Eric O'Daffer, research director with Gartner, joins us for an update on the major issues affecting the healthcare supply chain, including the potential impact of healthcare reform.

Breaking down functional silos to create transparent and responsive end-to-end supply chains has long been an intractable supply chain challenge, but many companies are finding success using a control tower concept that gets everyone working off the same plan and focused on the same outcome. To learn more about this approach, SupplyChainBrain convened a Power Lunch"”a roundtable discussion"”with four experts in the field: Paul Bittinger, former supply chain transformation manager, Procter & Gamble (now retired); Lora Cecere, founder and CEO, Supply Chain Insights; Don Gaspari, director, global materials and inventory, NCR Corp.; and Kirk Munroe, vice president of marketing, Kinaxis.

BNSF Logistics LLC, a multimodal transportation and third-party logistics services provider, has acquired Albacor Shipping, Inc., a global project and general cargo services entity based in Toronto, Canada.

Oracle Corp. has released version 6.3 of two applications, Oracle Transportation Management and Oracle Global Trade Management.