The big North American distributor of industrial products was looking for a means to eliminate paper and curb the flood of e-mail exchanges generated by its supplier-management efforts. It also wanted to keep closer tabs on a growing supplier base. Time for an automated solution.

Aligning supply chain planning with execution is now a competitive necessity and essential for all organizations, according to a new study. Results from the 2014 Supply Chain Benchmarking Study reveal investment priorities and top challenges of more than 300 supply chain professionals from a wide cross-section of the market.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration has released a new U.S. Crude Oil Tracking Tool for use by policymakers, analysts and the public.

Deck Dassault Systèmes, a provider of software for product lifecycle management, has released Apriso 9.7, its latest Delmia Apriso product.

The global electronics contract manufacturing market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 5.74 percent from 2012-2016, according to TechNavio analysts. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the need for original equipment manufacturers to optimize resources. With the fast-paced product development environment of high-tech electronics manufacturers, creating a closed-loop, traceable collaboration process with their contract manufacturing partners and suppliers is key to product efficiencies, quality, compliance and meeting time-to-market goals.

To meet the challenge of Amazon.com and other e-commerce rivals, the parent of Sears, Roebuck and Kmart launches an initiative to provide one- to two-day delivery of orders to online shoppers nationwide, drawing on inventory from strategically located stores.