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FRAMINGHAM, MA, Jan. 18 - Manufacturers in 2005 will look for ways to drive down the cost of information delivery while seeking opportunities to invest in product development, demand management and supply network operations.

So says a new report from Manufacturing Insights. The research firm also says

Profitable growth remains at the top of the manufacturer's agenda, but will come from emerging markets and new services.
Smart companies will combine Lean, Six Sigma, and IT investment oversight into a common transformation governance structure.

Renewed interest in supply chain applications and projects that deliver "productive fulfillment."

Supply chains will be calibrated to demand information making the aggregation, organization, and integration of this information critical to success.

Use of best practices such as product portfolio management will be become more widespread.

Manufacturing Insights is an arm of IDC Co., the market research firm.

FRAMINGHAM, MA, Jan. 18 - The worldwide PC market remained strong in the fourth quarter of 2004 with growth of 13.7% driven by smaller businesses and holiday consumer demand, according to IDC.

Shipments rose to 51.5 million units for the quarter, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit growth and beating projections of 13% growth.

Shipments for all of 2004 reached 177.5 million units on growth of 14.7%, representing peak recovery following the market contraction of 2001. Total shipments in 2004 were more than 26% over 2000 volumes.

IDC forecasts growth of 10% in 2005 followed by declining growth in the single digits.

"Business demand and growth in key regions like EMEA continue to drive the market," said Loren Loverde, director of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "Although we saw a seasonal rise in consumer shipments, business remains a larger market and has been growing faster since mid-2004. Ongoing PC replacements and new investment should continue to drive commercial growth at least through the end of 2005."

Dell is now the uncontested market leader. After ceding the top spot to HP in the fourth quarter of 2002 and 2003 following HP's merger with Compaq, Dell managed to distance itself from HP by a full point of market share in the fourth quarter, and seems to have the momentum on its side.

Significant improvements were seen from Gateway and Apple.

"The fourth quarter of 2004 represented a milestone in the personal computing industry, as total worldwide volume exceed the figure of 47.4 million set a decade ago in 1994 for the entire year," said Roger Kay, vice president. "Spending on PCs by all sizes of business continues to improve steadily, and consumers came out in force in the holiday quarter to pursue their growing interest in PCs and the digital lifestyle."

Other findings:

Dell - Dell managed another strong quarter and maintained its top rank with a solid performance across regions and total shipment growth of more than 21%. The strong results further consolidated Dell's lead, preventing HP from taking back the top rank as it did in the fourth quarter of 2002 and 2003.
HP - HP remained a strong second, benefiting from sequential growth in EMEA and the consumer segment. Nevertheless, overall growth of 9% was slightly slower than the market.
IBM - IBM shipped record volumes in the fourth quarter and grew worldwide shipments by 9% year on year with strong portables growth. News of the sale of IBM's PC Division to Lenovo in December temporarily slowed sales in the U.S., although demand picked up again by the end of the month.
Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens - Fujitsu Siemens had a solid quarter, keeping pace with growth in the EMEA market, but facing a tough market in Japan.
Toshiba - Toshiba continues to benefit from the mobile adoption trend, growing roughly on par with overall portable shipments.
Gateway - Gateway saw a strong sequential increase as it worked through merger issues and took advantage of demand in small business and consumer segments. Although year-on-year growth was behind the market, the fourth quarter marks the first positive growth since the merger with eMachines, and is an important step in moving the company forward.
Acer - Acer had another strong quarter led by aggressive growth in EMEA, which represented over 70% of Acer's worldwide shipments for the quarter.
Apple - Apple had a notably strong quarter, with growth of more than 25%. This gain represents a significant improvement over prior quarters, reflecting the introduction of the G5 iMac as well as some substantiation that PC sales have benefited from the popularity of Apple's music business.

LONDON, Jan. 18 -- Cookson Group today forecast higher fourth-quarter sales sequentially and year-on-year and affirmed previous guidance for annual profits before tax and one-time items. The firm acknowledged major reductions in capacity at its underperforming laminates division.

The company said it expects a net profit of £31 million in 2004. It forecast a net gain of £25 million in 2005. Cash from operations was strongly positive in the fourth quarter, the company said in a statement.

For the Electronics Group, fourth-quarter sales were similar to the third quarter and up vs. Q4 2003. Sales for each sector were also similar to the preceding quarter, Cookson said, with assembly materials and laminates up year-over-year and chemistry marginally lower.

In its third quarter, Electronics posted £169 million in sales, with assembly materials accounting for £73 million, chemistry for £62 million and laminates for £33 million.

Cookson's chemistries division continues to be the company jewel. Chemistries, which includes Enthone, recorded revenues of about £250 million in 2004, and the return on sales and operating profits before charges were nearly 12%. PCB sales made up 31% of total chemistries sales. In all, the chemistry group contributed 55% of Cookson Electronics' operating profit. The top 10 customers were AT&S, Elec and Eltek, Intel, Sanmina-SCI, Schlotter, TMSC, Viasystems, UMC, Wurth and Wus.

Laminates sales (Polyclad)totaled about £130 million, up from about £110 million in 2003. The operating profit before charges was about 2%, reversing three years of losses. Polyclad's top 10 customers were Elec and Eltek, EPC, Hitachi, Invotec, Photocircuits, Ruwel, Sanmina-SCI, Teradyne, Viasystems and Wurth. Those companies made up 55% of Polyclad's 2004 sales.

During the quarter, laminates capacity at the company's Germany facilities was cut 75%. Overhead in the U.S. -- much of it at the executive level -- and laminates production in New Hampshire was also reduced. Cookson will take a charge of £8 million in 2004, £5 million in cash. It brought the year's total to £23 million in charges.

Cookson's preliminary results for 2004 will be announced March 15.