You walk into the local supermarket, list in hand. Eggs, milk, bread, some pork chops and steaks, cereal, potatoes, fruit, and what the heck, maybe a bag of chips. You know the routine: with basic meat, bread and dairy necessities strategically set up around the perimeter, you'll have to pass by a host of other items on the way there and back.

The City of Madrid and IBM, through its subsidiary INSA, announced the largest environmental services management project in Spain, designed to improve city life for all of Madrid's 3 million citizens. Using IBM's Smarter Cities technology, this initiative will help improve the delivery and efficiency of city services and provide citizens new tools to interact and communicate with the city council.

The largest private employer in China and one of the biggest supply chain manufacturers in the world, Foxconn, announced it will soon start using robots to help assemble devices at its several sprawling factories across China. Apple, one of Foxconn's biggest partners to help assemble its iPhones, iPads, will be the first company to use the new service.

Infosys, a global provider of technology, consulting and outsourcing, has launched a cloud-based version of its Clinical Trial Supply Management (CTSM) solution. The new solution is designed to help life sciences companies enhance efficiency of clinical trial processes by driving greater collaboration between pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations (CROs).

In a recent decision affecting ocean freight operators, the International Maritime Organization's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) adopted amendments to the MARPOL Convention to set a date for the implementation of "Tier III" standards within emission control areas (ECAs) and to make the IMO Member State Audit Scheme mandatory.

A huge increase in the number of devices making up the Internet of Things (IoT) will have a significant impact on how the supply chain will operate, according to a report by analyst firm Gartner.