Asprova Corp. has released Asprova Editor 2000, the latest version of its product-scheduling application. Arranged into seven modules, it employs 21 functions from the vendor's supply-chain management system, Asprova APS/SCM.

Perry Santia, senior vice president of Genpact, provides the "big picture" of how high-tech supply chains are coping with the challenges of serving customers today.

There is only so much that a single organization is going to be able to achieve to improve the impact it has on the environment or society, without collaborating with the wider aspects of its supply chain.

A recent Deloitte survey of 600 executives at manufacturing and retail companies found that 63 percent were highly concerned about risks within the extended supply chain comprising vendors and customers, ranking it among their top-two concerns. The executives surveyed also cited "lack of acceptable cross-functional collaboration" as the number one obstacle to managing risk effectively. While these survey results indicating a serious lack of collaboration and coordination among trading partners are certainly worrisome, should they really come as a surprise?