The return of some manufacturing capacity from China has fueled economic growth in Mexico and Canada. John Kelly, president of the Canadian Division of Transplace, outlines some of the opportunities and challenges that have resulted from that development.

Challenge: Specializing in optical products, a global manufacturer of glasses across approximately 16 production plants in Asia and a dozen distribution centers in Europe and America faced the need to ensure effective management of its supply chain.

Challenge: Family-owned supplier of operating supplies/equipment for global hospitality set out for new WMS system. Requirements: • Automated dispatching to eliminate inaccuracies/inefficiencies associated with manual intervention; • Open integration with voice-picking, ensuring extensibility across warehouse floor; • Real-time reporting/alerting on order fulfillment, improved replenishment process for better use of resources; • Warehouse task-interleaving, eliminating wasted travel time on lifts and vehicles; • Streamlined receiving process, allowing product allocation at line receipt versus at completion.

A lean operation with a brilliant idea - caffeinated club soda - wants to crack the L.A. market during the spring. Sounds like a slam dunk, but they don't want to commit to a long warehouse lease while they're still getting a foothold. Meanwhile, a Christmas-decoration warehouse sits largely empty. It's a classic missed connection - and it’s common.

Firms that employ low-risk innovative initiatives produce valuable returns, while the most adept companies with a more aggressive innovation profile grow more quickly, says a survey by the National Center for the Middle Market (NCMM) and CPA firm Cherry Bekaert LLP.

For about a decade now, policy makers and the soda industry have been fighting about the idea of a big soda tax. Proponents say it would fight obesity by reducing consumption of sugary drinks. A leading objection by the industry is that the tax simply would not work.