Automation appears on its face to be a sound strategic move for a distribution center. But turn the clock back a few years, and vast expensive warehouse automation projects were notorious for proving in practice to be inflexible gridlocks, a bottleneck in the flow of goods heading from factories to customers.

Motorola Solutions had issued the latest release of Connect Plus, the vendor's two-way radio digital trunking system under the Mototrbo brand.

LLamasoft Inc., a provider of software for supply-chain design, has made a number of enhancements to its Supply Chain Guru and Transportation Guru applications.

Gleason Research Associates blends its proprietary software with the mobile computers of Intermec to help the U.S. Army track and audit everything from desks to tanks. Efficiency soars, and errors plummet.

The Medical University of South Carolina, in a bid to slash more than $64m from its budget, embraces procurement automation. In the process, the facility goes from survival mode to ranking among the nation's top medical centers.

Barcoding Inc. has formed a new division, Consumables by Barcoding.