The giant producer of alcoholic beverages lacked visibility of its prepaid ocean shipments and carrier performance levels. It sought a single platform for managing the flow of goods from the factory all the way to destination.

When it comes to high demand volatility and difficulty in forecasting, few industries match the world of consumer electronics. And Monster Products, the maker of high-quality cables and other accessories for computer, video and sound systems, faces a challenge that's especially daunting. For much of its product line, the company depends on the ever-changing nature of big-ticket items like PCs and flatscreen televisions, not to mention the fickle tastes of consumers. Now add thousands of SKUs to that mix, and you have a forecasting effort that can be brutally complex. In this interview, conducted at eyefortransport's Hi-Tech & Electronics Supply Chain Summit in San Francisco, director of materials Jennifer Hochstatter spoke with managing editor Robert J. Bowman about how Monster Products approaches the problem of prioritizing supply for its extensive product line, and ensuring forecast accuracy for the most critical customers.

To put China's sustained growth into perspective, when it surpassed the United States in 2010 to become the world's largest manufacturer, its output accounted for 23 percent of global manufacturing. Fast forward two years and China has gained an additional 10 percent of total manufacturing share, with $2.9 tr of the total $8.8tr global manufacturing output, putting their total value at 20 percent more than the US.

Hennes & Mauritz, selling under the brand H&M, is the world's second-largest apparel company and the biggest buyer of clothes made in Bangladesh. That has put the Swedish retailer in an uncomfortable position after the death of a prominent labor activist a year ago and a garment factory fire that killed more than 100 workers in November.

When Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate, Kia Motors Corp., announced Wednesday that they were conducting a massive recall of 1.7 million vehicles, it was a sign of what can go wrong when parts are shared by many vehicle models.

Companies say they are in dire need of competent supply and demand planners, but the requirements of that position today are so varied that you wonder whether a single person exists who can do the job. It calls for strong math and statistical skills, obviously, but a good planner must also be able to communicate well across the multiple "silos" of an organization. The right candidate will have a deep understanding of the requirements of manufacturing, logistics, marketing, sales and finance. Then there's the necessity of reaching outside company walls to suppliers and customers, to ensure that all parties are in agreement about what the demand forecast should be. Who are these freakishly talented individuals? And where can they be found?

A crisis is a wonderful opportunity to overhaul inadequate or ineffective business processes and systems. We have seen examples where adverse events have led to improvements in everything from the way in which we obtain a credit card to the security practices at schools and public buildings. The furor that started last month over the discovery of horse and pig DNA in products labeled as "containing beef" in the European food supply chain is gathering as much speed, momentum and breadth as the proverbial snowball rolling downhill. Smart supply chain practitioners and companies will harness this energy to implement changes that will ensure a safer food supply.

Regardless of the goods that are being shipped - from electronics to pharmaceuticals to fruit - once released into the supply chain, they are immediately at risk. And the longer they are in transit, the more vulnerable those goods become - facing threats of terrorism, of theft, or even of a natural disaster. Until the cargo arrives safely at its final destination, there are an inordinate number of things that could jeopardize the supply chain from running smoothly.