Purchasing articles from March 2002

Purchasing archives from March 2002

Buying plans, next month. (Tip Sheet).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... Buying plans, next month COMMODITY DIFFUSION CATEGORY PERIOD UP DOWN SAME INDEX Paper products Feb 9% 22% 69% 43.5 Corrugated products Feb ...

Look for hot-rolled steel prices to rise 15% by mid-year. (Tip Sheet).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... Look for hot-rolled steel prices to rise 15% by mid-year as a result of new tariffs on imports. Insiders were speculating that President Bush would impose protective tariffs equal to 20% of the average cost of imports in 1999-2001. Domestic...

Renegotiate LTL shipping agreements. (Tip Sheet).(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... Carriers are competing hard for business and offering more than lower rates. Example: New Internet services, including private exchanges, which provide better tracking and tracing options. Management systems that improve load optimization are...

Keep bargaining aggressively on plastics. (Tip Sheet).(resins pricing)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... Producers are pushing hard for price increases, but demand remains weak across the board. There are significant amounts of excess capacity for most resin types. Only 11% of buyers say they will increase purchases of resins, compared to 23% who...

Look for a more Japanese-style collaborative approach in the automotive buy. (Tip Sheet).(R David Nelson vice president purchasing, Delphi Automotive Systems)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... R. David Nelson, two-time winner of PURCHASING'S Medal of Professional excellence (Honda and Deere), will become vice president of global purchasing at Delphi Automotive Systems in Troy, Mich. Delphi is the largest automotive parts manufacturer...

Tracking the economy. (Economy).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... Tracking the economy LATEST PREVIOUS YEAR INDICATOR PERIOD PERIOD PERIOD AGO Industrial production ('92=100) Jan 136.5 136.7 143.9 Mfg...

For the first time in 11 months, the consensus forecast for real GDP in 2002. (Economy).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... For the first time in 11 months, the consensus forecast for real GDP in 2002 has risen rather than fallen. February report from Blue Chip Economic Indicators places the expected growth rate for 2002 at 1.5%. That's a half-point gain over the...

A whopping 97% of economic forecasters surveyed by Blue Chip. (Economy).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... A whopping 97% of economic forecasters surveyed by Blue Chip are betting the recession either ended in Q4 2001 (18.7%) or will end sometime in Q1 2002 (76.8%). Plan on waiting 15-18 months to find out if they're right, however. In a statement...

Corporate earnings momentum should turn "strongly positive" by Q2 2002. (Economy).(forecasts by Merrill Lynch)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... Corporate earnings momentum should turn "strongly positive" by Q2 2002, according to the latest forecast from Merrill Lynch. But, on the whole, ML says companies will fail to make up the earnings losses booked in 2001. By sector, ML is counting...

Manufacturing unit labor costs (ULCs) finally gave way in Q4 2001. (Economy).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... After rising at an 8.9% rate in first quarter 2001, a +6.7% rate in second quarter, and a +0.8% rate in third quarter, manufacturing ULCs fell at a rate of 0.9% in the final three months of the year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics....

Price expectations, next 3 mos. (Prices).(Commodities)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... Price expectations, next 3 mos. COMMODITY DIFFUSION CATEGORY PERIOD UP DOWN SAME INDEX Paper products Feb 15% 20% 64% 47.0 Corrugated products...

Two-tier pricing has developed in the steel sheet market. (Prices).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... End-use buyers grudgingly accepted 2.3% increases in Q1 transaction tags while service center buyers acquiesced to 10-15% increases. Now, the mills have announced another 20-25% price increase by midyear, citing reductions in domestic...

A new cartel of top rubber producers has tightened supply and boosted mid-winter prices. (Prices).(The International Tripartite Rubber Organization)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... A new cartel of top rubber producers has tightened supply and boosted mid-winter prices for natural rubber by 20%. The International Tripartite Rubber Organization (Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, which produce 85% of the world's natural...

Lack of demand from buyers at die casting shops has suppliers of secondary aluminum in a squeeze. (Prices).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... Lack of demand from buyers at die casting shops has suppliers of secondary aluminum in a squeeze because of higher scrap costs. Bellwether grade A-380 was 62cents/lb in December and January, but scrap costs rose because of seasonal slowdowns in...

The announced 5 cents/lb-price increase for polyethylene grades has settled in at 2-3 cents. (Prices).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... The announced 5 cents/lb-price increase for polyethylene grades has settled in at 2-3 cents, buyers report, and analysts don't see it going any higher until purchasing perks up. Still, even a small increase is a victory for producers, who have...

Price index slips. (Transaction Prices).(manufacturing)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... Despite budding signs that the worst may be over for the economy, PURCHASING'S data remain at levels indicative of recession. Example: Transaction prices gave back some of their New Years gains in February. In fact, the magazines Industrial...

