Joey Carnes, CEO of MIQ Logistics, says that changing demographics, especially the aging of global populations, will have a profound impact on consumer-driven supply chains in the next five to 15 years and needs to be given greater weight in supply chain models.

Professor Yossi Sheffi, director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, describes the development of logistics clusters and their considerable economic advantages, which include the creation of steady, well paying jobs for both blue- and white-collar workers.

The MIT Forum for Supply Chain Innovation has formed a Manufacturing Technology Advisory Board to bring MIT academia and research together with major technology providers and industry leaders to collaborate on key issues in the U.S. manufacturing industry, such as technology, process innovation, supply chain risk and reshoring enablers.

Quality is an everyday conversation on the manufacturing floor. Performance measures such as first-pass yield, reject rates, and scrap and rework are displayed on white boards at cells and assembly lines, ruthlessly analyzed and targeted for improvement. Quality tools abound.

Manufacturers can generate new value, minimize costs, and increase operational stability by focusing on four broad areas: production, product design, value recovery - and supply-circle management.

Automobile manufacturer Volkswagen Slovakia is tracking its assembled vehicles as they undergo final servicing and inspection processes at its plant in Bratislava, using a real-time location system (RTLS).