Suppliers

Apple Inc., which has been criticized for allowing harsh work conditions at some of its China-based suppliers, has for the first time disclosed the names of all of its suppliers and manufacturing partners. The list was revealed as part of its Supplier Responsibility 2012 Progress Report, which is issued annually and details Apple's efforts to monitor its suppliers to make sure they're operating within legal codes and following the company's policies on environmental standards, human rights and occupational health and safety.

At the height of the wars in the Middle East, AeroVironment Inc. - a drone maker based in Monrovia - soared into the public limelight. In the last decade, AeroVironment became the Pentagon's top supplier of small drones. Its financial balance sheet prospered, its drones delivered results and its technology landed on the cover of Time magazine as one of the year's best inventions in 2011. But these days, not so much. Over the last month the company's shares have plummeted more than 18% as federal spending begins to dry up and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan come to an end. It lowered its revenue guidance by nearly one-third, to $230 million to $250 million from $348 million to $370 million.

Small to midsize component suppliers are among the U.S. companies most likely to benefit first from a resurgence in American manufacturing, according to a new white paper by the Boston Company Asset Management, a BNY Mellon company. The analysis, authored by Shirley E. Mills, vice president and senior research analyst, looked at various changes in the landscape affecting U.S. manufacturing opportunities, and it concluded that the best investment opportunities might not involve large-scale manufacturers.

Samsung is investing $112 million for a 3% stake in struggling Japanese electronics maker Sharp -- a key supplier to rival Apple. The South Korea company will purchase nearly 36 million shares at a price of about $3.11 in a move aimed to strengthen the two companies' relationship, Sharp said. The deal is expected to be completed by March 28. Photos: 10 tech companies to watch in 2013 Samsung's investment probably will lessen Sharp's dependency on Apple. Currently, Sharp supplies screens for Apple's iPad and iPhone 5 devices.

Responding to pressure from Greenpeace this week, toy maker Mattel Inc. said it would direct its suppliers to stop buying wood products from Asia Pulp & Paper, a Singapore company that has clear-cut vast swaths of Indonesia's rain forest. As the environmental group's global campaign against Mattel gained traction, the El Segundo company said on its Facebook page: "Mattel does not support deforestation nor does it contract directly with Sinar Mas/APP. We purchase packaging materials from a variety of suppliers and it is not the normal course of business to dictate where suppliers source materials.

The Southern California Edison-commissioned "MIT study" told of finding evidence of energy withholding on the part of suppliers throughout the state ["Power Suppliers Accused of Manipulating Prices," Nov. 23]. It's what the study didn't tell that was most interesting. For example, it didn't acknowledge that suppliers went far beyond "utility standard," working round-the-clock, fixing units that experts said couldn't be fixed and returning units to service that could easily have sat broken for the entire summer.

By giving out free cases for its iPhone 4, Apple Inc. hoped to smooth over troubles with unhappy customers. But it may annoy a different group: the companies that make the various hard, soft, colorful, arty, sleek, fat and other kinds of enclosures bought by users to personalize their phones. With Apple giving away its own cases, analysts say, there will be less demand for those offered by third-party suppliers. At least two case manufacturers contacted by The Times acknowledged that Apple's giveaway could cut into sales.

Avon Products Inc. said Friday that it will offer fewer discounts, make fewer products and use fewer suppliers to save as much as $400 million a year by 2000. Wall Street liked the news, driving shares of the New York-based cosmetics company up $6.88, or 10%, to $73.75 in trading of 3.88 million shares, more than five times the three-month daily average. Avon said it will take pretax charges of $150 million to $200 million as it cuts 30% of its fragrance, cosmetics and toiletries lines.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is helping more than 1,000 of its apparel suppliers secure financing based on the strength of its own credit rating. The program was outlined in a letter to suppliers Nov. 2. Commercial finance giant CIT Group Inc. had filed for bankruptcy protection a day earlier, raising worries about apparel industry financing.

Ford Motor Co. said Thursday that it would cut its suppliers by about half and award key parts makers larger, long-term contracts in a move to reduce costs globally and stem losses in North America. Ford -- which buys about $90 billion of parts, goods and services a year worldwide -- already has chosen seven companies as initial suppliers. They are Autoliv Inc. of Sweden, Delphi Corp., Johnson Controls Inc., Visteon Corp. and Lear Corp. of the United States, Canada's Magna International Inc.

