Transportation brokers play an important role in the supply chain, but they often do not receive the respect they deserve, says Robert Voltmann, president and CEO of the Transportation Intermediaries Association.

Routing and loading optimization applications are two important technologies that trucking companies can leverage to achieve greater efficiency, says Ray Penn, consultant at Ortec. Both result in better utilization of equipment which ultimately means fewer miles driven, fewer trucks on the road and lower fuel and labor costs, he says. When enhanced by mobile communications between driver and home office, these tools become even more powerful.

Anyone doing transportation-related business in California, or planning to, must be aware of the environmental requirements imposed by the country's biggest state, says Yvonne Sanchez, air resources engineer with the California EPA Air Resources Board.

Why is it that large corporations seem to struggle with standardizing on an advanced WMS? John Reichert, director of WMS product development at TECSYS Inc., discusses that as he outlines significant advances he sees coming in warehousing operations.

The accent may be on lean workforces, especially during hard economic times, but to fail to nurture the next generation of supply chain managers is foolhardy, says Dave Malenfant, vice president, global supply chain, at Alcon Labs.

Voice technology could become mainstream in many DC environments, and not just in large operations, says Chris Sweeney, senior vice president of Lucas Systems. And a multi-modal approach means voice applications work well with barcode scanning.

While discussing the specifics of the supply chain in the aerospace industry, Jun Tsuruta, director of supply chain at Lockheed Martin, Kelly Aviation Center, notes that managing risk and separating "suppliers" from "vendors" is crucial in any vertical.

There are many challenges to distributing goods donated by the food and grocery industry to food banks around the U.S., says Nick Blawat, vice president of supply chain at Feeding America. And your task isn't made any easier when the food industry tightens its own supply chain.

Companies have made great strides in fostering collaboration with their trading partners, says Joseph Andraski, president and chief executive officer of Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Solutions (VICS). But there's still work to be done, especially with regard to tearing down internal and external silos.

Joe Gallick, vice president of sales with Penske Logistics, reveals some of the dramatic benefits his company has realized, on its own behalf as well as that of customers, by signing up with the ambitious program to slash energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.