The total cost of ownership of lasers is cheaper than camera technology, says Jon Stiles, product marketing manager, Accu-Sort systems. But there are decided advantages and drawbacks to each method. He walks the viewer through them.

Horizontal carousels are the most cost-effective technology for each picking, says Ed Romaine, chief marketing officer, Sapient Automation. Benefits include rapid ROI, and huge savings on floor space and labor. Smaller companies should be especially interested.

A "V"-shaped business cycle is one that is characterized by a large market contraction, followed by a sharp and equally large expansion. Indeed, some companies during the Great Recession saw double-digit sales declines followed by commensurate increases. "It almost feels like you're on a roller coaster," says Marianne K. Gatten, director of strategic planning and business development with Emerson. "You're taking that first hill, scared of what's going to happen next." Managing the sales and operations planning (S&OP) process in such an environment can be extremely difficult.

The cloud is a viable model for a WMS, says Chuck Fuerst, director of product strategy at HighJump Software. Other things to consider are performance-based applications, labor management solutions, voice technology - and underestimating the cost of a WMS upgrade.

Projects to change distribution networks can be highly complex. To guarantee success, says Mike Dunn, group vice president, Fortna, participants must fully understand the need for change, get total commitment from all departments in a company, and work with a knowledgeable partner.

Discrete manufacturing companies operating with highly complex supply chains in today's volatile business world need collaborative planning and the ability to quickly respond to variances in those plans. They often want to model 'what-if' scenarios to better prepare them for those inevitable hiccups - or new business. Kinaxis designed its RapidResponse solution to help companies with demand and supply balancing, optimized forecasting, and improved supply chain performance. Recently it debuted an enhanced version called RapidResponse Control Tower.

Carousel and vertical lift module equipment increases floor space capacity and cuts costs, say Ed Romaine, chief marketing officer, Sapient Automation, and David Schneider, marketing manager for Hanel Storage Systems.

The unloading dock is all important to boosting efficiency and productivity throughout one's warehouse and distribution facility, says Ryan Howard, vice president of business development for Inbound Technologies. Labor-management technology uses the best of team and individual incentive methodologies to increase productivity, maintain quality standards and keep workers safe.

Volatility, globalization, higher customer expectations and new-product introductions are the "enemy" of the supply chain, and inventory and capacity are costly ways of combating them, says Puneet Saxena, vice president of industry strategies at JDA Software.

"Sales Carbon Operations Planning" (SCOP) offers a new take on supply-chain management, bringing together traditional sales and operations planning (S&OP) techniques and the need for companies to track and reduce their carbon emissions. "It's my way of making it easy to transfer into sustainability with your existing processes," says Silvia Leahu-Aluas, owner of Sustainable Manufacturing Consulting. The new term covers everything from basic carbon dioxide management to a full understanding of the economic and environmental impact of greenhouse gas emissions.