities

• Departments
• Buylines
• Contracting mistakes
• Buyers on latest crisis
• Kudos
• Why payment terms still count in the electronic age
• Who's news
• Manufacturers will pay more for raw materials in '04
• Who's got strategic sourcing on the brain?
• The importance of demand forecasting with long leads
• Version *.*
• Stanford weighs in
• Global Procurement Conference
• Become World Class in Supply Management
• Inside Purchasing
• New tech tools for better decisions
• MRO
• Timken leverages spending after Torrington acquisition
• What's hot

• Features
• LTL Optimization
• Stop the waste and start the savings
• Steel
• Forging stronger links in the steel supply chain

• Metals
• What's hot
• Automotive Steels
• All eyes turn to new ways of making high-strength grades
• Copper
• China has mavens calling for $1 cathode in 2004
• Exclusive Business Data
• Buyers say steel creates big woes

• News
• Economy
• How supply managers see business
• Prices
• Factors affecting product cost
• Supply
• What's happening in markets
• Tip Sheet
• Key metrics and supply alert