Purchasing articles from August 2006

Purchasing archives from August 2006

Specialty non-pharma suppliers stress technologies to keep buyers.(nonpharmaceutical specialty chemicals)
August 17, 2006... By Gordon Graff To stem exodus to Asia, suppliers focus on cutting-edge products and scientific capabilities. As they have for several years, manufacturers of nonpharmaceutical specialty chemicals continue to grapple with overcapacity,...

Business Intelligence.(increase in energy prices)(increase in organic chemical prices)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff 71% Buyers reporting an increase in energy prices in July Source: www.purchasingdata.com What it means: Buyers should be used to these kinds of percentages by now, as the energy rate crisis continues to plague the...

Raw materials and energy price hikes continue to impact prices.
August 17, 2006... Jim Lavelle The major trends currently underway in the plastic additives industry are the geographical relocation of manufacturing and an increase in prices driven primarily by the escalating cost of raw materials over the last two years....

Dow unit ups nitrile butadiene.(nitrile butadiene latex price to be increased)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Maria Varmazis Citing the rise in energy and raw material costs, Dow Reichhold Specialty Latex announced a worldwide 5% price increase on nitrile butadiene (NB) latex for glove manufacture. "Methacrylic acid, acrylonitrile and, to a lesser...

Business Intelligence.(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff 61% Electronics buyers who report business is improving Source: www.purchasingdata.com What it means: OEMs are seeing a pickup in demand for their products as they begin to build for the upcoming holiday selling season....

Big growth for tiny packages.
August 17, 2006... James Carbone The popularity of cell phones, iPods and other portable equipment is driving suppliers to produce more semiconductors in chip scale, quad flat pack no lead (QFN) and small ball grid array (BGA) packages. There is also...

Distributors focus on design services.(application specific integrated circuit)(field programmable gate array)
August 17, 2006... Staff Buyers can expect electronics distributors to beef up their design services offerings and their overall technical expertise of parts over the next year as more electronics OEMs outsource at least part of their design activity to...

LED market brightens; tags fall.(light emitting diodes prices to fall)
August 17, 2006... Staff Buyers can expect prices for light emitting diodes (LEDs) to fall 10-15% over the next year because of excess capacity in Asia, especially for LEDs used in cell phone keypads. Despite falling prices, the LED market will grow 8%...

Portable consumer devices drive integrated passive device growth.
August 17, 2006... Staff Portable electronic devices including cell phones and military and medical products are driving growth for integrated passive devices (IDPs). The bad news for buyers is strong growth coupled with higher raw materials costs means...

Brace for price hikes ahead for cooling fans.(transportation surcharges)(plastics and metals)
August 17, 2006... Staff Buyers can expect cooling fan manufacturers to push for price hikes later in the year because of higher material costs, especially for plastics and metals. Whether price hikes materialize remains to be seen. Buyers of fans and...

Confidence index up.(Conference Board index of consumer sentiment)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Consumer confidence rose cautiously in July but overall sentiment in months ahead will most probably stay below levels touched earlier this year. The Conference Board index of consumer sentiment climbed in July to 106.5, up from...

Cell phone sales perked up.
August 17, 2006... Staff Producers say the strong demand for pricey, gadget-packed cell phones boosted handset shipments in the second quarter. Nokia shipped 78.4 million second quarter phones while Motorola shipped 51.9 million phones and Samsung 29...

Bio-platic capacity expands.(Cereplast recently partnered with Duni of Sweden )(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Cereplast is doubling its annual bio-resins capacity to 27 million lbs this summer with plans to make 40 million lbs by year-end. Cereplast recently partnered with Duni of Sweden on a line of thermoformed food containers to replace...

Dow grows mideast plans.(in Kuwait and Oman)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Dow chemical has been aggressively growing its Middle East production with expansions in Kuwait and Oman. Dow also joined with Saudi Aramco to develop a chemicals and plastics plant in Saudi Arabia to produce 3 million metric tons of...

What"s in short supply?
August 17, 2006... Staff Buyers in Purchasing's monthly survey report problems sourcing: - Plastic pipe and tube - Specialty microchips - Certain capacitors - Magnet wire - RoHS-compliant electronic components - Pressure...

Can oil weather the storm?(domestic oil production)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff The beleaguered u.s. oil industry believes it has prepared sufficiently to weather another round of severe hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico this season. However, production hasn't yet recovered from Katrina and Rita, which took out...

Machinery is booming.(5% gain in 2005 )(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff U.S. machinery manufacturers reported a 12% increase in production in 2004, a 5% gain in 2005 and annualized growth so far this year of 6%. In an effort to maintain their competitive edge internationally, U.S. businesses have been...

Manufacturing is strong.(Blue Chip Economic Indicators)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Manufacturing output is on target to expand by around 5% in 2006 for the third consecutive year. Helped by a weaker dollar and strong global economic growth, U.S. companies are finding increasingly eager customers abroad. Next year,...

Housing is sputtering.(Commerce Department reports)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff For many years, the housing market has been the economic engine that could, but its spark plugs are looking shot. Housing starts fell 5.3% during June, the Commerce Department reports, and building permits fell for the fifth straight...

Flash outook bright.(memory cards for portable electronics )(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Sandisk says sales of flash-memory products have been up and down so far this year but is optimistic about a pickup in demand in the second half. The maker of memory cards for portable electronics sees "an anticipated demand upswing...

Speciality rules could flop.(Tighter restrictions on purchasing)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Stiffer "buy american" rules for defense contractors won't fly, says Kiplinger Reports . President Bush and the Senate will shoot down a bid by metals producers to require that only U.S.-sourced titanium, nickel and specialty steels...

Aerospace is roaring back.(Boeing Co )(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff The U.S. aircraft and parts industry, which was on the skids from 1999 through 2003, has seen a remarkable turnaround since 2004. Boeing's initial success was due to an increase in military orders, but this year commercial aircraft...

Plastic compounds surge.(forecasts and trends)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff The north american market for plastic compounds will grow nearly 4% annually from 63 billion lbs in 2005 to reach almost 80 billion lbs by 2011, estimate researchers at BCC Research. Growth in the plastic-compounding business will be...

Buyers plan to pay more for corrugated containers.(prices and rates for corrugated containers)(Statistical table)
August 17, 2006... Staff Buyers plan to pay more for corrugated containers (Buyers 90-day price expectations) -------------------------------------------- UP DOWN SAME INDEX Transportation 76%...

PE increases aren't sticking.(polyethylene prices)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Two proposed price increases on commodity grades of polyethylene resins totaling 12¢/lb are on the table, but developed no traction in July. Producers insist the proposed hikes had just been postponed to August. Buyers, who see...

Asphalt continues to climb.(Asphalt Contractors Association report on Asphalt price)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff In the last year and a half, the national price of asphalt has almost doubled to $1.62/lb in July from 88¢, according to the Asphalt Contractors Association.

Mills want tool-steel hikes.(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Reinvestment in new machinery and heavy equipment isn't boosting demand for tool steel this year the way it did in 2005. In attempting to justify a second round of 4% price increases on tool and die steel plate products this summer,...

Costs high, inflation slows.(commodity price index slips)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Purchasing 's Commodity Price Index (100=1992) for July showed 0.6% slippage from June, when the index slipped 0.9%. But overall the industrial supplies index remains 15% higher than the same period a year ago. For more information,...

Boxboard prices higher.(Coated recycled boxboard price increases)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Coated recycled boxboard (CRB) prices increased $20/ton to $645 in July, buyers report, although producers had targeted a $40/ton hike from May's price average of $615. Mills say reduced CRB capacity has extended leadtimes in the...

Nonferrous prices are up.(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff J.P. Morgan securities raised its 2006 price forecast for nonferrous metals because inventories continue to slide from strong demand and limited expansion of capacity. The brokerage now is looking for aluminum to average $1.13/lb, up...

Coal prices may crumble.(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Coal prices have become brittle and may have peaked in the first quarter. Analysts expect prices to drop due to growing production and higher utility stockpiles. "The supply-demand imbalance that drove coal prices higher the last...

Expect lower lumber prices.(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Purchasingdata.com 's price index of lumber products dropped in July to the lowest level since August 2005. But, with housing-construction starts falling for most of 2006 to date, second-half demand for framing lumber is about to...

Gas prices slow demand.(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff U.S. gasoline demand picked up in July averaging 9.6 million barrels/day, compared to 9.5 million barrels/day in June. But, consumption of the fuel is growing at a lower rate than normal, showing consumers are feeling the pinch, says...

