Managing the multiple relationships in today's supply chains requires a new level of cross-functional business processes, says Doug Lambert, director of the Global Supply Chain Forum at Ohio State. He identifies eight critical processes and explains methods for implementing them.

The biggest barrier to innovation in global supply chains is the inability of companies to identify and then quickly react to opportunities, says Corey Rhodes, vice president-Americas at Amber Road. He discusses the reasons behind these shortcomings and steps to remedy them.

Retailers, particularly big box stores, are demanding more customized packaging of products, which increases demand for contract packaging services, says Dave Mabon, president of contract packaging at Genco. With margins that average 30 to 40 percent, this presents a huge opportunity for service providers.

Providing parts and sub-assemblies to automotive production lines is a highly complex activity, requiring rapid, automated sequencing and sophisticated error proofing. Bo Cheng, director of the automotive business at Comprehensive Logistics, explains how his company is keeping pace as automotive volumes return to pre-recession levels.

Picking in a frozen environment with heavy gloves, paper and pencil impaired the productivity and accuracy of operations at Perry's Ice Cream in Akron, N.Y. A voice-picking system from Vocollect enabled Perry's to solve these problems and gain other benefits.

While numerous retailers have collected years of customer data, only 9 percent are leveraging the information in a structured, usable way, according to HRC Advisory (HRC), a strategic retail advisory firm and unit of Hilco Global.

Discrete industry manufacturers' quest to reduce capital expenditure, shorten lead times, and improve productivity is expected to fuel investments in the global product lifecycle management (PLM) market. Growing emphasis on product innovation will also catalyse the adoption of PLM across all tiers of business.