Supply chains in engineering and manufacturing lag ten years behind other industries. So says research by Lisa Harrington of lharrington group, who argues that engineering and manufacturing businesses must re-evaluate their approach to supply chain management and respond to their industry's driving trends to remain competitive in today's volatile business environment.

The retail and consumer goods industry must re-evaluate its approach to its supply chains and logistics to survive the "butterfly effect" of disruptive consumers, according to a DHL-backed study.

Supply chain optimization is at the heart of a four-year plan by Kellogg's to save up to $475m a year by 2018. The company estimates that by the end of 2017, Project K will reduce the company's global workforce by about seven percent.

Almost two thirds of businesses have experienced disruption to their value chains as a result of events beyond their control, according to an Oracle survey of large organizations in the Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA) region.

The credit squeeze resulting from the recession put the focus firmly on supply chain finance as major corporations got to grips with the fact that some of their suppliers were struggling to finance their activities.

TNT Express has set out plans to make recurring savings of 220m EURO by 2015 with a series of measures, including consolidating services, optimizing its infrastructure and reducing indirect costs. The restructuring is expected to cost 150m EURO by the end of 2015.