Mark Zeni, director of fulfillment with First Solar, talks about the challenges his company faces in gaining full visibility of supply and demand, and in dealing with increasing supply-chain volatility.

The Indian cold chain sector, which is currently grappling with such issues concerning the quality of food products and food safety maintenance has realized the necessity of faster development, and could grow at the rate of 10 percent to 15 percent per annum in the next five to 10 years, according to Arvind Surange, chief consultant and proprietor, ACR Project Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

Arpad Hevizi, vice president of supply chain solutions with Celestica, talks about the challenges his company faces in gaining full visibility of supply and demand, and in dealing with increasing supply-chain volatility.

Densification is the process of reducing product size (volume or weight) while maintaining or increasing its value. This is not a new trend. In fact, it is a tenet of good supply chain management and logistics, according to a four-part blog series published by the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics.

The seventh annual Holiday Shopping Study from Motorola Solutions Inc. finds that overall in-store satisfaction has grown 23 percent in the last six years. Meanwhile, satisfaction with the checkout process and the availability of store associates has increased 32 percent and 23 percent, respectively, since 2008. Retailers need to continue to offer choice and options to shoppers across all channels - online, in-store and mobile. Shoppers also reported a dramatic increase in use of their smartphones for shopping-related activities including mobile couponing.