Challenge: A top-tier athletic footwear brand needed to gain quicker access to supplier information and share purchase order information with several hundred vendors and factories. The company was relying on manually intensive methods, with high error rates and long cycle times.

Hermes-OTTO International, a provider of electronic-commerce services for fashion and lifestyle brands, has launched ASTRA Supply Chain Services Ltd.

Epicor Software Corp. has made generally available its latest version of product-packaging software known as Epicor AVP.

Challenge: A Fortune 100 consumer product company struggled to hit target metrics for fill rates, on-time delivery, damage rates and other key distribution metrics. The company needed immediate improvements to satisfy the demands of its retail customers.

President Obama announced nearly $500m in public-private investment to strengthen American manufacturing by investing in cutting-edge technologies through a new, textiles-focused manufacturing institute competition led by the Department of Defense, and by sharpening the capabilities of small manufacturers through Manufacturing Extension Partnership competitions in 12 states. The White House, as detailed in a new report, is also launching a Supply Chain Innovation Initiative focused on building public-private partnerships to strengthen the small U.S. manufacturers that anchor the nation's supply chains.