The next decade will see transformational change in supply chains. This change is being driven by forces beyond your control—your customers, your competition, technology, innovation and economic conditions.

The Q4 issue of MHI Solutions tackles several trends that are driving this transformational change. These trends are having an impact now, but they will rapidly become the new normal come 2025.

Dramatic shifts in cost competitiveness around the world over the past decade are changing global sourcing and manufacturing investment strategies, according to a new report titled The Shifting Economics of Global Manufacturing: How Cost Competitiveness Is Changing Worldwide by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The new report finds that improved cost competitiveness is leading to new factory investment in countries such as the UK and Mexico, where productivity has largely offset wage increases.

Meeting the demands of omnichannel fulfillment poses a definite challenge to retailers’ existing supply chains. Traditionally, retailers have used separate distribution facilities to meet the needs of different sales channels. According to a recent article in the Journal of Commerce, omnichannel has created a new supply chain paradigm that will "dominate omnicommerce, and eventually nearly all businesses.

The Consumer Goods Forum and KPMG International recently released the findings of their annual Global Top of Mind Survey. The survey polled nearly 500 C-suite and senior executives globally and reveals how important digital technology will be over the next 12 months to consumer goods and retail companies – impacting everything from business growth and supply chain management to food safety, sustainability, and data security and privacy.

Piedmont Natural Gas, a natural gas utility serving customers in the Carolinas and Tennessee for more than 60 years, may seem at first blush to have little in common with Digital Lumens, a six-year-old Boston company specializing in "intelligent" computerized LED lighting systems.

Both companies, however, are among those staking positions in an alternative-energy universe that should surge as more industries embrace the task of developing environmentally friendlier, energy-efficient supply chains.

Supply chains have never been tougher to manage. Functional excellence is not enough. Companies have to understand the consumers have the power. If they don’t have end-to-end visibility and control of their supply chains, they will struggle to be competitive. Here are some to admire.

U.S. News & World Report just released the new 30th edition of its college rankings. Below are the top ten schools for Supply Chain Management and Industrial Engineering.

The College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE) recently announced the winners of the 2014 Outstanding Material Handling Logistics Content Award Competition at MHI's 2014 Annual Conference. CICMHE developed the Outstanding Material Handling Logistics Content Award to recognize and encourage development of outstanding material handling related content.

It was 14 years ago that Dr. C John Langley, now professor of supply chain management at Penn State and director of development for the Center for Supply Chain Research at Smeal College of Business, laid out the seven immutable laws of collaborative logistics.

"Immutable" turned out to be the key word. Despite how much has changed in terms of technology, global participation and data, much else has remained the same over time.

The iPhone, in its eighth generation and seventh year, is one of the most successful consumer electronic lines of all time and continues to break sales records with each new generation released. Apple has experienced consistent success with the iPhone; however, the company has also faced the same challenges year after year through delays in production and delivery.

UPS announced last week that it expects to hire between 90,000 – 95,000 seasonal employees to support the anticipated holiday surge in package deliveries that will begin in October and continue through January 2015. FedEx Corp. is adding 50,000 seasonal jobs for the coming holiday season.

Over the past three decades use of 3PLs has increased continuously, according to Evan Armstrong, president of leading 3PL market research and consulting firm Armstrong & Associates. With the firm’s information frequently cited in media articles, publications and securities filings by publicly traded 3PLs, the Armstrong name is synonymous with 3PL trend spotting.

Railroads are inherently efficient, be it in land usage, energy consumption or cost of moving goods. In fact, railroads are four times more fuel efficient than trucks, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. Because greenhouse gas emissions are directly related to fuel consumption, this increased efficiency translates to greenhouse gas emissions that are 75 percent lower for rail than for trucks.

In the latest installment of the series dedicated to raising awareness of the unique capabilities of its members, the Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMAA) has launched an illustrated video and corresponding sales sheet.

The Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMAA) announces that, for the first time, it will make its key publications available for download as PDF files.  This increases access and mobility for users, specifiers, designers, and influencers in the overhead crane market.