At the same time that supply chains are becoming increasingly global and complex, customers are expecting faster than ever service, says Vijay Subramanian, president of Prana Consulting.

Eric O'Daffer, research director with Gartner, joins us for an update on the major issues affecting the healthcare supply chain, including the potential impact of healthcare reform.

Breaking down functional silos to create transparent and responsive end-to-end supply chains has long been an intractable supply chain challenge, but many companies are finding success using a control tower concept that gets everyone working off the same plan and focused on the same outcome. To learn more about this approach, SupplyChainBrain convened a Power Lunch"”a roundtable discussion"”with four experts in the field: Paul Bittinger, former supply chain transformation manager, Procter & Gamble (now retired); Lora Cecere, founder and CEO, Supply Chain Insights; Don Gaspari, director, global materials and inventory, NCR Corp.; and Kirk Munroe, vice president of marketing, Kinaxis.

QAD Inc. has developed new demand-planning capabilities as an add-on to it its QAD Enterprise Applications suite.

Aspen Technology Inc. has made available version 8 of aspenONE, the vendor's application for process optimization.

Noha Tohamy, research vice president with Gartner, identifies the proactive strategies that leading companies are using to manage supply-chain risk today.

aPriori, a vendor of software for product cost management, has released an update of its platform. The tool aids in cost control by providing design, engineering, sourcing and manufacturing professionals with knowledge and technology infrastructure, helping them to determine the cost of a part or complete product.