Purchasing articles from November 2008

Purchasing archives from November 2008

How to forge a contract for forgings.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Purchasing's smartest negotiators move from conflict to collaboration fast. Match your wits against these pros. Guess their strategy. Then, read what they really did at purchasing.com/negotiations . Possible solutions: Find a...

Prices, demand weigh heavily on distributors' minds.
November 13, 2008... By Alan R. Earls Executives at chemical distributors say the picture for 2009 is still blurry, but two factors are top priority. Chemical distributors are between the proverbial rock and a hard place these days with material suppliers...

Specialty chemicals buyers put focus back on cost concerns.
November 13, 2008... By Gordon Graff It seems specialty chemicals buyers can't get a break. Even though specialty chemical makers along the Texas Gulf Coast took only a glancing blow from Hurricane Ike in mid-September and most manufacturing infrastructure was...

Business Intelligence.
November 13, 2008... Staff 15% Price hike from Air Liquide for oxygen, nitrogren and hydrogen Source: Air Liquide WHAT IT MEANS: Most of the major industrial gas suppliers pushed price increases in October to offset higher input costs despite...

Slowing economy fails to halt industrial gas price hikes.
November 13, 2008... By Gordon Graff Buyers of industrial gases could normally expect today's cooling economy and declining energy costs to put the brakes on industrial gas prices that have been escalating for much of the year. But buyers' expectations have...

Liquidity lock Credit woes make buyers' strategies key.
November 13, 2008... By Tom Stundza An unprecedented credit crunch is raising procurement's profile as companies tryto cope. These are confusing and aggravating times for buyers of manufacturing materials, who say they are bracing for several months of...

Inventory, tech support and communication top buyers' wish lists for distributors.(Survey)
November 13, 2008... Staff Please stock sufficient quantities of parts, even if on speculation. That was one of the top things buyers who responded to Purchasing 's recent survey on electronics distribution said they wanted distributors to add to the...

Expect 5% increases for many components.
November 13, 2008... By Gina Roos A perfect storm of higher materials, energy and labor costs likely means higher prices for passive components. What a difference a few months makes. Last August, buyers and analysts were predicting that passives prices...

Rising tantalum ore costs could push up capacitor prices in '09.
November 13, 2008... By James Carbone Buyers could face price increases for tantalum capacitors after the first of the year because of higher tantalum ore and powder costs, according to suppliers. Tantalum mining companies say that they plan to increase...

Business Intelligence.
November 13, 2008... By James Carbone 47% Buyers who say business is down compared to last month Source: www.purchasingdata.com WHAT IT MEANS: The economic slowdown may be catching up with the electronics industry resulting in less end equipment...

Distribution pact expanded.
November 13, 2008... By James Carbone Avnet Electronics Marketing and Germany's EPCOS have expanded their distribution agreement to include the more than 70 markets served by Avnet Electronics Marketing around the globe. Under the new agreement, Avnet will...

Mouser inks deal with AXSEM.(Mouser Electronics Inc.)(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... By James Carbone Mouser Electronics has signed a global distribution agreement with AXSEM, a supplier of analog and mixed signal products for the wireless communication marketplace. Mouser will stock AXSEM's universal and long-range...

Digi-Key signs deal.(distribution agreement with Alpha and Omega Semiconductor )(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... By James Carbone Digi-Key and Alpha & Omega Semiconductor (AOS) have signed a global distribution agreement. Alpha & Omega Semiconductor is a fabless semiconductor company in Sunnyvale, Calif., that develops leading-edge analog power...

Processor prices to fall as suppliers invest in technology.
November 13, 2008... By James Carbone Despite the financial crisis and economic slowdown, the global microprocessor (MPU) market will grow 10% to $38.2 billion and MPU prices will fall about 4% in 2009 and beyond according to researcher IC Insights. MPU...

Allied to carry Eaton precuts.(Allied Electronics Inc.)(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... By James Carbone Allied Electronics has signed an agreement to distribute Eaton's industrial control and automation products. Allied will be a catalog distributor of Eaton's industrial control and automation products, which set the...

Portable electronics, hybrid cars to drive global battery demand.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... By James Carbone Worldwide primary and secondary battery demand will increase nearly 5% annually to almost $90 billion in 2012, driven by battery-powered electronics and hybrid vehicles. According to a new report from the Freedonia...

Financial crisis could mean less chip demand.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... By James Carbone Researcher iSuppli has trimmed its forecast for 2008 worldwide semiconductor revenue growth and is warning of significant potential downside if economic conditions continue to worsen. Global semiconductor industry...

Buyers audit suppliers' ethics.
November 13, 2008... By James Carbone A string of revelations about poor labor, environmental and ethics practices among some low-cost-country suppliers has prompted purchasing organizations to expand their monitoring of business practices in the supply base....

