A mentor often repeated this: "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten." Product designers who are working with 3D printing design, development and manufacturing should take heed. Design the way you've always designed, and you won't get anything out of 3D printing that's different from what you've always gotten before 3D printing.

Recently, McDonald's, the world's iconic largest food service provider, has been (forgive the cliché) through the grinder. Poor performance has led to the departure of its CEO and plenty of critical attention in the business pages. Part of this story relates to the provenance, or origins, of its products: Chains that provide more upmarket "fast casual" dining such as Panera, Chipotle, and Shake Shack have brands that speak of freshness, health and trustworthy sourcing.

More than 80 percent of retailers plan to increase their customer experience spending in 2015, according to a new survey from SDL, a provider of global customer experience, and Econsultancy.

Toby Brzoznowski, executive vice president of LLamasoft Inc., details the changes he's seen in supply-chain modeling and network design over the last 15 years. And he offers a picture of where the technology and supporting business processes are going.