Analyst Insight: The top strategic action tied to improving parts management for service and support organizations in a recent Aberdeen research study on service parts logistics was to integrate service parts planning, forecasting and execution with overall logistics functions (i.e., procurement, supply chain management, inventory management) to ensure the delivery of the right part to the end customer when an asset goes down or is not operating at full efficiency. - Aly Pinder Jr., senior research associate, Aberdeen Group

The year 2014 will see the debut of the Triple E, first of a series of at least 20 containerships to be operated by Denmark's Maersk Line, each with a capacity of 18,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). Few could have imagined this behemoth at the dawn of containerization in the mid-1950s. (Malcom McLean's Ideal X carried only 58 boxes.) In the ensuing decades, containerships grew steadily in size, as operators sought to squeeze the most out of their investments. When ships became too wide to fit through the Panama Canal, builders doubled down. Between 2008 and 2015, average ship size will have risen from 6,000 TEUs to more than 11,000 TEUs, according to Lars Jensen, chief executive officer and partner with SeaIntel Maritime Analysis. Maersk's Triple Es will dwarf them all.

When organizations turn to the web to offer their suppliers and/or joint venture partners direct access to services and business processes to reduce costs and speed up processing, a virtual organization emerges.

As enterprises look to minimize complexity, improve inbound supply chain efficiency and reduce costs, there is a growing need for intelligent solutions that provide the visibility, optimization and integration required to ensure that every part, component and package is shipped using the most effective service level.