Analyst Insight: Keeping talent has risen to be a concern for managers, directors and CEOs across the country. It's even caught the attention of academics. What policies employed at the DC level gets the most out of the money spent on training, and gets the best results? Our 2014 study starts to answer that question. – Karl B. Manrodt, Professor of Logistics, and Donnie Williams, Assistant Professor of Logistics, Georgia College and State University

With a new year comes a renewed focus on inventory and how to manage it. All systems and aspects of the supply chain must match up with customer demands in the ever-present and evolving omnichannel environment. After all, customers can order goods from anywhere on any smart device, and their expectations are that they will pick up their goods, or have their merchandise delivered to any place – on their terms. People want quick results – or else they will find another outlet from which to shop.

Analyst Insight: Supply chain problems result from the uncertainty, time delay and amplification of variability based on demand changes from one function to another and from one organization to another. The parts of the chain don't work together! They often work against one another. The supply chain is a dysfunctional system that increases the cost of all participants in the system. Today's optimization and network technology provides the capability transform to a Smart Supply Network 3.0. – Rich Sherman, author and founder at Gold & Domas Research

Inventory optimization vendors are starting to leverage artificial intelligence as a means to optimize complex supply chains for large stock holdings and multiple stocking locations, according to the Technology Value Matrix for Inventory Optimization released by Nucleus Research.

Manufacturing and distribution executives love the idea of slashing inventories. But it's distribution-center managers who must deal with the consequences.

John Sharkey, senior vice president for supply chain consulting at Spinnaker, discusses how Spinnaker's clients are employing inventory optimization and supply chain network modeling to meet specific service requirements without excess safety stock.

Competing against large enterprises is never easy, but a smaller pet-foods retailer finds that cloud-based voice technology was what it needed to run warehouse operations more smoothly.