Downstream demand signals have been available in the retail world for some time now, but it has taken a while for suppliers to take full advantage of them. Mark Kremblewski, global business expert in demand planning with Procter & Gamble, likens the situation to the mining industry, which trades in deposits of both high- and low-grade ore. The latter type is more plentiful, but it's the first that offers the biggest payback from a better use of demand data in unpredictable situations.

Sysco Corp. has operated very successfully for many years as a decentralized company, distributing $40bn annually in food and associated products to restaurants, schools and other meal-serving organizations. The company felt that it could do better in terms of logistics, however, and decided to centralize inbound transportation operations that previously were distributed among its 70 business units.

Agentrics NeoGrid, a vendor of products for supply-chain synchronization, has created the NeoGrid Portal. The new collaboration tool integrates existing systems within a company, creating a single point of access for managing the entire network of a client's supply chain.

CombineNet Inc., a provider of strategic-sourcing systems for global supply chains, has developed new capabilities which allow procurement and sourcing managers to manage electronic sourcing events in a single platform.

Freeing data from functional silos and making it available to decision-makers throughout the supply chain in real time is the elusive key to true, end-to-end supply chain optimization, says Kristi Montgomery of Kenco Management Services, a third-party logistics provider.

SAP AG has introduced a series of mobile applications for business users and consumers. The new tools provide real-time access to human resources, finance, sales and mobile commerce functions.

Accellos Inc. has certified the newest version of its AccellosOne Warehouse software application with Microsoft SQL Server 2012.

PeopleNet has added ALK Technologies as a partner for its In-Cab Navigation application. PeopleNet is a vendor of onboard computing and mobile communications systems for truck-fleet management.

As a leading contract manufacturer of electronics, Celestica works with a diverse supply base comprised of thousands of vendors. Six years ago, the company began a major initiative to gain better visibility and control of supplier performance, an effort that led to creation of a proprietary supplier collaboration tool known as Live Share.

LeanLogistics, a provider of transportation-management system (TMS) software, has adapted its On-Demand TMS SuiteApp for the NetSuite SuiteCloud computing platform.