Purchasing articles from December 2005

Purchasing archives from December 2005

Leadtimes are mixed.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Staff Slightly more than half of the electronic component leadtimes tracked monthly by PURCHASING shrunk in November indicating weakening demand. Leadtimes for most passive components, connectors and electromechanical devices fell...

Purchasing and R&D strive to find the right fit.
December 8, 2005... David Hannon Buyers and researchers still struggling to break down walls in organizational structures Despite the communication fostered by Internet-based technologies and the heavy emphasis on new product development in the chemicals...

Storms and costlier energy cut supplies, boost prices.
December 8, 2005... Gordon Graff Purchasers of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) plastic resins are likely to find supplies somewhat constricted for the next few months as a result of hurricane-related chemical plant outages along the Gulf Coast....

Cost reduction just the start.
December 8, 2005... By Robert A. Rudzki LONG-TERM SUCCESS--even viability--of a company depends on its Return on Invested Capital (ROIC). ROIC is defined as the profits of a business divided by the total capital invested in the business (equity and long-term...

How to screen for bogus parts.
December 8, 2005... James Carbone Buyers need to make sure their nonfranchised distributors deal with reliable suppliers It's no secret many electronics buyers like to make opportunistic purchases from independent distributors who often sell parts for...

What's Hot.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... James Carbone About a dozen years ago electronics contract manufacturers used to say they were not just board stuffers, but "full-service" manufacturers. That meant in addition to building printed circuit boards, they could also do...

Expect standard cell chips to lead asic market growth.
December 8, 2005... Staff The application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) market will grow from $15 billion in 2004 to about $18 billion in 2009 as demand remains strong from consumer electronics equipment, computers and communications equipment. ...

Reverse auctions become more strategic for buyers.
December 8, 2005... James Carbone About five years ago, many electronics companies began using reverse auctions as a way to get a better price for parts from suppliers. Buyers said they often received 20% or more price reductions by buying parts through...

Key Metrics and Supply Alert.
December 8, 2005... Staff Greenpeace has called for an end to the use of brominated flame retardants in computer casings, solvents that clean circuit boards during the manufacturing process and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) used for cable and wiring. The...

Factors Affecting Product Cost.
December 8, 2005... Staff The steady price decline of NAND flash chips appears to have slowed. According to figures gathered by DRAMeXchange, 8-gigabit chips were $39.80 apiece in November, down from $40.80 in October and from $59.40 in January. Meanwhile,...

How Supply Managers See Business.
December 8, 2005... Staff "Economic growth in the U.S. is likely to moderate in coming months. But, there is no recession in sight," says Lakshman Achuthan, managing director at Economic Cycle Research Institute, an independent forecasting group. He admits...

What's Happening in Markets.
December 8, 2005... Staff Computers will account for half of all integrated circuits sold in 2005. The computer IC market will rise 7.3% to $96.5 billion in 2005 from $89.9 billion in 2004. That's an all-time revenue high for the computer IC market. The...

Buyers target energy bills.
December 8, 2005... Susan Avery Editor's Note: This is the second installment in our special coverage of "green" purchasing. Buyers in virtually all industries are turning toward environmentally friendly products and processes both for the savings...

More testing possible.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Gordon Graff Recent changes in laws and regulations governing air quality, toxic chemicals and renewable fuels could have far-reaching effects on the demand and pricing for a host of chemical commodities. The recently proposed Child,...

Shippers identify 'must haves' on their wish list.
December 8, 2005... David Hannon, Managing Editor Tools for carrier consolidation, automated tendering top priorities Logistics organizations, like so many others, are being asked to do more with less in today's business environment and leveraging...

Expect "volatile and nervous" markets.
December 8, 2005... By Tom Stundza Supply is tight while demand increases; or, supply is loose while demand decreases. Every metal has a different story. The base metals bull has been running out of control for three years now, but the inflationary beast...

Metalworking needs materials; supplies remain adequate.
December 8, 2005... Tom Stundza, Executive Editor Purchases will rise again in 2006 even though prices also will increase The solid 15% increase in durable goods manufacture over the past two years has boosted purchasing of metal parts by 23%, yet only...

What's Hot.
December 8, 2005... Tom Stundza, Executive Editor Despite rising costs for raw materials, energy, and labor; rising pricing pressures from downstream customers and foreign metal-casting competitors; and shrinking domestic markets over the past few years, some...

World stainless production seen rising 6% in 2006.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Staff The International Stainless Steel Forum expects the underlying demand for stainless steel products to rise by around 5% during 2006. That's why speakers at the ISSF latest conference in Seoul expect world stainless production to set...

