As ordering and fulfillment models go, there isn't much more basic a concept than pizza delivery. Pick up the phone, place your order, and a driver brings the pie to your door. Simple, right? Wrong.

Challenge: A large publishing company in a rapidly changing industry was forced to make serious changes in order to survive. As requirements for physical inventories decreased and digital assets increased, the existing warehouse and labor costs threatened the long-term profitability of the company.

World-class procurement organizations now have 18 percent lower operating costs than typical companies, and operate with 28 percent fewer staff, while generating more than twice the return on investment, according to new benchmark research from The Hackett Group.

Outdoor apparel retailer REI has designed its new distribution center to be both energy and workflow efficient. The DC, in the Arizona desert, is a net-zero energy facility and will provide to co-op retailer with 20 years of free energy, according to Rick Bingle, REI's vice president of supply chain.

Last year some well documented supply chain miscues trimmed more than $30m in sales from The Finish Lines' bottom line, and left the retailer with unsold inventory in their DCs and disappointed customers in their stores.