Purchasing - February 17, 2005

The explosion in commodity prices in the past year has driven home the idea that procurement organizations need to look beyond price reductions for ways to reduce overall costs and improve the bottom line. And more and more, procurement is focusing on reorganizing its internal structures and streamlining its processes to enhance productivity and help cut costs.

• Departments
• Inside Purchasing
• The changing world of global procurement
• Logistics
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• Homeland Security Department to begin testing RFID to streamline border crossings
• With tight logistics capacity, forecast your shipping needs
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• Readers Sound Off
• Focus on the right suppliers

• Electronics and Technology News
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• Lead Free Update: How connector makers plan to comply with RoHs mandate
• DRAM outlook
• Falling price tags But are shortages possible?
• Distribution Update
• Avnet CEO sees slower growth
• Electronics Business Survey
• Orders decline
• Flash memory
• Prices to drop by one-third
• Global Sourcing
• Searching for new suppliers
• Information Technology
• Looser purse strings
• Passives
• Pricing stability returns to tantalum capacitors
• Rechargeable Batteries
• Emerging competition will result in stable prices
• Semiconductors
• Expect a "gentle decline" in digital signal processor tags

• Features
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• Distributors Grow globally
• Reverse Auctions
• Not just a cost-reduction tool
• Sourcing Strategy
• Managing the business services spend effectively
• Strategies
• How Celestica keeps costs down
• Supply Chain Solutions
• Managing costs in a high-price era

• News
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• How Supply Managers See High-Tech Business
• Prices
• Factors Affecting Product Cost
• Supply
• What's Happening in High-Tech Supply Chains
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• Key Metrics and Supply Alert