Lessons learned from Ford's billion-dollar bet. (Inside Purchasing).(Ford Motor Co.; purchasing technique)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... In this crazy economy, add another line to your job description: risk manager. Normally, buyers are expected--at the very least--to keep their companies cost competitive and make sure their plants don't shut down. The deflationary...

Delphi consolidates supply base for contract labor. (Cost Cutting Strategies).(Delphi Automotive)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... When times are good and orders are rolling in, the demand for contract labor can skyrocket, as can the number of contract labor firms a company is doing business with. But when the economy slows to a standstill as it did in 2001, companies like...

Steel mills push for hikes, but buyers aren't biting yet. (Grassroots Report).(commodity price increases)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... With distillate fuel and natural gas prices sliding in January, PURCHASING'S monthly buyers' poll finds fleet buyers from Battle Creek, Mich. to Salem, Ore., sourcing gasoline at lower prices. Such energy - dependent industries as chemicals and...

Execs more open to outsourcing purchasing and logistics. (Survey).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... A recent survey from outsourcing consulting firm Accenture says more executives are open to the idea outsourcing procurement functions. Accenture and Wirthlin Worldwide say they interviewed a "representative sample" of 150 Fortune 1000...

Enron fall prompts scrutiny of energy trades, markets. (Washington Perspective).(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... Most of the ink in the wake of the Enron collapse focuses on alleged accounting and stock manipulation violations. Of more importance to energy buyers, however, are congressional and regulatory investigations underway into the utility giant's...

Talented purchasing pros are still hard to come by. (Recruitment).(purchasing agents)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... You'd think that with the economy on the weak side that the job market would be awash with talented purchasing/supply people. Actually just the opposite is true. Talented purchasing professionals remain in scant supply these days. That's...

Buyers share best p-card practices online. (Procurement Cards).(National Association of Purchasing Card Professionals)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... The National Association of Purchasing Card Professionals (NAPCP) has created an eNetworking message board for purchasing card professionals worldwide. This electronic tool makes possible the exchange of information, best practices, tools and...

Other p-card news. (Procurement Cards).(procurement card; MasterCard International creates purchasing program)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... Until recently, many mid-sized companies had to deal with p-card programs that were developed for either small businesses or large corporations. Now, MasterCard International has introduced the Mastercard Middle Market Solution, a payment and...

How to choose a contract manufacture. (Fine Chemicals).
March 7, 2002... Pharmaceutical and specialty chemical companies outsource their production for many reasons--to minimize their capital spending, for example, or to shorten a product's time to market or gain flexibility in meeting shifting consumer demands. But...

Continental scores via CHEMCENTRAL. (Minority Suppliers).(Continental Group, CHEMCENTRAL)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... It's no secret that, despite their best intentions and efforts, many companies, especially large ones, have difficulties locating minority-owned suppliers that have the capabilities (capacity and financial stability) to meet their needs. ...

Look for value analysis opportunities. (ABS).(Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene market information)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... A crylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) is a low-end engineering thermoplastic often under attack by lower-cost thermoplastics, such as polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene and polystyrene. When married with higher-end polymers, such as...

What's hot.(Ampco Metal files for bankruptcy)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... At a coppermetals industry meeting three years ago this month, several brass, bronze and copper mill products executives acknowledged-some grudgingly-that "business as usual" had ended. Sales were booming at the time, but buyers were forcing...

Buyers are prepared to order cautiously in 2002. (Copper & Brass Products).(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... Copper and brass mills and distributors are more than ready for a pickup in demand, but buyers reckon it won't happen anytime soon. Less than a third of the coppermetals buyers polled by PURCHASING Magazine expect to boost acquisitions through...

Buying may be springing to life. (Exclusive Business Data).(manufacturing sector)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... The battered manufacturing sector may be poised to emerge from its 23-month slump. Evidence: A February poll by PURCHASING Magazine finds 59% of buyers for metals-consuming companies reporting either same or better incoming orders for the...

Buyers see no need to expand purchasing: as durable goods manufacturing continues to stagger, tube buyers keep slashing in-house inventories. (Steel Pipe and Tube).(Industry Overview)
March 7, 2002... Purchasing of steel pipe and tube by manufacturing has declined for the past three years, but the slowdown has been most dramatic during the past 10 months. With the U.S. industrial economy limping along in early 2002, this reduced buying trend...

E-procurement helps set strategy that cuts costs. (Managing the MRO Buy).(how Sony Electronics, Whirlpool and Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad use e-procurement to better manage maintenance, repair and operations purchasing)
March 7, 2002... It appears that e-procurement is finally realizing its potential. Across the country, MRO buying operations are using e-procurement tools that streamline internal processes, allowing purchasing to be more strategic. Once free of the paper,...

