Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in September following three consecutive months of slight contraction, and the overall economy grew for the 40th consecutive month, according to the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business.

Drewry, the U.K.-based maritime research and advisory firm, has created a new service, Drewry Maritime Equity research, to produce investment reports on companies operating in the maritime industry.

Accellos, a vendor of supply-chain execution software, has released a carrier qualification and monitoring module for its Prophesy Dispatch transportation-management system (TMS).

DB Schenker Logistics has developed a new tool for monitoring air and ocean freight consignments.

Supply chain overlays the sales and marketing organizations and the procurement function - which have defined their roles too narrowly. Too few are focused on the role of the organization in driving value networks to improve value-based outcomes. Most lack the understanding, and they are just not incented to build value networks. The focus has to be market to market. The supply chain team can make a difference, but it requires reschooling. It is about much more than trucks and sheds. Or pumps and valves. Or contracts and negotiations. It is the end-to-end process: from the customer's customer to the supplier's supplier.

Qualcomm Inc. has integrated its Services Portal with the TMWSuite of TMW Systems Inc., a provider of transportation-management system (TMS) software.

CFOs make all kinds of investments, but how about investing in more down time for employees? That may sound like a recipe for creating a bunch of slackers, but in fact the idea of optimal slack in a system is as fundamental to talent optimization as it is to engineering. Planned and mindful slacking off may help optimize talent performance.