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…
If past is prologue, Analog Devices Inc.’s $20 billion acquisition of Maxim Integrated Products Inc. will prompt a major shake-up in its electronics distribution channel. When ADI acquired Linear Technology in 2017, it consolidated its global volume distribution network under one distributor – Arrow Electronics Inc. – and discontinued with the industry’s second-largest player, Avnet…
Freightos, a logistics marketplace, reports that carriers have introduced their third general rate increase (GRI) since the beginning of June. High Level Freight Update Growing import demand enabled a rare third consecutive GRI to push China-U.S. ocean rates up again, even as capacity gets closer to normal. Even the trade war lead-up in late 2018…
No one would have imagined that the year 2020 would completely reshape how nearly every industry operates. From public transportation to food service and hospitality sectors, the social and economic impact of Covid-19, also known as the coronavirus, has been swift and unapologetic. Organizations that have felt the adverse side effects of coronavirus more than…
Kemet Corp., on June 15, announced the completion of its $1.6 billion acquisition by Taiwan’s Yageo Corp. In accordance with the terms of the agreement, Yageo has acquired all of the outstanding shares of Kemet’s common stock for US $27.20 per share in an all-cash transaction. As a result of the deal, Kemet is now…
As the spread of the coronavirus outbreak continues on a meteoric rise, and its toll on human health mounts, the economic effects of the crisis are lining up. Businesses are tasked with several issues to address – guaranteeing the safety of their workers, yet ascertaining operational viability which is now coming under strain given the…
For the past six months, the Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA) has been in a state of flux. For the procurement community, that became evident though changes to ECIAauthorized, the association’s inventory-aggregation site. In October, some of ECIA’s biggest members – global distributors Arrow Electronics Inc., Avnet Inc. and Electrocomponents plc—left the trade association to…
Expectations for an upturn in electronics component demand have been pushed out to the second half of 2020, and the road to recovery passes directly through global trade policy, leading analysts say. The outlook for Q4 is grim as component demand deteriorates further, Morgan Stanley said in its Q3 distribution survey. “The narrative of a…
In some industries, most notably healthcare and aerospace, the need for secure, climate-controlled, long-term inventory storage facilities needs no explanation. A typical Boeing 747, for example, will endure approximately 35,000 depressurization cycles — roughly 30 years’ worth of flights — before decommission, while an MRI machine can be continually upgraded and repaired to last as…
The nation’s leading factory index in August contracted for the first time in three years as new orders, production and employment all fell below 50 — the threshold between growth and contraction. The Institute for Supply Management’s PMI dropped to 49.1 percent last month, its lowest reading since 2016. Business confidence has also declined as…