Brace for fan price hikes.(fan equipment prices and rates)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Buyers take note: Cooling-fan makers will push for price hikes of 2-4% later in the year because of higher material costs. Whether price hikes materialize remains to be seen. Fan buyers have typically looked for 5-10% annual price...

Steel plate market stiffens.(steel plate prices)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Transaction prices for hot-rolled steel plate in coil averaged $775/ton in July, a 2% gain from June but under the $780 forecast. Mike Willemse at CIBC World Markets says plate markets remain firm, with demand remaining strong and...

Butanol prices stay firm.(butanol prices and rates)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Butanol has been stuck at 65¢/lb since April and the effort of North American suppliers to raise pricing by 3¢ in July was a struggle won by buyers, according to the latest Purchasing surveys and data available. Butanol...

Gold volatility continures.(gold prices and rates)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff High and volatile prices will continue to scare physical gold buyers in most parts of the world, but some markets such as China and Japan will remain strong, says analyst Paul Walker at GFMS Ltd. Price changes lifted gold to a...

Leadtimes move out.(usage of electronic components)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Electronic component leadtimes were mixed in July as 23 of 41 leadtimes stretched in the month, according to Purchasing' s monthly survey. Most memory chips stretched, with 128 megabit (Mb) devices expanding from 5.5 weeks in...

Business Intelligence.(diesel prices)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff $2B Current investment in expansion by small parcel carriers Source: Industrial Info Resources What it means: Carriers are adding capacity and services at every turn. In May, UPS said it was expanding its air package hub...

The right parcel carrier improves the bottom line.(TechRestore)
August 17, 2006... David Hannon In 2004, electronics repair business TechRestore was averaging between 300 and 500 service requests a month. Today, less than two years later, the Concord, Calif.-based company is handling as many as 1,500 requests a month and...

SCS sells Jevic unit, focuses on Saia.(acquisitions, sales and earnings of SCS Transportation)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Trucking firm SCS Transportation has sold its troubled Jevic unit for an estimated $40 million private investment firm Sun Capital Partners and has made several other changes to focus on its Saia LTL business. The SCS board had...

Small parcel news.(FedEx launches Critical Inventory Logistics)(United Parcel Service of America Inc. contract from the U.S. Postal Service)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff FedEx launches Critical Inventory Logistics FedEx recently launched its new Critical Inventory Logistics service focusing on high value and time critical inventory for shippers in telecommunication, semiconductor, biomedical and...

Supplier partnerships help solve design problems for special parts.
August 17, 2006... By Paul E. Teague Sometimes, face-to-face meetings uncover new ways to work together, and to help reach common objectives. "With the uncertainties related to the current market, metals users and buyers must form a partnership with...

Business Intelligence.(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff 850,000 Annual tonnageof new bar mill Source: Nucor Corp. What it means: Expanded supply ahead for 3- to 9-inch rounds of SBQ, or special bar quality, steel products needed to make certain automotive parts, hand tools,...

Auto industry turmoil reduces purchasing of value-added parts.
August 17, 2006... Tom Stundza Purchasing of powder metal by parts makers staged a bit of a rally in the second quarter but, overall, the first-half market continued the contraction started in 2005 because of reduced demand from a struggling domestic...

U.S. mills want trade action against China.
August 17, 2006... Staff The american steel industry wants U.S. trade officials to take action against the Chinese government for allegedly subsidizing its steelmakers. A study prepared for domestic steel industry groups alleges China's forgiveness of...

MVPs.(agreements are helping reduce costs )(Company overview)
August 17, 2006... By Susan Avery Meet the leaders in MRO purchasing. The editors selected these seven champions--from a variety of industries--based on nominations from colleagues, managers and suppliers. They all have one thing in common--they listen to...

Think like your global partners think.
August 17, 2006... Paul Teague, Editor in Chief Diplomats in the u.s. foreign service spend a lot of time studying the history and culture of the countries and people they have to deal with. They know that to be effective they have to develop a keen...

Buying office supplies online is savings in the bank.(Staples Contract )
August 17, 2006... Nancy Hitchcock When purchasing office supplies, customization is key for Century Bank, a $1.65 billion bank with 22 branches throughout Northeastern Massachusetts. Century Bank has been purchasing office supplies online from one...

Business Intelligence.(Office document solutions market in 2009)(Pacific Office Automation selected as Toshiba America Business Solutions Dealer of the Year)(Honeywell Inc enters into a contract with Xerox Corp)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff $1.4 billion Office document solutions market in 2009 Source: InfoTrends What it means: With the market estimated at $740 million in 2006, such categories of spending as document management continue to grow. #1 ...

