Analyst Insight: Despite extensive writing from IDC Manufacturing Insights last year extolling the virtues of supply chain responsiveness "” and that in many cases investments in responsiveness might well be better served than investments in forecasting "” manufacturing supply chains continue to rate "making improvements in planning and forecasting" among their top investment priorities. Not that responsiveness isn't important, just that companies believe there is still more progress to be made in things like forecast accuracy. - Simon Ellis, Director, Supply Chain Strategies Practice, IDC Manufacturing Insights

Analyst Insight: The automotive industry is an orchestration of marketing, logistics and product development. This orchestration, which leads to higher complexity and demand, requires that many parts be available in manufacturing and services. And this global and complex way of looking at a problem drives the European automotive industry to operate in Asia, as well as localize their supply chains for sales in Asia. However, the logistics for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) between these two continents sometimes become complex. - Thomas Wiedmann, Managing Director, Europe, Tompkins International

International experts are meeting at International Maritime Organization headquarters this week, in the form of an Expert Workshop, to begin updating the inventory of greenhouse gases from international shipping.

Analyst Insight: In a recent supply chain survey conducted by IDC Manufacturing Insights, consumer products manufacturers consider themselves stewards of product quality more frequently than of either cost or service. Interestingly, the gap between companies that consider themselves primarily stewards of product quality versus cost is narrowest for the large enterprise manufacturers, suggesting that for the smaller players, it is the product itself that drives competitive success in the marketplace. - Simon Ellis, Director, Supply Chain Strategies Practice, IDC Manufacturing Insights