The big North American distributor of industrial products was looking for a means to eliminate paper and curb the flood of e-mail exchanges generated by its supplier-management efforts. It also wanted to keep closer tabs on a growing supplier base. Time for an automated solution.

Aligning supply chain planning with execution is now a competitive necessity and essential for all organizations, according to a new study. Results from the 2014 Supply Chain Benchmarking Study reveal investment priorities and top challenges of more than 300 supply chain professionals from a wide cross-section of the market.

To meet the challenge of Amazon.com and other e-commerce rivals, the parent of Sears, Roebuck and Kmart launches an initiative to provide one- to two-day delivery of orders to online shoppers nationwide, drawing on inventory from strategically located stores.

The Philippines-based logistics service provider took a concept born in manufacturing, and applied it to the services sector. The result: a significant bump in service quality and customer satisfaction.

You would think that proper risk management would be top of mind for high-tech supply chain executives. So why do they keep getting it wrong?