LME still eyes steel futures.(London Metal Exchange )
December 8, 2005... Staff London Metal Exchange (LME) officials still are investigating the possibility of a price risk management tool for six steel products. The exchange is seeking data from reference price compilers to work with the LME to create and...

Novelis exits casting alloys in Europe.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Staff Alcan spin-off Novelis is quitting the aluminum casting alloys business in Europe and closing a small money-losing plant in Borgofranco, Italy, by the end of March of next year. "The casting alloys business is not a core part of...

Metals Chips.
December 8, 2005... Staff Steel Dynamics expanded its bar product operations with its purchase of Roanoke Electric Steel , a fabricator of small beams in Virginia, for $240 million. The deal includes Steel of West Virginia , a bar making subsidiary of...

Japanese steelmakers claim victory in cold-rolled sheet.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Staff A tariff no longer hangs over cold-rolled sheet sourced in Japan. Japanese steelmakers have won a belated victory after years of litigation and appeals in a trade case against cold-rolled sheet imports. The lack of further action in...

U.S. steel wire rod mills file unfair trade cases.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Staff Five domestic producers of carbon and alloy steel wire rod are seeking punitive duties for alleged dumping wire rod products from mills in China, Germany and Turkey. The domestic mills say they have been injured financially by sales...

Airbus flies with Kaiser.(Kaiser Aluminum)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Staff Kaiser Aluminum has signed a new long-term supply agreement for heavy-gauge aluminum plate to be used by Airbus in the production of its commercial jetliner aircraft. The multi-year agreement will significantly increase the amount of...

MRO purchasers make less money than their colleagues.(maintenance, repair and operations)
December 8, 2005... Staff But they get bonuses for meeting financial goals Purchasing professionals with responsibility for buying maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) goods and services earn $70,100, according to results of PURCHASING magazine's 2005...

HP's Connors to give NAPP event keynote.(Chris Connors)(National Association of Purchasing and Payables)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Staff The National Association of Purchasing & Payables has announced that Chris Connors, director of procurement strategy and planning, Hewlett-Packard, will deliver the keynote address at its annual conference February 5-8 at the...

The challenges of creating a global sourcing organization.(Merrill Lynch and Company Inc.)
December 8, 2005... William Atkinson Merrill Lynch centralizes and leverages new organization Until a year ago, Merrill Lynch operated with two separate procurement functions--one that was involved in technology sourcing and was an organized part of the...

Costs continue to challenge.
December 8, 2005... Staff That old bugaboo "cost control" continues to be uppermost on the minds of many purchasing professionals. Results of the latest P URCHASING magazine compensation survey reveal that rising prices and controlling costs are the...

Hackett report finds best procurement orgs see greater ROI.
December 8, 2005... Staff World-class procurement organizations generate 133% greater return on their investment in procurement than typical companies, driving an additional $3.6 million to their company's bottom line for every $1 million in procurement...

Compliance priority for '06.
December 8, 2005... Staff It looks like every penny spent next year is going to come under greater scrutiny. That's the word from American Express, which recently conducted its 2006 Expense Management Benchmark Survey of financial executives. Results show...

Who's News.(Jethro Joseph of DaimlerChrysler AG received 2005 Advocate Award )(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... Staff Jethro Joseph, DaimlerChrysler senior manager of diversity supplier development, received the 2005 Advocate Award from the Tuck School of Business at the Dartmouth Minority Business Executive Program (MBEP). Joseph was recognized for...

Centralize, but give power to the people.
December 8, 2005... Karen Prema A core item list helps consolidate the buy A brainstorming session with management led Jim Gwinn, director of purchasing, Ocean Properties, to centralize office supplies buying for 130 locations in North America. After the...

Applause, please.(salary surveys)
December 8, 2005... By Susan Avery Thanks in part to huge bonuses, purchasing compensation takes big jump At long last, top management is recognizing the value of purchasing by rewarding buyer performance with big fat bonuses. Results of PURCHASING...

Paychecks are bigger, but not by much.
December 8, 2005... By Susan Avery Chemicals purchasers are better compensated, but got smaller raises Purchasing professionals with responsibility for buying chemicals earn on average $79,200, an increase of 2.7% over their salaries last year, according...

The consensus builder.(Shelley Stewart, Jr. of Tyco International Ltd. (Pembroke, Bermuda) named Supply Chain Manager of the Year)
December 8, 2005... By Paul E. Teague Tyco's Shelley Stewart, Jr. named Purchasing magazine's first Supply Chain Manager of the Year It was bright and sunny that August day in 2003 when Shelley Stewart first walked into the Tyco corporate headquarters in...