Daniel F. Lynch, director of international trade and transportation at Dalhousie University, reveals the importance of two-way trade between the U.S. and Canada - while offering a frank appraisal of the challenges that stand in the way of an ideal relationship.

Over the last two years, manufacturers and sellers of consumer products across the industrial spectrum have faced growing wave of class-action lawsuits brought by consumers. Perhaps your company can become less appealing as a target.

The business of helping people live longer, healthier lives is not taken lightly in any regard. Suppliers to Boston Scientific must guarantee extremely high quality and delivery, because the smallest imperfection or delay could be life-threatening. For this reason, the entire supply chain depends on efficiency and quality. The global indirect sourcing and procurement (GISP) organization at Boston Scientific is responsible for all strategic and tactical procurement of indirect materials and services, using a center-led operating model to organize sourcing around the world.

For quite a few years now, retailers have salivated over the idea of mobile phones revealing exactly where shoppers are at all times. Retailers would know which displays customers are standing in front of, for how long and what actions they take right afterward. Unfortunately, even though mobile devices have advanced quite a bit recently, the ability to know location with any precision has been elusive.

Dan Cassler, assistant chair of the Information Logistics Technology Department at the University of Houston, offers an update on supply-chain sustainability - and details both the benefits and pain to be derived from such efforts.

Under the provisions of the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011, any facility that manufactures, processes, packs or holds food within the United States, and foreign food facilities that export to the United States must register with the FDA. Re-registration must be completed between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 in even-numbered years.

With the holiday season right around the corner, the International Council of Shopping Centers is forecasting a 3.0-percent sales increase for the traditional November-December holiday period.

The Coca-Cola Company and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria say they plan to leverage the company's global distribution system to help government and non-governmental organizations deliver critical medicines to remote parts of the world, beginning in rural Africa.

Downtime is the enemy of lean. Downtime is, in fact, waste. Idled lines do not add value. Restarting production after unplanned downtime requires more effort, usually expended with less efficiency and worker productivity. This reintroduces waste, which creates added costs that customers do not pay for, yet must be absorbed into cost of goods sold.

It's no mystery why companies emulate their most successful peers. Tried-and-true approaches often seem preferable to starting from scratch, whether for developing new products or running efficient supply chains. The quest for such methods went global during the 1980s and 1990s as European and U.S. companies sought to retool their operations by transplanting Japanese factory practices, such as kanban and just-in-time production. Management consultants - ourselves included - naturally facilitate the process by extolling successful companies as models from which others can learn proven practices that reduce risks.