As an industry, manufacturing is "hot." Regions are creating manufacturing initiatives, countries are creating policies to lure manufacturing back and prepare the next generation of talent, maker fairs show entrepreneurs and small-scale artisans how they too can design and manufacture their own products, what manufacturers sell goes well beyond the 100-year-old recipe and the mechanical drawings, and new technologies are changing the economies of scale so that large- and small-scale value chains can be successful.

Belgian clothing retailer JBC has taken a large-scale radio frequency identification system live across all 144 of its stores throughout Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany.

Exact Macola has released version 10.3 of its enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for small and medium-sized businesses.

Manufacturers frequently ask themselves, "What if...?". What if a typhoon hits a major supplier in Asia and disrupts shipments? What if port workers go on strike in Long Beach? What if customers have expectations of order fulfillment within two days and you're losing sales to competitors? What if my inventory levels aren't sufficient to meet future demand for a product? What if I'm carrying excessive amounts of inventory that may turn to waste?

At its core, a warehouse management system offers warehouses and distributors a tool to help improve customer service. That means knowing what you have, where you have it and how soon you can promise delivery.

At a time when businesses continue to expand their use of data, fifty-three percent of so-called customer experience executives do not use big data to improve strategy, according to a new survey by Consero Group.

Today, omnichannel is so much broader than just the technology platform the customer uses for purchases - web, store, mobile, catalogue and so on. At its heart it is really about fulfillment - the customer's choice of fulfillment.