Purchasing articles from January 2006

Purchasing archives from January 2006

Pricier petrochemicals generates interest in going au natural.(linear alkylbenzene sulfonates)
January 12, 2006... Staff The big story in surfactants, at least for those derived from petroleum, is their soaring cost. But surfactants are the detergent ingredients most responsible for emulsifying and removing grease and soil from articles in a wash, so...

Fuel blends are driver in mostly balanced market.(ethanol market)
January 12, 2006... Gordon Graff Ethanol producers are riding the crest of a wave of demand created by new laws that encourage blending this alcohol with gasoline. Markets for these blending applications are generally balanced, but supplies of industrial...

Business Intelligence.(chemical buyers)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff 47% Buyers at chemical-consuming firms reporting improved business conditions. Source: purchasingdata.com WHAT IT MEANS: Growth in manufacturing of products requiring chemicals has been steady but unspectacular since...

Nova Chemicals enhances moldable foam resin.(Arcel 730)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff Nova Chemicals of Pittsburgh has begun marketing an advanced Arcel 730-brand moldable foam resin, featuring reduced bead size. The new foam combines the toughness of polyethylene with the process ability of polystyrene and reduces...

Market expansion may be more worldwide than local.(plastics market)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff Increasing use of electronics in automobiles is driving a demand surge for plastics used in such components. Market researcher Frost & Sullivan estimates that plastics used in automotive electrical and lighting systems worldwide will...

Riopol is now online.(Rio Polimeros)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff There's a new polyethylene resins plant in the Americas since the Rio Polimeros (Riopol) subsidiary of polypropylene giant Suzano Petroquimica went into production in November near Rio de Janeiro. The new Brazilian resins...

BASF develops plastic based on renewable raw materials.(Ecovio LBX 8145)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff BASF has invented and begun marketing in Europe a corn-based flexible plastic film that can be used to produce plastic shopping bags. Ecovio is made from polylactic acid, made from corn, and Ecoflex, which is based on petrochemicals....

Chemical Elements.(acquisitions)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff Celanese of Dallas is selling its cyclo-olefine copolymer business to a joint venture of Daicel Chemical Industries and Polyplastics , both of Japan. The joint venture will be headquartered in Germany and will continue operations...

How to outsource your way to competitive advantage.(trends)
January 12, 2006... By Theresa Metty Outsourcing is hot. Everyone is doing it. But here's a surprise: Few companies are doing it well. The reasons for outsourcing vary widely: to save money, improve flexibility, reduce capital, improve quality. Before you...

Lean drives Solectron's sourcing.(Lean manufacturing purchasing strategy)(Company Profile)
January 12, 2006... Staff If Solectron Corp. had a slogan that summed up its purchasing strategy it would be "leverage globally, execute locally." The electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider, based in Milpitas, Calif., has a centralized...

Business Intelligence.(electronics industry)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff 60% Electronics buyers reporting improved business last month. WHAT IT MEANS: The electronics industry had a strong finish in 2005, which can help suppliers make substantial investments in new technologies and capacity...

EMS industry evolves.(electronic manufacturing services)
January 12, 2006... Staff The electronic manufacturing services industry has evolved over the years from being a very tactical link in the supply chain to a very strategic one. In fact, until the 1990s, the term EMS provider didn't exist. EMS companies...

Kemet parts added.(SpotComponents)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff SpotComponents, an internet-based authorized distributor of electronics components, has added Kemet leaded ceramic and tantalum capacitors to its passive component selection. The Kemet parts add 10 million pieces spanning more...

Auto IC market surges.(integrated circuits)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff The automotive integrated circuit (IC) market will grow 6.9% to $13.9 billion in 2006, representing about 7% of the $292.8 billion worldwide IC market, according to a new study by IC Insights. The new report says the auto IC...

Relief in sight, but...(commodity prices)
January 12, 2006... By Tom Stundza Commodity prices may slide a little, but that won't bring as much relief for buyers as they might like. Transaction prices often will remain higher than historical averages. The doubling in prices of energy and some key...

Prices to flatten.(electronic components)
January 12, 2006... By James Carbone Price erosion for most electronic components will ease in 2006. Inventory levels have been reduced and supply and demand will be more in balance. Growth in the electronics industry in 2006 will be similar to 2005, but...