Focus on core competency. (Stallkamp Talks Buying).(Thomas T. Stallkamp, vice chairman and chief executive officer of MSX International, discusses advantages of outsourcing purchasing operations)(Interview)
March 7, 2002... Long a topic that inspires fear in the minds of some purchasing professionals, outsourcing of the procurement function is not simply about reducing headcount. Outsourcing is a strategic tool that enables a company to focus on its core...

Self Test.(IBM's approach to purchasing)(Company Profile)
March 7, 2002... Now more than ever is a good time to take a pulse of your purchasing operation. Budgets are under pressure, and at the same time, CEOs are demanding better cost management. Few companies are in a position to take advantage of the new...

What's hot.(UPS contract with Teamsters up for renewal)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... The New England Patriots were big underdogs in this year's Super Bowl but pulled off a stunning upset over the St. Louis Rams, thanks to an all-around team effort (and a very capable backup quarterback). But imagine if two-thirds of the...

Carriers fight harder for your LTL business. (Less-than-Truckload).(Industry Overview)
March 7, 2002... Shippers with decent volumes in the less-than-truckload (LTL) realm are in the driver's seat. LTL volumes dropped significantly in 2001 and are still falling in early 2002, while, at the same time, carrier costs are increasing. The combination...

The fiscal 2003 Department of Transportation budget. (News).(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... The fiscal 2003 Department of Transportation budget will seek $59.3 billion in funding to help provide improved security and safety of the country's transportation system. This represents an 8% increase when adjusted for a reduction in highway...

Nortel Networks is outsourcing its logistics. (News).(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... Nortel Networks is outsourcing its logistics. The company is selling its global logistics unit to German logistics firm Kuehne & Nagel, which will continue to manage Nortel's supply chain needs. Kuehne & Nagel will oversee Nortel's import and...

The National Industrial Transportation League feels that policies and procedures must be developed. (News).(to thwart terrorists)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2002... The National Industrial Transportation League feels that "policies and procedures must be developed that will reduce the risk that transportation will be used as a conveyance for terrorist threats." The League told the National Infrastructure...

Balance remains elusive. (Leadtimes).(recovery from recession not likely until third quarter 2002)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... Economic forecasters are saying the recession is over, but PURCHASING'S data suggest that the U.S. manufacturing sector won't return to a sustained growth pattern until third quarter at the earliest. Reason: Supply/demand ratios in many of...

Room for improvement here. (Extruded Aluminum).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 7, 2002... If you buy aluminum extruded products, now is the time to look at using cost analysis as a bargaining weapon. The extruded aluminum (SIC 3354) industry is enjoying sharp declines in materials costs. Between December 2000 and December 2001,...

Key Metrics and Supply Alert. (Tip Sheet).(semiconductor industry news briefs)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 21, 2002... * Intel cut tags for Celeron processors. Intel's price for the 1.4 GHz chip fell 18% from $103 to $84 and the 1.2 GHz MPU drop 11% from $89 to $79. Intel also lowered the price for the 1.1 GHz Celeron 10% from $79 to $69 and the 1 GHz chip 7%...

How supply managers see high-tech busines. (Economy).(computers, communication equipment, semiconductors)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 21, 2002... * Purchasing's Forward Demand Index, which tracks commodity buying plans for the coming three months, surged to 61 in March as buyers planning to increase their materials order volumes outnumbered buyers planning to decrease their order volumes...

What's happening in high-tech supply chains. (Supply).(several briefs concerning semiconductors, computers, Internet, Organization for Internet Security)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 21, 2002... * In spite of the negative economic climate, Blue-tooth chipset shipments reached 13 million for 2001. Cahners In-Stat has downgraded expectations for 2002, but still expects Bluetooth chipset shipments to grow rapidly in 2003 and beyond...

Prices could rise this quarter. (Electronics Transaction Prices).(monthly price survey for electronic components)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 21, 2002... Buyers can expect short-term price increases for some components in the second quarter. Demand for electronic end equipment is usually weak in the first quarter, but demand should increase in the second quarter, which means increased component...

Purchasing in design: As strategic as it gets. (Inside Purchasing).(Brief Article)
March 21, 2002... The notion of involving purchasing in design is not a new concept. Some OEMs have involved purchasers in design to varying degrees for years. However, in recent years OEM powerhouses such as IBM, Motorola and Lucent have included...

OEMs expect EMS firms to reduce product costs. (Outsourcing).(original equipment manufacturers, electronic manufacturing service)
March 21, 2002... An OEM uses an electronic manufacturing service (EMS) company because the subcontractor can build a board or system for less. However, for the EMS firm to keep the OEM's outsourcing business over time, it must continue to reduce products'...

