Purchasing’s strategic sourcing channel covers best practices and innovations in strategic sourcing and global sourcing case studies, purchasing, procurement, and supply chain management. Specific coverage includes: procure-to-pay, procurement management, global sourcing, sourcing for lean Six Sigma organizations, procurement services, outsourcing procurement, supplier management, supplier performance, and spend management for direct materials and indirect materials. en-us http://www.purchasing.com/community/Strategic+Sourcing/48372.html?nid=4018 2008 Reed Business Information. Subject to its Terms of Use. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:19:07 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6554590.html?nid=4018 Information to help purchasing and supply chain managers prepare for the 2009-2010 global economy, energy feedstocks and key chemical families will be presented at the Chemical Purchasing Summit in Boston on Sept. 17-18. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:07:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6580106.html?nid=4018 The purchasing community agrees that the manufacturing economy is in the midst of a very rough patch. Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:55:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577247.html?nid=4018 Despite rising prices, companies are not cutting back on travel. But they are increasingly turning to purchasing to come up with ways to better manage the higher costs. Buyers, in turn, are asking travelers now to: • Follow company travel policy and use preferred suppliers. Preplan trips, or plan trips further out, to take advantage of advance-purchase discounts available through th... Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577243.html?nid=4018 You're globalizing—fast. At one end of the supply chain, your company is expanding its global supply base in low-cost regions. At the other end, it's selling into new markets in countries you never heard of. And in the middle, it's setting up manufacturing plants in a host of new regions to support the growth. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577244.html?nid=4018 Marc Marini knows well how procurement works at industrial companies. With 15 years of experience buying in the aerospace industry, he knows how to buy direct materials for the end product. But now, as managing director and chief procurement officer at New York-based financial services firm Merrill Lynch, he oversees purchasing of a totally different nature. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577245.html?nid=4018 The chemical supply chain is turning Green. Not necessarily the dark lush green of summer, but more like the blush of green seen at the start of spring, hinting that the lusher green is on its way. While many chemical buyers and suppliers have formalized sustainability policies, few have fully embraced the concept of a Green supply chain. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577248.html?nid=4018 Inflation has been battering manufacturing commodities, transportation expenses and construction materials this year. Manufacturing and construction are having a lackluster year, yet energy and raw materials are setting high-cost records—with no sign of ebbing prices in the second half. At the same time, pressure from top management to reduce costs has put tremendous stress on chief procu... Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577249.html?nid=4018 Commodities purchasing has been challenging this year for buyers such as Michael Harris, purchasing manager at Cerex Advanced Fabrics in Cantonment, Fla. “The higher oil and natural gas prices are increasing the feedstock costs of our major raw materials,” he says. “Sales of our nonwoven fabrics over the last three quarters have been extremely soft. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577250.html?nid=4018 When Craig Brown took the reins as director of the materials organization at Intel Corp. in the spring of 2006, right away he had to make some tough decisions. Average selling prices of the semiconductors the company makes were falling and competition was heating up. The giant chip maker was taking a hard look at how it was doing business and beginning to make some much-needed, yet painful, cha... Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577246.html?nid=4018 With energy costs far and away the biggest concern at most U.S. companies—most notably chemical buying or producing firms—more buyers are looking to source materials or establish manufacturing in regions with lower energy costs. And that journey is leading many buyers to the Middle East, the source of much of the energy the world uses, where more suppliers are establishing a manufac... Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577251.html?nid=4018 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577252.html?nid=4018 A recent survey of 48 private economists found that more than half think the U.S. will avoid a recession this year, but growth and recovery will come slowly. Conducted by the Blue Chip Economic Indicators newsletter, the poll found that 53.5% economists surveyed in June do not believe the U.S. economy is in or will enter a recession in 2008, up from 40% in the previous month’s survey. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577257.html?nid=4018 Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan’s biggest diversified industrial company, said accelerating inflation in Vietnam won’t deter it from the construction of a steel plant in the Southeast Asian nation this month. Formosa is also studying building an oil refinery and ethylene plant in the country, according to Bloomberg. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577258.html?nid=4018 Ashland, Inc. has signed a memorandum of understanding to form a global specialty chemical joint venture with Sud-Chemie, which will serve foundries and the metal casting industry especially in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Expected to be operational in early 2009, the new enterprise will combine three businesses. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577260.html?nid=4018 Michael Klayko, CEO of telecommunications supplier Brodcade, says selling today is more about cost-reduction than providing value. “If you can show a customer how they can eliminate cost, how they can eliminate complexity from their environment or how they could go ahead and be more compliant.. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577261.html?nid=4018 Mortgage applications for the week ended June 20 hit a six-year low in the U.S. in June according to the Mortgage Bankers Association and U.S. sales of newly built single-family homes in May was off more than 40% from a year ago. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577262.html?nid=4018 A recent survey of more than 100 manufacturing companies found that on average, they only source 15% of their materials or manufacturing from China. The AMR Research report also found that more than half (51%) polled cited rising transportation costs as their most pressing supply chain risk concern. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577264.html?nid=4018 Middle Eastern chemical giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) could more than double its investment in a China ethylene complex. According to reports SABIC and Sinopec want to expand an earlier agreed project into a full-fledged venture that could see investment reach $4 billion from the $1.7 billion initially announced in January, industry executives estimated. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577265.html?nid=4018 The U.S. economy grew at a slightly faster pace in the first quarter than originally reported, but the new revision showed inflation was stronger than estimated. The Commerce Department said in its final revision that the nation’s real GDP was revised to a 1.0% annual rate in the first three months of the year, up from an originally reported reading of 0. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6577314.html?nid=4018 New reports of counterfeit bearings in the marketplace raise a red flag for maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) buyers. While strong growth in China and other developing regions is impacting energy and steel prices, it also is causing global shortages of some mechanical components essential to industrial production such as bearings. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST