Epicor Software Corp has released version 24.1 of the Epicor Eagle N series for retail business management.

Amber Road, a vendor of global trade management software, has acquired ecVision, a provider of cloud-based global sourcing and collaborative supply-chain applications.

Automotive suppliers are under mounting pressure to satisfy two conflicting customer demands: to cut costs and to open more factories in fast-growing emerging markets so that they can be closer to their customers' production plants. Striking the right balance between cost and proximity in global manufacturing networks will be one of the industry's greatest challenges, according to a report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), conducted in partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA. The report is titled The Proximity Paradox: Balancing Auto Suppliers' Manufacturing Networks.

Enrique Castillo, president and chief operating officer of Fast Logistics Group, relates how the lead logistics provider adopted a sales and operations planning (S&OP) process to improve the reliability of delivery for major consumer-goods brands. A finalist in the SupplyChainBrain/CSCMP Supply Chain Innovation Award for 2014.

Chief financial officer wear a lot of hats. They oversee the treasury, monitor our markets and position our companies for the future. Here's another hat they should be wearing: that of the champion of supply chain resilience.