Rapid growth, Y2K issues and the need to better control and trace inventory all led salad dressing manufacturer Naturally Fresh to implement an enterprise system that included robust supply-chain capabilities.

With industry giants invading the product niche that it created, the beverage maker turned to logistics outsourcing as a means to achieve a higher level of customer service, cost control and data integrity. Its attention now is focused on innovation and flavors.

Unreliable advance planning in the building trades, multiple manufacturing sites and the fragile nature of its products were just some of the logistics challenges faced by Pella Corp. It needed a total set of logistics solutions throughout its widespread enterprise.

For 20 years, the high-end data storage system and server assembler had used DCs on each coast. But a self-imposed $1m penalty for unavailability of parts required a faster logistics network. Indianapolis was the answer.

Canadian Tire is perhaps Canada's most widely recognized and well established retailer, but in the early 1990s the company realized its aging stores and out-of-date replenishment system were costing it business. A major renovation of stores and re-engineering of the supply chain yielded impressive results.

Consolidation of North American distribution points, a major shift from company-owned and -operated facilities to public warehousing, and economies from a little-known program with U.S. Customs helped slash inventory and associated costs for the Audiovox Corp., a consumer electronics company in Hauppauge, N.Y.