Prices.(Statistical table)(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Despite economy woes, buyers expect to pay more (National, 90-day price expectations) -------------------------------------------- UP DOWN SAME INDEX Energy 51% 23% 26% 63.8...

Office Gear Gets Slashed.(new office equipment purchases has weakened )(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Purchasing of new office equipment weakened in the third quarter, dragged down by tightened budgets. The credit crunch has hurt companies' abilities to borrow money to buy new equipment, and many are clamping down on spending. So,...

Met Coal to Stay Robust.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff J.P. Morgan & Co.'s coal team forecasts that 2009 prices for metallurgical coal "will remain robust" at an estimated $260/metric ton, although down from the record 2008 price average of $300. In 2007, the U.S. coking coal price...

Cuts Aimed at Raising Tin.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Indonesian officials have confirmed that most, if not all, independent tin smelters have stopped production while major producers, PT Timah and PT Koba Tin, have trimmed tin production. With global tin prices at $7.50/lb--below...

Ethylene Slides.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Global oversupply and weakening worldwide demand for ethylene has the key feedstock chemical averaging 42Ao/lb in October, as compared with 50Ao in September and the year's peak of 66Ao in July. Market analysts see ethylene selling...

Economy + Supply.
November 13, 2008... Staff [TABLE OMITTED] WHAT'S AHEAD: According to the National Association of Business Economics, two out of three economists now believe that a recession has already begun or will begin before 2008 is over. This...

Industrial Output Fell 2.8%.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Industrial production plummeted 2.8% in September, the biggest decline since December 1974. Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, N.Y., says "the drop in industrial output is a direct hit on...

Housing Starts at 17-Year Low.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Housing starts in the U.S. sank 6.3% in September to a seasonally adjusted rate of 817,000, the lowest level in 17 years. Economists say further declines are expected in the fourth quarter. Building permits, an indicator of future...

Steel Demand Slump Seen.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Steel demand may be facing a four year decline, suggests Tony Taccone at First River Consulting in a recent speech in Pittsburgh. With metalworking activity projected to be weak, "we could have three or four years of declining steel...

Greenspan Shocked.(Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspans view on financial crises)(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress in October he is "shocked" at the breakdown in U.S. credit markets and said he was "partially" wrong to resist regulation of some securities. "Those of us who have looked...

Business Real Estate is Off.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff The commercial property market is icing up, says the Kiplinger Letter . Over the past year, total dollar volume of office space and hotel deals slid 75% and industrial space dropped 60%. Kiplinger says rising unemployment spells more...

Inflation Deflates.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Recent declines in commodity prices put inflation concerns on the back-burner, says David Seiders, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders. He says that while the core Producer Price Index "continued upward in...

Nickel to be plentiful.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff The global nickel market will show 110,000 metric tons of surplus in 2009 because of a sharp pick-up in production at a time of slowing demand, the International Nickel Study Group (INSG) suggests in a press release. Demand for the...

Zinc Surplus Will Double.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Zinc mining and smelting operations around the world are scheduled to shut their doors in haste because of weakening zinc prices, production costs increases and reduced demand. But, that won't be enough to bring 2009 supply into...

China Demand May Bump Up.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff The efforts of the Chinese government could push China's demand for commodities up in 2009 more than expected, says an economist at mining giant Rio Tinto. Vivek Tulpule told Bloomberg he expects the Chinese economy will accelerate...

Car Sales Crash Ahead.
November 13, 2008... Staff J.D. Power & Associates forecasts 2008 light-vehicle sales to fall to 13.6 million units, a 16% decline from 16.1 million in 2007. J.D. Power's prediction for 2009 sales has been revised downward to 13.2 million vehicles. The...

Geothermal Energy Rises.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Large scale geothermal generators are about to go mainstream. Trailblazers AltaRock Energy, Geothermix and Ormat Technologies are looking to build plants that will provide 50 megawatts of electricity, about the same as some natural...

Supplier Cuts Nand Supply.
November 13, 2008... Staff Im flash technologies, a joint venture between Micron Technology and Intel, will discontinue supplying NAND flash memory from Micron's Boise, Idaho facility. This will reduce the firm's total 200-millimeter NAND flash output by...

Nuclear Demand is Growing.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff "Nuclear energy is becoming an acceptable option again," according to analysts at Haywood Securities in Vancouver, B.C., which reports 440 nuclear power stations are operating worldwide and 30 new nuclear power stations are under...

HPC Buying Will Explode.(high-performance computing)(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Purchasing of high-performance computing (HPC) products will grow to $27.2 billion by 2012, an increase of 46% over $18.6 billion of 2007, forecasts Tabor Research in San Diego. The HPC market includes servers and storage products...

