Gordon Pearson, global inventory director with NCR, talks about the challenges his company faces in gaining full visibility of supply and demand, and in dealing with increasing supply-chain volatility.

General Motors is joining the voluntary U.S. Environmental Protection Agency SmartWay Partnership, which will drive benchmarking of fuel consumption and reduction of emissions by its freight shippers and carriers with the goal of further shrinking the company's carbon footprint.

A federal border patrol initiative sparked by 9/11 terrorism may lead to an automotive industry breakthrough in mapping its complex supply chain. The Automotive Industry Action Group of suburban Detroit is launching a new Web-based database for identifying the physical movement of finished goods, parts and materials through the automotive supply chain.

Amanpreet Singh, senior director of strategy and operations with Motorola Mobility, discusses his career in supply chain, and outlines the major "pain points" that companies face today, in attempting to gain full visibility of supply and demand.

C.J. Wehlage, vice president of high-tech solutions with Kinaxis, details industry's major supply-chain management challenges - in particular, the difficulty of obtaining full visibility of supply and demand, and dealing with the volatility of markets.

A new MIT study on supply chain risk shows no correlation between the total amount a manufacturer spends with a supplier and the profit loss it would incur if that supply were suddenly interrupted. This counterintuitive finding defies a basic business tenet that equates the greatest supply chain risk with suppliers of highest annual expenditure.

Trevor Miles, vice president of thought leadership with Kinaxis, details industry's major supply-chain management challenges - in particular, the difficulty of obtaining full visibility of supply and demand, and dealing with the volatility of markets.

In taking the helm of General Motors, Mary Barra becomes the first woman to serve as chief executive officer of a major automotive company, a sign that corporate boards and investors increasingly see leaders' gender as a non-issue and gender diversity perhaps even as an asset.