Acquisitions present challenges, benefits for midmarket procurement.(acquisition of Spectra-Physics )
August 17, 2006... David Hannon It's not uncommon for midmarket companies to grow by acquisition. It's also not uncommon for the procurement organization at a midmarket company to be presented with some major integration challenges as a result of such...

Chip growth reaches new heights.(sale and earnings of semiconductor industry)
August 17, 2006... By James Carbone Wireless and consumer electronics equipment and computers will drive chip industry growth over the next three years. Strong sales will mean more investment by chipmakers and expanded semiconductor supply. Semiconductor...

Best practices in action.
August 17, 2006... By Maria Varmazis Just as global sourcing changes how procurement works, it changes how procurement looks at supplier diversity. Cut spend. Consolidate the supply base. Increase supplier diversity? The first two might seem like a death...

Business Intelligence.
August 17, 2006... Staff 75% Firms lacking global supply chain automation Source: Aberdeen Group What it means: Aberdeen says the lack of visibility and control not only creates longer lead times and higher inventory but impacts corporate risk...

Spend consolidation takes another view at Scotts.(Lawn and garden products)
August 17, 2006... William Atkinson In the era of elevated commodity pricing, companies are continually looking for ways to better leverage their spend both internally and externally. Lawn and garden products maker Scotts Co. of Marysville, Ohio has extended...

Partner with suppliers to smooth out price fluctuations.
August 17, 2006... William Atkinson The commodity price roller coaster has many buyers feeling like they have whiplash this year (although, in truth, it's been more gut-wrenching climbs than thrilling plunges). And like many buyers, Ronald Wright, integrated...

Purchasing execs on the move...(Williams-Sonoma Inc promotes Dean Miller as executive vice president)(AmeriNet promotes Curtis Miller as chief information officer and Randall Walter as executive vice president )(Pageantry Communities promotes John Fareio as vice president)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Dean Miller, senior vice president of global logistics and sourcing at retailer Williams Sonoma, has been promoted to executive vice president and chief supply chain officer. Miller will retain his current responsibilities in...

More evidence ocean rates are sinking.(freight rates and rising fuel costs)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff In late june, A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, the world's largest shipowner, cut its profit forecast citing dropping freight rates and rising fuel costs. In a Bloomberg report, Philip Damas, a director in London at Drewry Shipping...

CSCMP hosts sourcing conference.(Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals )(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) will host Procurement & Global Sourcing 2006 in conjunction with its annual conference in San Antonio, Texas, October 15-18. New this year, Procurement & Global Sourcing...

EU charges Mastercard with price-fixing.(European union)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff The European Commission has charged Mastercard and its Maestro branded cards with fixing the fees Staffthey charge retailers to accept their cards. "The Commission's preliminary view is that such behavior is contrary to the EC...

Air export, ground parcel shipments hit highs.(report from the Colography Group)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff U.S. airfreight exports and domestic small-parcel shipments set new records in 2005, according to a recent report from the Colography Group. The report says air exports hit an unprecedented 92.4 million shipments (surpassing the 90...

API creates materials management org.(professional business relationships)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Aviation industry supply chain specialists Aerospace Products International has created a new materials management organization. According to company officials, the new group will "develop strong, professional business relationships...

Executive news.(export violations)(Brief article)
August 17, 2006... Staff Purchasing VP pleads guilty to export violations Michael Dorfman, vice president of purchasing at State Metal Industries in Camden, N.J., may be off to prison. Dorfman pleaded guilty to violating U.S. export laws and making false...

Corrections.(Correction notice)
August 17, 2006... Staff Richard D. Fain's name was misspelled on page 80 of the July 13 issue of Purchasing . He is the chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises. Also, the profile for SAFC on page 52C16 incorrectly stated the number of products SAFC...

Collaboration trumps negotiations.
August 17, 2006... By Paul E. Teague Sheer negotiations skills aren't enough for success when dealing with suppliers in different countries. It's more important to understand the cultural differences that can affect business relationships--and then manage...

Pricing dominates discussion.
August 17, 2006... Staff Quarterly questions Regarding "Buyers open new doors to beat price hikes," (Purchasing, June 15, 2006; p. 57), if the new strategies being pursued by buyers are to move from spot purchasing to quarterly contracts with...