Purchasing - April 19, 2007

It's no secret that engineers and purchasers don't always see eye to eye. As more companies urge their procurement staff to team up with other departments—like engineering—to gain more cost-effective products, inevitably there's increased chance of conflicting wills between the two groups.

• Electronics and Technology News
• Electronics Leadtimes
• Most leadtimes shrink
• Electronics Trends
• Cree's white LEDs warm up
• Prices for large LCD panels to fall until the third quarter
• Business Intelligence-Electronics purchasers who say business is improving; Buyers who plan to increase purchase orders in the next 90 days; Purchasers who say semiconductor prices will be stable over the next 90 days
• TSMC to use .18 micron
• Digi-Key, APEM ink deal
• Micron to open chip facility in China
• Passives: Expect stable prices and steady leadtimes for resistors
• NAND flash prices to fall despite strong demand from OEMs

• Features
• Microsoft's Silent Partners
• Global Sourcing
• The Bridge to India (under construction)

• News and Departments
• Economy + Supply
• Growth Losing Speed
• SEMI Orders Take A Dip
• PACT Favors Consumers
• LSI Logic Owns Agere
• BOC Edwards Sold
• Housing Index Slides
• DHL Automates in Calif.
• Bidders Eye Palm
• IMF: No U.S. Recession
• Firms Ink NAND Chip Deal
• PC Shipments to Rise
• Infineon Exits Fiber Optics
• Airline Woes Continue
• Intel Outlines New Chips
• Chip Firms Enter China
• Xerox Buys Distributor
• Logistics
• Business Intelligence- Freight buyers reporting price increases in March; Buyers expecting freight rate hikes in the next 90 days; Total U.S. container traffic handled by LA and Long Beach
• Ocean freight rates and demand remain stubbornly high
• CandleScience sheds light on inbound shipments with new tools
• My Turn
• How to win friends and influence colleagues
• Office
• Office distributors give buyers greater access to green products
• Business Intelligence-Employees that admit taking pencils or pens from work for personal use; What Xerox spent to buy Global Imaging Systems; Amount of the world's ink and toner currently made in China
• Prices
• Plasma Screens Drop
• Prices
• Microchip Tags Down
• Gold Bug is Bullish
• Nickel Rationing Ahead?
• Materials May Inflate
• Watch Illinois Power
• Copper will Stay High
• Price War not Over
• NAND will Keep Sliding
• Iran Boosts Oil Tags
• LCD Panels are Down
• Drams are Dimmer
• Keep an Eye on These Prices
• Strategies + Tactics
• Rio Tinto purchasing uses e-marketplace for supply chain efficiency