As manufacturers seek to source quality goods at the lowest cost, supply chains that were once confined to a single country or continent have stretched around the world. Managers have become adept at addressing recurrent risks—frequent, low-impact incidents such as demand fluctuations or supply delays that affect efficiency. However, they have devoted less energy to designing supply chains that prevent or mitigate the impact of disruptive risks such as labor strikes, political unrest, regulatory shifts, and natural disasters. These events can have severe and lasting repercussions on operations, so manufacturers would do well to devise strategies that alleviate this risk.

UL LLC, the safety consulting and certification company, has expanded its Information & Insights (I&I) services division with the acquisitions of GoodGuide, IDES, Innovadex and The Wercs.

The Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) launched what it calls the most comprehensive supply chain security standards in TAPA's 17-year history to combat increasingly sophisticated thefts.

Safety science company Underwriters Laboratories launched its Information & Insights division, created to meet the demands by businesses for more sustainably made products - including housewares, beauty supplies, cleaning products and consumer technologies from computers to smart devices - and sustainable supply chains.

Finding logistics workers with the right skills is a growing challenge for all companies. One approach that promises to help is a national certification program funded by the Department of Labor and being developed by two universities and nine community colleges.