Power IC tags stabilize as inventories decline. (Semiconductors).(integrated circuit market recovering)(Brief Article)
March 21, 2002... Within the past two months, the power IC market appears to have turned a corner heading out of the recession that has tenaciously kept the market in the doldrums since late 2000. Demand appears to be increasing, but prices probably will remain...

Demand, ore prices down, mill tags remain elevated. (Tantalum).(tantalum capacitor market weakens, tantalum use collapses)(Statistical Data Included)
March 21, 2002... What a difference a year makes. Early in 2001, tantalum buyers and suppliers tried to come up with solutions to a supply shortage that triggered panic buying and rapidly escalating market prices for ore and mill products. Early in 2002, with...

IT buyers will spend 25% more on software. (IT Spending Plans).(information technology purchases survey)
March 21, 2002... Information technology purchasers intend to spend about 25% more on software over the next few months, according to results of a new PURCHASING Magazine survey. The survey, which was mailed to 1000 purchasing managers with responsibility...

Sluggish demand means switch prices will fall. (Electromechanical).(Brief Article)
March 21, 2002... Buyers can expect switch tags to fall about 5% this year, as availability remains high even though much of the inventory in the supply chain has finally been worked off. Switch manufacturers say demand will be better than last year, but is...

NEC cuts supplier base to save $3 billion. (Semiconductors).(Brief Article)
March 21, 2002... NEC Corp. now plans to cut the number of its parts and material suppliers by 30% by the end of March to sharply pare down procurement costs by $3 billion in two fiscal years, ending in March 2003. The Tokyo-based the electronics conglomerate is...

Involve buyers!: More OEMs are realizing that if they want to reduce cost of their products they should involve purchasing in new product development to prevent cost from ever being designed in. (Electronics Design).(Industry Overview)
March 21, 2002... It's no secret that electronics OEMs are increasingly turning to purchasing to reduce cost. After all about 60-70% of a typical electronics company's revenue is spent with the production suppliers that purchasing manages. However it's also...

Color scanning makes facsimile more versatile. (Facsimiles).(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)(Statistical Data Included)
March 21, 2002... Facsimile sales are down, but this doesn't mean demand for the technology is going away anytime soon. In fact, corporate buyers will always have a need for fax, even as their purchasing activity shifts the marketplace a bit. Hit hard...

IBM sounds the e-procurement alarm.(Brief Article)
March 21, 2002... There was no "shot heard round the world" that set off the e-procurement revolution. There have been plenty of Paul Reveres riding through the countryside shouting their e-procurement messages, but the real battles are being waged on countless...

IBM tracks benefits of centralized sourcing data. (E-Procurement Strategies).
March 21, 2002... Bringing sourcing and procurement activities online can produce a number of benefits that go far beyond the savings and process improvements achieved with a click and buy application. Aggragating spend data through a central repository opens up...

Online reverse auctions create two procurement camps. (E-Procurement Strategies).(Brief Article)
March 21, 2002... Conspicuously absent from IBM's list of e-sourcing applications is an online reverse auction tool, which has become a hot topic lately. While some of the biggest companies in the world (General Electric) swear by them, IBM has shunned the...

ChevronTexaco makes the most of centralized spending. (E-Procurement Strategies).(Brief Article)
March 21, 2002... The newly merged and historically decentralized ChevronTexaco Corp. of San Francisco is seeing results of running all its spend data through a common repository from eBreviate of Walnut Greek, Calif. Helmut Porkert, chief procurement...

Ariba works with CAPS on benchmarking data. (E-Procurement Strategies).(Brief Article)
March 21, 2002... Benchmarking is getting a lot of attention in the e-sourcing world. Ariba Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif. is working with the Center for Advanced Purchasing Studies (CAPs) to develop some new benchmarking data that e-procurement adopters can use to...

Auto supplier moves to new quote management system. (Trelleborg Automotive).(using accounting software licensed from NexPrise)(Brief Article)
March 21, 2002... The quoting process at automotive products maker Trelleborg Automotive, South Haven, Mich., was becoming too complicated. To simply issue a request for quote (RFQ) to its suppliers, Trelleborg had to run the RFQ from sales, to its estimating...

Motors company uses Oracle for indirect e-procurement. (Ametek).(Brief Article)
March 21, 2002... An acquisition strategy is a good way to grow a business and improve bottom-line revenues, but it can sometimes wreak havoc in a purchasing department. Ametek of Paoli, Pa., a manufacturer of electric instruments and motors, had grown its...

DRAMs are tightening up. (Electronics Leadtimes).(Industry Overview)(Statistical Data Included)
March 21, 2002... Electronic components remain, as a rule, extremely plentiful, but there are a few notable tends that bear watching. Comparing three-month averages over the past nine months, PURCHASING finds noticeable lengthening of national average leadtimes...