High expectations.(Eclipse Aviation Corp.)(Company Profile)
January 12, 2006... By Susan Avery At Eclipse Aviation, procurement uses strategic sourcing and aggressive cost control to help drive innovative jet design. Purchasing professionals searching for a good example of early supplier involvement in design need...

New Year's resolution: Control travel spend.(Verizon Communications Inc.'s online travel booking )
January 12, 2006... By Karen Prema Online booking services could save money. Here's a new year's resolution for 2006: Visualize, manage and leverage as much travel spend as possible. How? Through policy, technology and reports. According to American...

Big ideas for midsize companies.(purchasing strategies)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff Midsize companies--those with between 100 and 999 employees--are a hotbed of strategic-sourcing activity, and for good reason: Their CEOs are depending on purchasing to find ways to better control spending. On the following pages...

Consolidation is the key.(Kimball Electronics Inc.)
January 12, 2006... James Carbone Kimball Electronics has a five-year plan to reach $1 billion in revenue and believes strategic sourcing and tapping into its suppliers' expertise will help it achieve that goal. The electronics manufacturing services...

Cost cutting is just the start.(National Instruments Corp.)
January 12, 2006... Susan Avery There's more to purchasing than cost reduction, says Mark Mirelez, global procurement manager at National Instruments in Austin, Texas. In no way is he diminishing the success of his team--they've rung up double-digit...

Industry shows modest gain but feedstock costs remain a headache.(laundry detergent markets)
January 12, 2006... Gordon Graff Demand for soaps and detergents was reasonably robust in 2005, but surging petroleum and natural gas prices set off a round of price increases in detergent raw materials. These economic pressures spurred detergent makers,...

Buyers' 90-day price expectations.(commodities)
January 12, 2006... Staff Commodities voted most likely to rise in price by February. Core inflation creeps Buyers agree on one thing: Prices on most things they buy are not coming down. Inflation for the year will be about 4%, but the government's...

30-day buying plans.(commodities)
January 12, 2006... Staff Commodities voted most likely to be bought in the next 30 days White House hypes economy White House economic advisors project the U.S. 2006 gross domestic product will expand by 3.4%, just about the rate of growth expected...

Leadtime Report.(electronics)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff Flying into a shortage Staff Purchasingdata.com reports that leadtimes for delivery of titanium-based superalloys had risen steadily from an average 11 weeks a year ago to 15 weeks before they exploded to 35 weeks in...

Torino Olympics get off the ground.(International Games Group, DHL and providing services to United States Olympic Committee)
January 12, 2006... David Hannon If you're like most supply chain professionals, you'll be watching the Olympic games taking place in Italy next month (February 10-26, 2006) and have two questions: "How do these athletes get themselves in such great...

Logistics.(trucking rates)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... David Hannon 7% Hike in costs from higher fuel prices. Source: Members of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA) WHAT IT MEANS: A likely increase in rates from the 12 shipping lines in the TSA. In fact, the cost of...

Rate increases may take more shipments out of the air.(express delivery services)
January 12, 2006... David Hannon Small parcel carriers UPS and FedEx recently released 2006 rates and for the first time, FedEx released its air express rates before UPS. FedEx in early October said the rates for its Express business would climb 5.5% on...

Buyers boxed in by mergers.(metals industry)
January 12, 2006... By Tom Stundza With fewer mills, buyers are plagued by busted partnerships, late deliveries, lack of supply-base information and price volatility. Back in 2003, when metals industry consolidations were just beginning to gain steam,...

Buyers unsure if supply will rise and prices fall.(galvanized steel sheet)
January 12, 2006... Tom Stundza Galvanized steel sheet prices have declined by 21% since transaction tags set a record in the autumn of 2004. What's ahead for 2006 is uncertain, but buyers suggest they are likely to slide. That's because the rate of...

Business Intelligence.(metal markets)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Tom Stundza 48% Buyers reporting improved business conditions. Source: purchasingdata.com WHAT IT MEANS: Growth in manufacturing of metal-bearing goods has been less stellar than expected. Still, there are forecasts of boosted...

How to cut storeroom costs.(reduce costs associated )(maintenance, repair and operations )
January 12, 2006... Susan Avery This is the first in a series of stories that looks at ways to cut costs surrounding the purchase of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) goods and services. "One way to reduce costs associated with the MRO buy is to...