Yum Brands Inc. said is dropping some suppliers of its KFC restaurants in China as it tries to reassure consumers in that country who were scared off by a chicken safety scare last month. The company on Monday unveiled a new set of quality control guidelines meant to rebuild trust in its brand after KFC's January sales in China plummeted amid reports of excessive levels of antibiotics in the chain's chicken. Yum last year derived 42% of its profit from China. Now, the chain says it will boost oversight over its supply chain and impose stricter requirements on its poultry producers.

After one of its suppliers was under investigation for selling beef products potentially tainted with horse meat, Burger King concluded that none of its products were affected. The chain said it came to the conclusion after conducting testing for traces of equine DNA in its beef patties. Burger King, which is based in Miami, said it launched an independent and ongoing probe upon learning that Irish regulators had discovered equine DNA in meat in one of its suppliers' facilities.

Burger King is cutting ties with a supplier under investigation for selling beef products potentially tainted with horse meat. The chain said it would no longer use products from ABP Food Group's Irish subsidiary, Silvercrest, to supply its locations in Britain and Ireland. This past weekend, the fast food giant replaced all Silvercrest meat with deliveries from another supplier as a “voluntary and precautionary measure,” it said. Burger King, which is based in Miami, said it launched an independent and ongoing probe upon learning that Irish regulators had discovered equine DNA in meat from Silvercrest's facilities.

Aerospace giant Boeing Co. just can't seem to escape trouble with its new 787 Dreamliner passenger jet. More than three years late because of design problems and supplier issues, the much-anticipated plane has run into another bout of turbulence with fresh concerns about its safety. The Federal Aviation Administration this month ordered inspections of fuel line connectors on Dreamliners because of risks of leaks and possible fires. PHOTOS: Inside the Dreamliner On the same day, a United Airlines Dreamliner flight from Houston to Newark, N.J., was diverted to New Orleans after an electrical problem popped up mid-flight.

Nielsen wants to become the one-stopshop for measuring media. Already the leading supplier of television ratings, Nielsen Holdings struck a $1.26-billion deal to acquire Arbitron Inc., which tracks listenership of the radio industry. The purchase puts measurement of two of the biggest media platforms in the hands of one company. New York-based Nielsen also has a growing business rating Internet traffic as well as consumer shopping habits. "This deal is a great deal for the Nielsen company," Chief Executive David Calhoun said on a conference call Tuesday with analysts and media.

After the Bangladesh factory fire that killed more than 100 workers in November, retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. fired a supplier making clothes at the facility. Now that supplier has come forward to say it wasn't aware its clothes were stitched there, reports say. Success Apparel said in a statement to Bloomberg that it placed an order with Simco, a Wal-Mart-approved supplier, to fulfill orders. Simco then doled out about 7% of the order to Tuba Group, owner of the now infamous Tazreen Design factory in Bangladesh, according to Success.

About 40 miles west of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, another kind of crisis may be unfolding — this one striking at the heart of the world's multibillion-dollar market for smartphones, portable music players and other cutting-edge electronics. The powerful earthquake that rocked Japan last month knocked out a hillside factory owned by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Little known outside industry circles, Shin-Etsu is the world's biggest producer of advanced silicon wafers, a key material needed for the manufacturing of semiconductors.

Many Los Angeles apparel firms and other key suppliers are resuming shipments to Campeau Corp.'s bankrupt department store empire. The development is a boon to many suppliers that lost business in recent months when they couldn't get financing to ship to Campeau's Federated Department Stores and Allied Stores divisions. For merchandise-starved Federated and Allied, which sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection last week after being cut off by suppliers, it's even better news.

Bowing to pressure from consumer groups and government officials, Apple Inc. said it will bring some manufacturing of its computers back to the United States starting next year. Chief Executive Tim Cook made the announcement Thursday in interviews with Bloomberg Businessweek and NBC, saying the Cupertino, Calif., company would invest $100 million to build some Macs domestically. "We've been working on this for a long time, and we were getting closer to it," he told Bloomberg Businessweek.

Ikea Group, the Swedish company known for low-cost furniture and home goods, admitted and apologized for contracting with East German suppliers that used forced labor to manufacture the firm's products more than two decades ago. A report commissioned by Ikea from Ernst & Young showed that the company worked with suppliers in the communist German Democratic Republic some 25 to 30 years ago. Those suppliers used prisoners -- including political dissidents...