Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, Canada and Mexico, was 6.6 percent higher in June 2012 than in June 2011, totaling $82.6bn, unadjusted for inflation, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

ERP systems are used throughout most large enterprises, with SAP and Oracle accounting for 80 percent or more of the installed based in regulated sectors such as pharma and energy. But these same systems, with their million-dollar development budgets and long learning curves, have been singularly unsuccessful in smaller enterprises.

Shopping, even for major items like a wedding dress, is now something people do while strolling through the park - by smartphone or other device. In 2011, U.S. mobile commerce sales surged 91.4 percent. By 2015, analysts estimate total m-commerce sales will reach $31bn - a 363-percent increase from 2011.

Without trucks, the supply chain would screech to a halt. Yet, the rising cost of fueling these workhorses, not to mention the toll truck emissions take on the environment and public health, are forcing shippers and carriers alike to retool their fleets.

In the last few decades, statisticians and computer scientists have produced a dazzling arsenal of extremely powerful tools to help managers translate data into business decisions.

A functioning demand-planning process is a key enabler for supply chain organizations, and getting the process right is fundamental to improving demand-planning effectiveness, according to Gartner analysts.

Healthcare executives around the world are investing in their supply chains as they prepare for continued global growth in an increasingly complex and dynamic environment, according to data from the fifth annual UPS "Pain in the (Supply) Chain" healthcare survey.