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Technology Stocks : Jabil Circuit (JBL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Judy Muldawer who wrote (6009)	4/11/2002 10:44:14 AM
From: Asymmetric	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6317

Merrill Lynch (Electronics Manufacturing Services ) 4/11: Based on company visits over the past several weeks and further signs of weakness in the technology end-markets, we believe the leading EMS providers will discuss a lower outlook than we had been modeling when reporting their March quarter results over the next couple of weeks. From: Electronic News (4/10) Slowdown Speeds Up Outsourcing By Bernard Levine -- Electronic News, 4/10/2002 The slowdown is spurring more outsourcing by electronic product companies. And outsourcing at many of these OEMs is reaching new levels of sophistication, according to a leading industry consulting company. "OEMs are evaluating their complete outsourcing strategies as their operational needs change," said Pamela J. Gordon, president of Technology Forecasters Inc. (TFI), of Alameda, Calif. "In the past six to eight months management of many electronic product companies has taken advantage of the industry slowdown to begin to outsource, or to advance their existing outsourcing practices from stage one to two, or stage two to three." In stage three, as defined by TFI, massive amounts, and sometimes all of a company’s manufacturing, is outsourced. It goes way beyond stage two, when printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies are outsourced and some facilities may be sold, and stage one, where manufacturers just begin to "give it a try," TFI said. The industry downturn prompted many electronic product companies to advance their level of outsourcing, according to TFI. Although many of these companies have been outsourcing some manufacturing process steps for 5, 10 or even 20 years, most of this outsourcing was at interim stages one or two, TFI said. These companies have not yet taken full advantage of the outsourcing model, which can further reduce cost of goods sold, decrease overhead expenses and more quickly introduce new products to the global market. For more on this story, please see Monday’s (4/15) issue of Electronic News. Good luck to all. Peter.