Report: Supply-Chain Management Crucial To Telecommunications

ByDeborah Austin With the U.S. telecommunications industry slumping -- and this year's shift from a supply-driven to a demand-driven market -- supply-chain management (SCM) techniques will prove crucial to improve efficiencies and cut expenditures. Thus suggests "Supply Chain Management and Telecom Components 2001-2006," a new report from market research/strategic analysis firm Insight Research, Parsippany, N.J. Rather than implementation to stimulate market demand, technology now is deployed only if it enables services with proven demand or reduces network operating costs. So today's SCM efficiencies dictate future carrier and equipment purchasing activities, says the report. It forecasts spending on core telecom components (electronic enclosures, wire/cable, power systems and construction) to grow annually by single-digit rates -- from $25.3 billion now to $33.4-billion-plus in 2006 -- in contrast to the 1990s' low-double-digit growth.