Retailers must plan now for the IoT because the technology positively impacts top- and bottom-line business performance by improving omnichannel operations and enabling personalized and contextualized interaction with consumers, says a report from IDC Retail Insights.

Arena Solutions Inc., a vendor of cloud-based applications for product lifecycle management, has integrated Arena PLM with the electronic components information database of SiliconExpert Technologies.

Challenge: A major chemicals company manufactures product in Brazil and ships globally, with its largest market in China. It takes 27 days on ship to deliver to China. Customers in China didn't want to wait 27 days to receive goods. The company didn't want to set up a DC in Asia.

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.

Organizations need an agile supply network to be able to respond to unplanned events and continuing market volatility, says Jake Barr, CEO of BlueWorld Consulting. Barr explains what an agile supply network encompasses and outlines steps that companies can take to build agility into their supply chains.

Icix, a vendor of applications for global supply-chain risk management, has developed Direct Test.

Challenge: For one of the largest purchasers of wines and spirits in the U.S., orders that arrive in late afternoon must be routed, cases picked per store order, and loaded that day for deliveries beginning at 6:00 a.m. the next morning. Daily order volumes can fluctuate from 18,000 cases per day to 32,000 cases per day, making labor management and transportation capacity management a challenge.

Challenge: A breakfast food business started by two college students gained traction quickly, going from selling exclusively online to supplying coffee shops and specialty retailers throughout America. The owners needed a high-quality ecommerce fulfillment solution that could scale to meet all its future requirements.