Few decisions have as much power to make or break a product's success and profitability as those around the sourcing of direct materials. The components, parts and assemblies that go into making products not only account for 70 percent of an average manufacturer's annual spend, they have a significant impact on such critical competitive factors as brand reputation, time to market and supply chain reliability.

A conversation with Adrian Gonzalez, president of Adelante SCM.

Changes in the work force are driving companies to automate as much as possible and, where automation isn't feasible, to implement labor management best practices using standards and incentives, says Mike Romano, president of Associated Integrated Supply Chain Solutions.

Throughout the logistics industry, food is one of the most demanding goods moved around the world. Statistics also show that it is also one of the most disposed products worldwide in relation to the produced quantity with 30 to 50 percent of food going to waste. The highest portion is on the consumers' side. But In the supply chain, a non-stop cold chain monitoring is the major instrument for food staying fresh and not rotting ahead of time. There are already several solutions in the field to collect data to monitor the cold chain. But most of these solutions are costly to install and to maintain and therefore only suitable for high-priced products such as pharmaceuticals. Wireless sensors that use the energy harvesting principle now overcome these challenges and open the door for a complete traceability of food at affordable costs.

Supply chain fleet managers are the uncelebrated heroes of today's economy. By orchestrating the vital link between supplier and consumer, they are responsible for ensuring the uninterrupted flow of commerce despite numerous challenges affecting productivity, safety and customer satisfaction. Here is a look at the top supply chain fleet management challenges in 2014, along with key tips to help fleet managers overcome those challenges.

Analyst Insight: The critical value-add of a manufacturing supply chain comes from constantly asking, "Can we make what we sell and sell what we make?" This is sales and operations planning (S&OP): a process of constant vigilance to meet customer commitments, while optimizing scarce working capital. Supply-chain optimization efforts can benefit from approaching projects as a hybrid of S&OP and supply chain. This places the focus on value creation over functional excellence. - Jon Kirkegaard, President, DCRA Inc.