Many companies unintentionally have created departmental silos within their organizations. Information and products go back and forth between the different functional areas, but the customer is often missing from the process. When lean supply chain strategies, which focus on eliminating waste, are implemented, once again the customer is often times left out. Instead of focusing on the client, the company focuses internally to improve processes. Research shows that undertaking a lean supply chain journey that extends outside the four walls of the organization significantly improves the customer experience, company productivity and the bottom line. - Eric Lail, VP, Continuous Improvement and Client Services, Transportation Insight

With warehousing and logistics operations in numerous countries, Greg McKinley of InComm shares his experience and advice on how to select a reliable in-country vendor.

Moving a box from A to B is much the same in any country, but paperwork, processes, terminology and regulations vary greatly, presenting a barrier to global TMS rollouts. Elie Hiller of Transwide discusses ways to meet this challenge.

Product lifecycle management and line extensions are vital to companies operating in the high-tech industry, perhaps more so than any other industry. However, while many high-tech executives believe they are industry experts in regards to product innovation, confidence wanes in their ability to manage other parts of the product lifecycle, particularly when it comes to managing global product launches.

C.H. Robinson has opened an office in Innsbruck, Austria