FPS Hong Kong, a non-vessel operating common carrier and member of the Famous Pacific Shipping Group, is launching direct ocean groupage service to Honolulu, Hawaii.

Chainalytics LLC, a provider of supply-chain intelligence, analytics and advisory services, has introduced Integrated Freight Market Intelligence (iFMI).

Arena Solutions has joined with ERP Logic to provide a product lifecycle management (PLM) tool for users of SAP AG's Business ByDesign application.

With sales of roughly half a billion dollars, Dorman Products is one of the world's leading manufacturers of automotive parts for the aftermarket, selling more than 100,000 distinct products. The company has experienced sharp growth over the past four years, says director of corporate forecasting Donald H. Mitchell. Recently, it saw the need to transform its demand-planning process, in order to create "a more transparent environment."

The TrueCommerce EDI [Electronic Data Interchange] Solutions Group of HighJump Software Inc. has developed an enhanced version of its EDI-based tool for users of the Sage 100 enterprise resource planning (ERP) application.

The notion that companies are having no trouble finding supply chain talent is "a misperception in the marketplace," says Jason Breault, managing director of LifeWork Search. Media reports of high unemployment levels don't take fully into account the white-collar sector, where more than a million jobs have been added. Unemployment in that area is down to 4 percent, which isn't far from the 2-percent figure that is considered full employment, Breault says.

One Network Enterprises, a U.S.-based provider of technology to enable supply-chain collaboration, has expanded its market presence into Africa.

Vistaar Technologies Inc., a provider of price-management software, has made available version 1.5 of its Distribution Price Management application for alcoholic-beverage companies.

Is the term "demand responsiveness" a true call to action on the part of manufacturers, or is it just another buzz phrase? Rakesh Sharma, president and founder of Zyom Inc., believes it can have real value. He defines the term as an approach whereby companies with physical products work closely with an "ecosystem" of partners on the sales side, communicating through multi-tiered channels. Finding out in a timely fashion what has changed in those channels is no simple task anymore, given the expanding network of partners in outsourced relationships.