Whereas e-commerce companies are digital natives — that is, they were built from the ground up for the digital economy — traditional manufacturing and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are hamstrung by the legacy systems, processes and tools that they’ve used for years. These systems prevent them from competing on the same level as digitally…
U.S. manufacturing activity cooled in September but remained well within expansion territory for the fourth straight month. The Institute for Supply Management’s PMI slipped to 55.4, or 0.6 percent, from 56 in August as the forward-looking new orders index declined. Any reading above 50 indicates growth. New orders decreased to 60.2 from a reading of…
The first quarter of 2020 has represented a historic low for the smartphone industry. While some technology sectors, like cloud services, have excelled amid the coronavirus pandemic, the mobile industry has not. As Covid-19 continues to spread throughout the globe, it’s causing substantial economic effects on smartphone companies. Counterpoint Research reports a 13% year-over-year loss…
The Covid-19 pandemic and oil-market volatility drove the U.S. manufacturing index back into contraction territory in March, as the Institute for Supply Management’s PMI fell to 49.1 from 50.1 the prior month. With 50.0 as the line of demarcation between contraction and growth, new orders at 42.2 percent and employment, at 43.8, are at the…
Editor’s note: Our colleagues in China, Taiwan and other regions in Southeast Asia continue to report, from the ground, on the coronavirus’s impact on the electronics industry. ESMChina shared the following update. At least 30 countries around the world have declared a state of emergency, according to EPSNews sister publication ESMChina, as Covid-19 continues to…
The U.S. manufacturing index contracted for the fourth straight month in November — just as the Trump administration resurrected steel and aluminum tariffs on Argentina and Brazil. Global trade issues, according to the Institute for Supply Management, remain the top cross-industry concern for America’s manufacturers as the year ends. The ISM’s PMI dropped by 0.2…
Demand-side inventory for DRAM in 2H19 has returned to relatively healthy levels, according to the DRAMeXchange research division of TrendForce. Furthermore, some vendors pulled their quarterly product shipment forward to avoid potential negative impacts from Trump’s impending tariffs; this shift skyrocketed DRAM suppliers’ sales bits in 3Q19, driving total DRAM revenue up by 4 percent…
U.S. factory activity declined for the fourth straight month in July as weakening demand and ongoing trade anxiety weighed on manufacturers. The nation’s leading factory index, the PMI, fell to its lowest point since 2016, dropping by 0.5 percent to a level of 51.2. “This is the fourth straight month of PMI decline without any…
Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series examining how a supply chain planning system model can improve customer service and drive total value creation. Supply chain complexity has increased exponentially over the past several decades because of globalization, consumer demand for increased product customization and the development of multi-functional business processes to…
For better or worse, DRAM and flash memory have considerable influence on the fortunes of the overall semiconductor market. While memory bolstered chip sales in 2017 and 2018, it will likely have a negative impact in 2019, according to IC Insights. The market research firm expects the memory market will decline by 24 percent –…