Platinum will Rebound.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Platinum prices will continue to sink lower for the rest of this year toward $700/oz as industrial demand continues to wane, bringing the annual average to $1,550--which still is higher than the $1,300 average of 2007. However,...

Aluminum Prices Slide.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff J.P. Morgan & Co. has cut its aluminum price forecast for the fourth quarter to $1.12/lb from the previous projection of $1.25. That puts the 2008 price outlook at $1.23, down from its earlier outlook of $1.32. Looking to 2009, the...

Housing Prices Slump.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff The Federal Housing Finance Agency says home prices dropped 5.9% in August from the same month last year and economists for the Mortgage Bankers Association see further declines into October. The worst housing slump since the 1930s...

DRAM Prices Down 50%.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff The spot market price of a DRAM DDR2 1Gb 667 MHz chip has fallen from $2.29 in early May to $1.13 in mid-October. That's the word from researcher DRAMeXchange, who says there's such a large inventory overhang and producers need to...

Nickel is in Freefall.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff The freefall in nickel prices from record highs near $23/lb is set to continue into next year, with the industrial metal likely to plunge well below $5 because of slumping demand from stainless steel mills and at a time of new mining...

Titanium Prices Weak.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Year-to-date titanium prices have dropped by 12% with a further decline expected in the fourth quarter. Allegheny Technologies reports that the average sales price for its titanium mill products was $25.95/lb in the third quarter,...

Road Materials Go Up.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff Year-over-year prices of highway and street construction material have increased 22% in September, 22% in August and 21% in July; in fact, such material costs have risen more than 75% since 2003, according to the American Road &...

Survival lessons from automotive buyers.
November 13, 2008... By David Hannon In the midst of their most challenging market ever, automakers begin to really look at total costs while conceding that suppliers need to make money too if they're both to survive. The North American automotive industry...

Market looks good for buyers, but carriers show signs of stress.
November 13, 2008... By David Hannon How you characterize the current state of the logistics industry depends a lot on your role within the supply chain. While carriers and logistics service providers across the modes report lower volumes and increased...

Business Intelligence.
November 13, 2008... By David Hannon 74% 3PL users that see personal relationships as the key to a successful 3PL relationship Source: Cap Gemini, Georgia Tech survey on logistics outsourcing WHAT IT MEANS: After relationships, it's contracts...

Deliver on time, buyers tell suppliers.
November 13, 2008... By Tom Stundza Buyers say they need to know that ordered mill products are available and can be delivered in support of Lean and Just-in-Time manufacturing schedules. It isn't happening, though, as mills try to offset high costs of raw...

Steel buyers will see more imports in 2009 but growth still uncertain.
November 13, 2008... By Tom Stundza Global metalworking activity has weakened, setting the stage for excess steel supply in the months ahead. And if the dollar continues to strengthen, as some analysts suggest, more imports could flow into the U.S., putting...

Business Intelligence.
November 13, 2008... By Tom Stundza $1.15/lb Forecast average for '09 world aluminum Source: www.purchasingdata.com WHAT IT MEANS: Aluminum inventories will be in excess next year; demand will be weak worldwide and primary aluminum ingot prices...

Metals Chips.(Reliance Steel and Aluminum Co's acquisition of HLN Metal Centre's operation in Singapore)(WSP Holdings has expanded its capacity)(Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has changed its name to Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.)
November 13, 2008... By Tom Stundza Reliance Steel & Aluminum of Los Angeles has bought HLN Metal Centre 's processing and distribution operation in Singapore for $2.6 million. HLN Metal's core business is sawing of metal products and distributing custom...

Nymex opens hot-rolled coil futures trading.(New York Mercantile Exchange Inc.)(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... By Tom Stundza The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) began trading a futures contract on hot-rolled steel sheet in coil in late October, based on a Midwest market price index developed by CRU Group's U.S. office in Wexford, Pa. "Nymex's...

Move to strategic MRO sourcing puts new focus on relationships.(maintenance, repair, operations)(Institute for Supply Management)(Conference news)
November 13, 2008... By Susan Avery An uncertain economic environment presents new opportunity for MRO purchasing professionals to differentiate themselves and their companies by taking the function to a new level. MRO stands for maintenance, repair,...

Business Intelligence.
November 13, 2008... By Susan Avery 58% Distributors that do business globally Source: The 62nd Annual Survey of Distributor Operations WHAT IT MEANS: Most follow their customers that set up shop in other countries. The suppliers are selling,...

MRO Briefs.(Motion Industries' acquisition of Drago Supply Co.)(Kaman Industrial Technologies Corp's acquisition of Industrial Rubber and Mechanics Inc.)(Grainger Industrial Supply's branch in Panama)(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... By Susan Avery Motion Industries has acquired Drago Supply Co. , a regional industrial supplies company headquartered in Port Arthur, Texas. With annual revenues of approximately $75 million, Drago Supply has eight locations in Texas,...

The economy calls for purchasing to take charge.
November 13, 2008... By Paul Teague, Editor in Chief With all the doom and gloom you hear and read about on the state of the economy, you could be forgiven for feeling a heavy sense of despair. But don't linger in that despair too long: You have work to do. ...

Business Intelligence.
November 13, 2008... By Maria Varmazis 8-12% Average telecommunications expenses billed incorrectly Source: Gartner WHAT IT MEANS: Even though telecommunications expenses are one of the major billing items for most companies, there is still lots...

Watch for hidden risks in telecommunications contracts.
November 13, 2008... By Maria Varmazis With the economy in the state it's in, many companies are looking for new places to squeeze out savings. In most large companies, telecommunications expenses represent a major expense area, but one that buyers might not...

Purchasing salutes suppliers.
November 13, 2008... By Susan Avery World-class companies use recognition programs as a tool to develop and reward preferred suppliers. Behind every good supplier recognition program is a strong supplier relationship management (SRM) program. ...

The skills you need today.
November 13, 2008... By Bill Michels Remember the time when someone in the company who wanted to buy something would have to "go through purchasing?" It was as though the department was a passive filter--or worse, an obstacle course. It's no wonder that...

Here's how not to leave money on the table in supplier negotiations for 2009.
November 13, 2008... By Susan Avery It's shaping up to be an important year for travel buyers to do a very good job on negotiations, says Frank Schnur, vice president of innovation, Global Advisory Services at American Express Business Travel in New York. He...

Strategic sourcing plan has Varian near peak performance.(Company overview)
November 13, 2008... By Wayne Forrest Two years ago, when Kevin Castle and Travis Johnson joined Varian Inc. in Palo Alto, Calif., they found a procurement structure that was disjointed, to say the least. The chief procurement officer and global spend...

Interest in P-card programs grows as economy creates spending concerns.
November 13, 2008... By Maria Varmazis With all the news about the credit crunch and global financial woes, companies that hadn't tightened their belts yet are scrambling to hit that smaller notch. And inevitably this means buyers have to keep an even more...

Economists see weak growth, low prices for 2009.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff As buyers make plans for 2009, most of the news about the U.S. and global economies is not good. The International Monetary Fund said in a recent report that the world economy is entering a "major downturn in the face of the most...

Business Intelligence.
November 13, 2008... Staff 47% Buyers that said incoming orders were down in October Source: www.purchasingdata.com WHAT IT MEANS: That's a steep uptick from September's 39%, indicating orders are slowing. Correspondingly, 55% of buyers expect...

Tyco provides LCCS bestpractices.(Tyco International's Christian Corrado)(Conference news)
November 13, 2008... Staff In a session at the recent Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals conference entitled Managing Global Sourcing and Transportation, Christian Corrado, director of global logistics at Tyco International, outlined the...

Indirect spend management nets Cameron unexpected benefit: Close ties to suppliers.
November 13, 2008... By William Atkinson Like a lot of companies, getting its indirect spend under control provided Houston-based Cameron savings benefits via improved spend management and leverage. But the manufacturer of flow equipment for oil, gas and...

United Technologies increases diverse supplier spend.(Brief article)
November 13, 2008... Staff United Technologies Corp. has spent more than $367 million with minority suppliers in 2007 and expects this figure to increase this year at a double-digit clip. In five years, the company has spent more than $1.3 billion with...

Survey: Buyers curtail buying plans, saying economy is contracting.
November 13, 2008... Staff Both market experts and buyers are not painting a bright picture for the U.S. economy as we head into a new year. Former Federal Reserve Chairman and current chairman of the board of trustees of the Group of 30 Paul Volcker sees...

CSCMP session provides tips for inbound freight management.
November 13, 2008... Staff In a panel session at the recent Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals conference, logistics professionals at three companies provided their tips for working with a 3PL to gain more control over inbound freight decisions....

As jet fuel prices plummet, airlines pay the price.
November 13, 2008... By David Hannon Declining fuel prices are not good news for all buyers--especially those that hedged fuel contracts with the expectation fuel prices would stay high. United Airlines reported a third-quarter loss of more than $779...

Amex: Travel costs rise slightly.
November 13, 2008... By Susan Avery Travel costs will not change significantly next year according to the American Express Business Travel which released its 2009 Global Business Travel Forecast and Trends Report in October. "We see the halt of a steady...