AUTOMOTIVE/OEM
BUYLINES
Buylines
BUYLINES
CPI Edition
CPI EDITION
CPI Edition PROFESSIONAL PROFILE - BASF
CPI EDITION
HOTLINE - Count on delays on rail freight moving north out of Mexico
- Be on watch for disruptions in barge shipping on the Mississippi this spring and summer
- Here's another place to check for Year- 2000 computer bugs: computerized maintenance schedules and agreements
- Look for Greece and Bulgaria to be spotlighted in drive to wipe out software piracy
- Be on the lookout for buying opportunities on a wide range of industrial products
- Also offering an interesting buying opportunities target: industrial and commercial machinery producers
- On the hazard side are a number of industries where prices have been falling while costs have continued to rise
- Watch out for possibly serious shortages of cargo containers on Asia-eastbound shipping runs--as early as May
- Keep an eye on attempts to streamline U.S. Customs procedures
- Last chance to register for New England Suppliers Institute "Total Cost Reduction Conference '98,"
- Do you know how your firm's transportation buy affects other supply chain strategies?
- Shop early for Year-2000 computer insurance
- Look for economy to grow at a 2.2%-2.5% rate for 1998
- Keep an eye on office rents
- Expect serious shipping problems through the Panama Canal for most of the year
- You can breathe a little easier about cargo theft in Russia
- Expect to hear a lot of these words in the months ahead: "energy efficient, fewer parts, interchangeability of parts, longer life under corrosive conditions."
Economy - Keep an eye on money supply
- Beware suppliers' delivery promises
- Inflation hawks got more ammo last month
- Business failures rose 16% in 1997
- Yardeni raises Y2K global recession odds
- Enter Purchasing's economic forecast contest
Markets - The National Association of Home Builders' monthly business activity index slipped
- Leaps in computer processing power will spark a boom in Internet use
- W.R. Grace & Co. of Boca Raton, Fla., has transformed itself into a specialty chemicals firm
- Cement producer Southdown will acquire industry rival Medusa
- Arch Coal has struck a deal to buy Atlantic Richfield's coal operations
- The $2.5 billion marriage of Bowater Inc., Greenville, S.C., and Avenor Inc., Montreal
- Major appliance shipments will total 55.5 million units
- Ford Motor and Mazda Motor Corp. plan to build their first jointly produced automobile
- American Acryl
- Norandal USA of Brentwood, Tenn., will spend $240 million to build
- Eaton Corp. has agreed to sell its automotive leaf spring unit in Southfield, Mich.
- Goodyear Tire and Rubber is putting its 50,000 tire/day Union City, Tenn., plant on a continuous operating schedule
- General Motors has agreed to sell its Delphi lighting business
- Sharp Corp. of Japan has agreed with Amkor Electronics Inc. of the U.S. to cooperate on production of CSPs
- Federal Express plans to build a $50-million truck distribution facility
- The Viracon unit of Apogee Enterprises will build a $35-million glass fabricating facility
Prices - Unleaded gasoline continued its six-month tumble
- opec is trying to implement a global 2-3 million bbl/day reduction
- "Homeless exports" from Southeast Asia have flooded world polypropylene markets
- Expect to see 64-megabit drams at around $13 by year-end
- Analysts expect some tightening in the differential between oriented strand board (OSB) and plywood
- Buyers say they won't pay more for polyethylene resins
- IBM and Compaq are dueling to offer the cheapest basic corporate PCs
- Canadian lumber exports to the U.S. start a new quota year in April
- Travel buyers may soon see some slippage in hotel lodging rates
- Intel has slashed prices on the fastest version of its Pentium II processor
- Finnish and Swedish pulp producers are trying to force the issue on Norscan
- Spot-market alumina is expected to average $190/metric ton this year
- IBM and Motorola are now selling a 300-megahertz version of the high-performance PowerPC 750 microprocessor
INSIDE PURCHASING
METALS
| Metals
METALS
PRODUCT UPDATE
Product Update
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
RECYCLING RESOURCES
SUPPLY INSIGHTS
TRANSPORTATION
TRUCKING REPORT '98
Trucking Report '98
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