Intel senior commodity manager Suzanne Ralls discusses how processes that begin with the "ideal state" have helped simplify and improve commodity procurement at the company.

Analyst Insight: Retailers are starting to use brick-and-mortar stores as distribution nodes, to connect demand with inventory in the most flexible and cost-effective way. Ship-from-store enables them to leverage their entire inventory for higher sales, better margins and improved service. It allows them to offer omnichannel customers access to a broader array of products, and helps to offset the impact of an imperfect forecast. - Adam Mullen, Apparel Industry Leader, Fortna Inc.

Dal-Tile's Collaborative Transportation Program, which won the 2012 Supply Chain Innovation Award, has continued to grow and mature. Sonney Jones, supply chain director at Dal-Tile, provides an update.

These days, it's widely assumed that most businesses are selling directly to customers via the internet. However, surprisingly, a Grant Thornton survey found that 39 percent of businesses are not yet selling online. Online sales might seem like a dream come true "” you reach larger markets with no middlemen, at higher margins "” but, according to the Grant Thornton survey, the dream can easily turn into a nightmare.

Change still is a constant and it comes at today's supply chain professionals faster, with more intensity and greater risks than ever before. Art Van Bodegraven describes what this means for current and future supply chain leaders.

Every month, XportReporter produces a report on new and opportunities in China's transport and aerospace sectors.

Global forwarding group DB Schenker says it has taken a fresh look at the modes of transport usually chosen for moving freight around Asia and switched to a more efficient multimodal option which it has christened the "Asia Landbridge."