While pop-up retail is not new - dating back to California-based Vacant in 1999 - the concept of pop-up distribution centers is a fairly new one. Following the same idea, it involves setting up a temporary distribution center in a specific location for a set period of time to meet a temporary need, then shutting it down.

If a retailer is out of stock of an item just twice, 40 percent of parents looking for back-to-school items say they will avoid shopping at that retailer again.

TE Connectivity is a $13bn world leader in designing and manufacturing electronic connectivity products for a range of industries. Ruud Somers, director of global network design, discusses how the company uses supply chain modeling and optimization solutions to support the high service demands of its global network.

Karen Hogan, global director of operational excellence at Southco, discusses the challenges of multi-echelon inventory optimization and how Southco has used solutions from LLamasoft to integrate IO into a monthly planning process.

AeroScout Industrial, a provider of active radio frequency identification solutions, has installed an "Internet of Everything" system at a power tools plant owned by its parent company, Stanley Black & Decker, located in Reynosa, Mexico. The solution has enabled the firm to improve product throughput and labor efficiency, and to reduce the quantity of inventory stored on site for assembly-line replenishment.

Big Heart Pet Brands is the parent company for many of the biggest selling pet foods, including Kibbles 'n Bits, Meow Mix, Milk Bone and 9Lives. Ryan Dimond, manager of supply chain optimization, discusses how Big Heart uses supply chain design to support its many brands and employs supply chain modeling to make better decisions.