Quality is an everyday conversation on the manufacturing floor. Performance measures such as first-pass yield, reject rates, and scrap and rework are displayed on white boards at cells and assembly lines, ruthlessly analyzed and targeted for improvement. Quality tools abound.

Syspro, a vendor of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for small and mid-sized manufactures and distributors, has announced several new products. The company will soon be debuting an App Store which will extend the availability of its ERP offering within its partner and user community.

The European Commission (EC) has authorised the cross-border use of 25-metre (82-foot) megatrucks, but European parliamentarians and transport lobbies say the EU's executive body has exceeded its authority.

The risk of counterfeit parts and products is no stranger to the semiconductor and electronics industry. Recent news spanning industries has underscored the reach of the problem of substandard, non-conforming and counterfeit parts in the wider, global supply chain.

All companies great and small will eventually work with a SaaS provider. In most cases, the standard contract should suffice, but CIOs will never know what they can add (or subtract) if they don't ask.

Cities have long been the world's economic dynamos, but today the speed and scale of their expansion are unprecedented. Through a combination of consumption and investment in physical capital, growing cities could inject up to $30tr a year into the world economy by 2025. Understanding cities and their shifting demographics is critical to reaching urban consumers and to preparing for the challenges that will arise from increasing demand for natural resources (such as water and energy) and for capital to invest in new housing, office buildings, and port capacity.

Blue Ridge Inventory Group, LLC, a provider of optimization and analytics applications in the cloud, has introduced an integrated analytics tool, designed to help supply chains capitalize on data trapped in their software.

Thin Film Electronics ASA, a player in development of printed electronics, and Bemis Company Inc., a Fortune 500 supplier of flexible packaging and pressure-sensitive materials, plan to develop a flexible sensing platform that can collect and wirelessly communicate sensor information, for use by food, consumer products and healthcare companies.

JustEnough Software, a vendor of demand-management applications for retailers, distributors and brand owners, has formed an alliance with the supply chain consultancy enVista.