Analyst Insight: The top reason field service agents are not able to resolve a customer issue the first time when on site is due to not having the right part to solve the problem. Thus in order to ensure that customers are happy, and beyond, top-performing service organizations in Aberdeen's recent Convergence of People and Parts research have focused on strategies to integrate field service with parts management to meet the needs of the customer and ensure profitability. - Aly Pinder, Senior Research Associate, Aberdeen Group

The notion of a "chief procurement officer" isn't new. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has had one since 1998, and the title can be found in any number of other government agencies and branches of the military. Private companies have embraced it as well, although the position hasn't enjoyed a solid footing in most C-suites for more than a decade or so. Maybe it was the success of companies like Apple, with its mastery of supply management, that convinced top executives of the need to elevate procurement to the highest levels of the organization.

Achieving higher supply chain performance with more powerful, accurate demand planning.

GENCO ATC, the product of a merger in 2010 between GENCO and ATC Technology Corp., is being rebranded under the GENCO name alone.

Irv Grossman, vice president of the Supply Chain Operations Practice of Chainalytics, offers guidance on how companies can stop thinking of reverse logistics as an inevitable burden, and begin approaching it strategically.

Forecasting Best Practices for Varying Supply Chain Scenarios

While more than 75 percent of suppliers are confident in their ability to meet their customers' needs in 2013, one-third of respondents to ASQ's 2013 Manufacturing Outlook Survey say they anticipate a problem with a supplier next year, resulting in a shortage of parts or services.