JDA Software Group Inc. has released JDA 3D, an application that provides integrated category optimization with three-dimensional virtualization, to enhance collaboration among retailers, distributors and manufacturers.

"Sales Carbon Operations Planning" (SCOP) offers a new take on supply-chain management, bringing together traditional sales and operations planning (S&OP) techniques and the need for companies to track and reduce their carbon emissions. "It's my way of making it easy to transfer into sustainability with your existing processes," says Silvia Leahu-Aluas, owner of Sustainable Manufacturing Consulting. The new term covers everything from basic carbon dioxide management to a full understanding of the economic and environmental impact of greenhouse gas emissions.

Challenge: A global provider of communications equipment sells test and measurement solutions used in the telecommunications, optical, and wireless industries. Its customers are located globally, including throughout North America, Latin America, South America, Europe, and Asia. As their business expanded and regulatory requirements tightened following 9/11, maintaining export compliance excellence became increasingly time-consuming. Restricted party list compilation and screening, license requirement determination, and end-use screening were manually intensive processes that increased corporate risk of noncompliance and ate into the productivity of order management, compliance, and logistics departments.

With sluggish U.S. growth, international business expansion has become a vital strategic pillar for many companies. Yet, an international expansion strategy is fraught with uncertainties, risks and other obstacles. So is it worth it? That is, are companies that grow faster internationally rewarded by investors with better share price appreciation such that the risks are worth taking?

Challenge: A fast growing sportswear brand was seeking supply network efficiency and visibility.

Challenge: A leading integrated distribution and logistics services provider specializing in value-chain logistics throughout Asia, North America and the United Kingdom, needed services that would help them to completely manage their supply chain, including rate management, transportation operations, PO management and visibility, accounting and all cargo security requirements.

Challenge: A US Sporting Goods Retailer improved its supply chain by utilizing software to automate the procurement process, from determining risks associated with each vendor before a PO was created to the time the shipment arrived at the US port.

Challenge: The second largest distributor of wine and spirits in the US, our client operates in a tightly regulated industry with outdated business processes and systems, and was challenged by a lack of visibility to inbound orders from its global vendors and suppliers. In addition, the company's manual order and shipment tracking processes frequently led to significant delays and difficulty in determining accurate inventory levels and expected arrival dates, leading to reactive expediting and additional intra-company transportation moves.

Challenge: A client with multiple legacy software systems approached QuestaWeb to design one comprehensive GTM solution that could streamline its self-entry process, bring ISF preparation in house and automate duty drawback filings.

The Supply Chain Risk Leadership Council was formed around 2005 by Cisco Systems Inc. It was created to bring together risk-management experts who could share best practices and bring process standardization to the way in which risks are identified in the global supply chain, according to John J. Brown, director of risk management with The Coca-Cola Co.