Challenge: An online fashion retailer's model for distributing product from Europe to end customers in the U.S. created high shipping costs that made it impossible to ship returns back to Europe. The retailer was forced to sell returned merchandise to discounters for a fraction of its value.

Challenge: A large 3PL supports the distribution efforts of one of the largest candy manufacturers in the world. Processing sales requests previously for samples and displays involved a text-based ordering system that required the use of a printed catalog to look up order numbers. The sales team needed a mobile option that simplified the process and integrated with the WMS.

With supply chain collaboration becoming a hot topic for even the most independent, self-sufficient organizations, it's no wonder that more attention is being paid to the relationships between distributors and their suppliers.

Challenge: The UK-based business lacked a single, global view of demand, the absence of which led to production, sourcing, and inventory planning challenges throughout the entire supply chain.

Elemica says its new sourcing optimization solution not only enables procurement professionals to make better buying decisions but improves the entire supply chain.

It takes a lot of work for retail brands to deliver a remarkable experience. It can be done, however, by making sure the environment touches each of the five senses.

Industrial production was transformed by steam power in the nineteenth century, electricity in the early twentieth century, and automation in the 1970s. These waves of technological advancement did not reduce overall employment, however. Although the number of manufacturing jobs decreased, new jobs emerged and the demand for new skills grew. Today, another workforce transformation is on the horizon as manufacturing experiences a fourth wave of technological advancement: the rise of new digital industrial technologies that are collectively known as Industry 4.0.