Intel senior commodity manager Suzanne Ralls discusses how processes that begin with the "ideal state" have helped simplify and improve commodity procurement at the company.

Change still is a constant and it comes at today's supply chain professionals faster, with more intensity and greater risks than ever before. Art Van Bodegraven describes what this means for current and future supply chain leaders.

Humankind is forever striving for perfection. When it comes to the job of demand forecasting, however, perhaps we ought to be a tad less obsessive.

Many companies unintentionally have created departmental silos within their organizations. Information and products go back and forth between the different functional areas, but the customer is often missing from the process. When lean supply chain strategies, which focus on eliminating waste, are implemented, once again the customer is often times left out. Instead of focusing on the client, the company focuses internally to improve processes. Research shows that undertaking a lean supply chain journey that extends outside the four walls of the organization significantly improves the customer experience, company productivity and the bottom line. - Eric Lail, VP, Continuous Improvement and Client Services, Transportation Insight

With warehousing and logistics operations in numerous countries, Greg McKinley of InComm shares his experience and advice on how to select a reliable in-country vendor.

Analyst Insight: Combining supply chain analysis and consulting topics is more logical than you think. Best practice/market leading companies regularly use outside consultants. When you look at the roll of consultants' clients, it includes all the leading companies. Leaders know that to innovate, they have to 'break the rules" - extending beyond status quo. They know that analyzing and improving supply chain process performance requires full-time commitment and expertise - to look at processes from the outside in.