Pharmaceutical/Biotech

Fueled by Cheap Natural Gas, Reshoring Predicted to Continue, But Pace Is Expected to Slow

January 27, 2015

Manufacturers typically evaluate seven critical areas when it comes to operational decision making: transportation and energy costs; market demand for their products; rising labor costs in China and other developing nations; access to talent, tax and regulatory policies; availability of capital; and currency trends.

Walmart, Amazon Duke It Out on Price Optimization

January 26, 2015

FierceRetailIT

Price optimization is the next frontier on the retail battle lines, with Walmart and Amazon waging a fierce battle to best each other on price. It's a fight that Amazon is winning thanks to its pricing strategy, according to the Price Perception Index (PPI) for digital retail.

Social Media, the Supply Chain and How to Tackle Fast Fashion

January 26, 2015

Bob McKee, Industry Strategy Direction, Fashion, Infor

The holiday season has come to a close, but fashion brands and retailers are still faced with opportunities and challenges after the holiday gift rush. Social media can dramatically increase demand for particular styles and items within minutes or hours (think Pinterest or Instagram).

Combined Procurement Helps Pharma Distributors Stay in the Black

January 23, 2015

IDB

One of the most powerful middleman industries in the global economy – pharmaceutical distributors – is emerging from more than a half-decade of difficult transition.

Supply Chains of the Future: Where Will We Get the Talent?

January 23, 2015

SupplyChainBrain

Companies are desperate for new talent to help them achieve supply-chain excellence, as they grapple with ever-larger volumes of data and increasing unpredictability in consumer markets. A SupplyChainBrain Roundtable discussion with Benji Green, director of global supply chain operations with Avaya; Trevor Miles, executive vice president of thought leadership with Kinaxis, and Roddy Martin, managing director of Accenture Supply Chain Strategies.

New Performance Protocol Simplifies RFID Tag Buying and Selling

January 22, 2015

ChainLink Research

You'd be forgiven for missing the most important development in RFID, or for dozing off if you did spot it. But earlier this month, GS1 announced the Tagged Item Performance Protocol (TIPP), a new approach to testing tags that simplifies life for retailers, suppliers and tag vendors, and ensures that tags will really work in the field.

How to Capture New 'Value' Segment in Medical Devices

January 19, 2015

McKinsey

The growing demand for products that are "good enough" and competitively priced has pushed medical-product manufacturers to develop strategies to attract and retain this new segment of customers.

Could New Guidelines Lead to Greater Use of Tagged-item RFID Technology?

January 19, 2015

RFID Journal

Standards group GS1 US has released its Tagged-Item Performance Protocol (TIPP), a guideline that includes a scale for grading the performance of EPC ultrahigh-frequency RFID tags when used on specific products and in specific environments, as well standardizing the testing conducted to identify that grade.

Instacart Fills Its Investment Basket With Another $220M

January 16, 2015

Business Week

Instacart, the fast-growing online grocery delivery start-up that can get groceries to your doorstep within an hour, is growing some more. The three-year-old company just announced it has raised $220m in a funding round led by the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

How to Battle Counterfeits and Global IP Theft

January 16, 2015

Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

Call it the dark side of international commerce: fakes, frauds and thought thieves. Time to take action.

Pharmaceutical/Biotech

The latest supply-chain news, analysis, trends and tools for executives in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Learn how pharmaceutical and biotech companies and their suppliers around the world are managing the flow of products across all channels of the enterprise. Experts sound off on forecasting and demand planning, supply-chain visibility, logistics outsourcing, inventory optimization, transportation management, warehouse management, supply-chain security, corporate social responsibility and more.