Business Intelligence.(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Susan Avery 10% Portion of MRO spend a company can save by eliminating its storeroom. WHAT IT MEANS: Concentrating on core competencies can free up purchasing's time for more strategic activities. 79,2K Salary average...

Pcard pros to meet in Orlando.(Procurement Card)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Susan Avery Dr. Richard Palmer, Lumpkin Distinguished Professor of Business and co-author of the Purchasing Card Benchmark Survey, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the National Association of Procurement Card Professionals...

New look, but the commitment is the same.(packaging methods)
January 12, 2006... Paul Teague, Editor in Chief With this issue of Purchasing , we unveil a new look and packaging that will make the vital tactical and strategic information you've come to rely on from this magazine more accessible and more useful than...

No paper, no problem.(paper making)
January 12, 2006... Karen Prema CAN DO Fitness based in Wayne, N.J. manages its clients and procurement activities without printing or storing a single piece of paper. Across its three locations with a fourth in the works, it maximizes the use of scanning...

Business Intelligence.
January 12, 2006... Karen Prema 39% Buyers reporting higher paper prices Source: purchasingdata.com WHAT IT MEANS: Raw material increases and high freight rates are pushing tags higher. 17.8% Document management growth in 2005 ...

Buyers purchase more boxes.(shipment data)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff Buyers have been purchasing substantially more corrugated boxes than in several previous months; in fact, box shipments have been close to breaking per-day average records since October. Analysts say the buyers began booking heavily...

Tips for buying folding cartons.(Independent Carton Group)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff Purchasing managers buy about $10 billion worth of folding cartons every year. Andy Willie, executive director of the Independent Carton Group, has a few suggestions for making sure buyers get what they want: Consider using a...

Business Intelligence.(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff 35% Portion of buyers expecting price hikes for corrugated. Source: www.purchasingdata.com WHAT IT MEANS: Buyers resist price hikes. Only a minority of buyers accept the price increases as justified. Only 26% see the...

Suppliers are global partnersat Boeing.(Global Partners)
January 12, 2006... Susan Avery The word "partners" gets tossed around a lot in purchasing circles, and has more meaning for some than for others. For Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), the word partners, or, in this case, "global partners," describes so...

Hotel chains awaken to the value of the supply chain.(supply chain management)
January 12, 2006... William Atkinson Joseph Yacura, president of consulting firm Supply Chain Management in Ridgewood, N.J., says the hospitality industry as a whole is starting to awaken to the value of supply chain. "Currently, we are about two to three...

Business Intelligence.(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff 4.5% The uptick of Purchasing 's commodity price index in December. WHAT IT MEANS: A month ago, it looked as if hurricane-related price increases were finally abating. But prices trended up again in the final month of 2005....

Choice Hotels leverages in-house e-procurement tool.(e-business)
January 12, 2006... William Atkinson While some observers consider the hospitality industry to be a little "behind the curve" when it comes to e-procurement and other procurement technology tools, Choice Hotels International of Silver Spring, Md., definitely...

CHIP chops the revenue/expense gap.(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff CHIP Hospitality in Vancouver, British Columbia is a real estate investment trust with 31 properties, including Best Westerns, Holiday Inns, Radissons, and Ramadas, that considers cost management a high priority. "Senior management...

Supplier diversity news.(GlaxoSmithKline and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation )(Brief Article)
January 12, 2006... Staff GlaxoSmithKline and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) are expanding their partnership to increase the ability of small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) to compete in a global economy. GSK is donating $500,000 to the...

Corrections.
January 12, 2006... Staff In the November 3 story in the chemicals section (Purchasing , November 3, 2005, page 32C2), on one reference, Robert Mouser, vice president of national accounts for Brenntag, was mistakenly identified as being from Chemcentral. The...

Intel honors its best suppliers.
January 12, 2006... Staff Most successful individuals have role models, people whose dedication and accomplishments they try to emulate. Businesses have role models too, companies whose product quality and service set a great example for others. Intel...

Peeved on price hikes.
January 12, 2006... Staff Unconscionable price jumps Regarding "Analysts: virtually all commodities are impacted" (Purchasing , October 6, 2005; p. 45) Who knew that almost all our raw materials and key ingredients for doing business came out of New...