Why is multi-tier supply-chain visibility such a hot topic in the C-suite today? Douglas Kent, global vice president of Avnet Velocity, has an answer.

As ever-larger "megacities" become home to more and more of the world's people, the supply chains that bring essential supplies to these crowded populations will become increasingly complex.

The problem with many sales and operations planning efforts is that they don't match the "cadence" of all functions within a business, says Marko Pukkila, research director with Gartner Supply Chain Research.

Manthan Systems, a provider of business-intelligence and analytics software to retailers, has released version 6.4 of ARC Vendor Link.

Dwight Klappich, vice president of research with Gartner, reports on the firm's latest findings about the intersection of supply-chain management processes and technologies.

In the face of challenging economic headwinds, consumer goods manufacturers have focused on cutting costs and optimizing working capital. Those routes still offer opportunity, but recent analysis indicates that traditional assumptions regarding tradeoffs among costs, inventory and service don't always hold true, and leading companies are using new, customer-centric levers to unlock value. These actions could yield a potential value of nearly $50bn industrywide, according to research conducted by The Boston Consulting Group on behalf of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA).

Most everyone in manufacturing is aware that today, supply chain is, more or less, "king" of the manufacturing lifecycle. With more globalized supply chains and the trend of working with more and more third parties, it's critical that manufacturers keep a strong hold on the flow of materials from one location to the next.