Sales and operations planning is growing in importance to manufacturers and so is the necessity to manage risk, says Simon Ellis, practice director, supply chain strategies, at IDC Manufacturing Insights. In his analysis, Ellis assesses the future of outsourcing and the health of the supply chain.

Dick Metzler, chief commercial officer of Greatwide Logistics Services, discusses whether the transportation and logistics market is returning to health or if signs of life merely illustrate Wall Street's colorful term for a small, brief recovery.

The accent may be on lean workforces, especially during hard economic times, but to fail to nurture the next generation of supply chain managers is foolhardy, says Dave Malenfant, vice president, global supply chain, at Alcon Labs.

While discussing the specifics of the supply chain in the aerospace industry, Jun Tsuruta, director of supply chain at Lockheed Martin, Kelly Aviation Center, notes that managing risk and separating "suppliers" from "vendors" is crucial in any vertical.