Farmers, waste management companies and the energy industries have long experimented with converting methane, a byproduct of decomposing organic matter, into transportation fuel. Those efforts have met with mixed success, and a renewable natural gas fuel has not been widely available in the United States. But now, one leading supplier of natural gas transport fuel is taking a big step toward changing that.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) revised its 2013 global industry outlook downwards to $11.7bn on revenues of $708bn. Airline performance continued to improve in the second quarter, but at a slower pace than was expected with the previous projection (in June) of $12.7bn. This reflects the impact on demand of the oil price spike associated with the Syrian crisis and disappointing growth in several key emerging markets.

Challenge: A large industrial & manufacturing organization that delivers goods and services to the U.S. Department of Energy was looking to unify a collection of de-centralized procurement processes & systems spread across 26 facilities, each using a different process, supplier community and back-end system - including Ariba, PeopleSoft/Oracle, and SAP. The organization needed to gracefully tie these systems together in order to streamline supplier data management, consolidate supplier rates for goods and services and maximize savings.

For building products manufacturer Owens Corning Corp., whose annual transportation fuel bill hits about $100m, $1.1m in savings over the last year or so may seem like a drop in the bucket. Unless, that is, the bucket is filled with found money.

One of the first analyses of laws banning disposal of electronic waste (e-waste) in municipal landfills has found that state e-waste recycling bans have been mostly ineffective, although California's Cell Phone Recycling Act had a positive impact. However, e-waste recycling rates remain "dismally low," and many demographic groups remain unaware of their alternatives for properly disposing of e-waste, according to the study presented at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

Challenge: A multi-billion dollar supplier of inks and colorants needed a logistics partner to service its customers in the Western U.S. Since a portion of the company's products are flammable and combustible, they sought a California 3PL that could ensure compliance with California's chemical storage and shipment regulations.

Initiatives by such retail giants as Tesco and Walmart and recent research by bodies including the University of Minnesota Institute highlight the impact suppliers within a supply chain have on a company's energy footprint, but research by renewable energy company Urban Wind suggests that policies targeting vendors' energy use are piling pressure on UK suppliers.

Verify Brand, active in supply chain security software systems, says its new Verify Platform, a piece of advanced serialization, traceability and authentication software, could stop illegal, dangerous and counterfeit chemicals from entering a manufacturer's supply chain.

Increased importance to quality, production performance, business system integration, and increased regulations on food and drug safety are fueling the growth in the batch management software (BMS) market. Global economic conditions and countries with increasingly troublesome fiscal conditions and policies are impacting regional growth patterns.