Challenge: One of the largest privately owned health food distributors was operating with a replenishment system that could not keep up with the growth of the company. They needed a best-of-breed Inventory Optimization system that could create accurate forecasts and manage their highly seasonal product line and could be implemented using their existing systems.

Customer expectations about home delivery are changing rapidly. Tom Cagney, president and chief executive officer of Cagney Global Logistics, talks about how transportation providers are adjusting -- and how technology can help.

The IMO and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) should encourage cooperation between governments, research centers and companies to develop unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for search and rescue use, says Captain Abdelkhalik Kamal Eldin Soliman Selmy, a lecturer in the nautical department of the Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport in Egypt.

Challenge: The distribution centers were processing about 150 truckloads per day, 10 truckloads per hour. An automated WMS was needed for expansion into cold store market. Current work flows were not fully automated, causing manual errors. Material flows between product, semi-finished inventory and packaging stages were long and complex. Frozen pallets left the refrigeration system too early, so goods arrived damaged.

Challenge: A sophisticated warehouse management system (WMS) was needed to go live in 7 months to meet the company's new Direct Customer Shipment concept, which changed its supply chain to include additional countries.

Onshoring has become a major trend in the United States. U.S.-based companies are increasingly pulling their overseas manufacturing efforts and setting up shop in the States. How are they meeting their needs for heavy equipment?