The modern, technology-based supply chain has evolved from a back-end, transactional function to a means to not only strip waste and costs out of healthcare, but increasingly to help create better clinical outcomes. GHX, an electronic healthcare industry trading exchange, has identified five ways in which its customers are leveraging their supply chains to markedly improve patient care.

New research shows that 56 percent of automotive parts and accessories shoppers are making their purchases online - an 8 percent increase over the previous year. The study also indicates that consumers are combining online and in-store channels for an omnichannel shopping experience. Omnichannel is when shoppers seamlessly shift between mobile, online and in-store resources to research, purchase, pick up and return their items.

H.D. Smith is using cloud analytics software to get a better handle on its supply chain, allowing it to slice and dice inventory by profit margin and customer as well as track the shipping route of prescriptions and health and other wellness products.

Doug Bowen, vice president supply chain, and Terry Loftus, medical director, surgical services and clinical resources, discuss the initiatives that Banner Health has undertaken in recent years to cut inventory and logistics costs, without affecting the quality of service to doctors and patients.

Women in Manufacturing has received a $100,000 grant from the GE Foundation.

The express parcels industry is coming under pressure as never before. Fundamental changes in the market structure, caused by e-retailing, technological disruption and macro-economic upheaval, have created opportunities and challenges for express companies in equal measure.

For 130 years, Chicago and New York City have been locked in a battle of the skyscrapers. Nine of the tallest buildings in the U.S., as well as more than one-half of the nation's towers greater than 785 feet, were built in just those two cities.