These charges are commonly trapped by defects in bulk materials and their interfaces.

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Kinder says he's looking for other pipeline partnerships to buy, and Kinder Morgan is expanding into terminals that handle coal and other dry bulk materials, hoping to capitalize on long-term trends such as the shift by electric utilities away from Appalachian coal toward cleaner- burning western coal.

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Meanwhile, makers of generics developed more efficient manufacturing processes and negotiated bulk discounts on raw materials.

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Now, as the housing industry has begun to show signs of a recovery, Norfolk Southern looks to benefit as it is a major bulk shipper for construction materials.

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The premise: Buy up lots of small companies in a fragmented business--such as used cars, funeral homes, office products, food distribution and medical diagnostics--then purchase raw materials in bulk to cut costs.

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It also sells raw materials to competitors through its bulk pharma business.

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There are few industries more tied to global growth than dry bulk shipping, as these ships are responsible for carrying the materials required in economic expansion.

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Even if not the Cupertino based company will likely hedge a significant amount of stock and that a bulk discount will ensure they can always have a cheaper bill of materials than any competitor using the alloy.

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For years, analysts have warned of the impending oversupply in the dry bulk shipping markets as newbuilds were coming online faster than demand for raw materials was growing.

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