It's a big and transformative phenomenon worldwide, so of course it has a buzzy lexicon all its own. You can call it whatever you want - Digital Operations Technology, Industry 4.0, Industry of the Future, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Smart Manufacturing - but you can't ignore it. MESA International offers a concise definition for this wave of change: "Smart manufacturing is the intelligent, real-time orchestration and optimization of business, physical, and digital processes within factories and across the entire value chain."

The unprecedented transformation of consumer demand is driving cost and complexity into the supply chain. Keeping up in today's fast-paced business environment is forcing mid-market companies to analyze and implement responsive supply chain strategies that meet market expectations while driving greater profitability to the business. Despite reshoring and in-house efforts, outsourcing remains a reality for many supply chains.

Matt Mills, senior program manager for global supply chain with EMC2, reveals how his company has developed an effective program for managing risk.

When focusing on measurable elements of a business, key performance indicators, or KPIs, are critical to evaluating efficiencies and effectiveness of a process, but they can be complex when involving a supply chain often composed of numerous organizations.

All the technology in the world won't protect you against the myriad of events that can severely disrupt a global supply chain.

Employment rules and regulations have failed to keep pace with innovation in the American workforce - especially with regard to the growing number of independent workers.

Lee Young, director of supplier quality with ThermoFisher Scientific, discusses how technology and business-process change have helped the company to tighten up its risk-management program.