The Friday Digest: New features and old stories

Apple supplier Foxconn boosts worker wages by 25% after inspections

One of the big procurement stories from this year continued to rumble on this week as Foxconn, supplier to technology companies such as Apple and Dell announced that it would be raising staff wages and decreasing working hours after the Fair Labor Association (FLA) carried out its inspections at factories in Apple’s supply chain.

With the FLA continuing its inspections of factories it could be a while yet until Apple gets itself out of the headlines.

Tesco fines suppliers for late deliveries

Waitrose accused of ‘abuse of power’ in supermarket supplier rows

News from the UK emerged that two supermarkets, Tesco and Waitrose, had begun imposing fines on supplies for late deliveries. Suppliers to both companies were outraged by the situation calling the moves an “abuse of power”.

Hardline on new hardware

On the analysis front, Steve Hall took a look at the rise of personal technology devices at work based on a piece of research by Tom Seal of the Procurement Intelligence Unit. He found that the number of employees using personal devices is rising and there are a number of challenges surrounding security of these devices.

And finally, a new commodity-focused feature:

Chemicals & pharmaceuticals

Telecoms, technology & electronics

Automotive, aerospace, transportation & travel

Mining, engineering, utilities, construction & energy

Retail, food and beverage & consumer goods

We launched our new industry-specific commodity watch blogs this week. Posted every day these blogs look at the price movements of raw materials specific to each industry. Members should take a moment to have a look at these and, as, always, we’re be keen to hear your feedback.

Join us next week for more news, views and anlaysis, but until then, have a good weekend.