The 20th Annual Survey of Third-Party Logistics Provider CEOs revealed that despite a slow economy, North American CEOs have their sights set on growth, expecting their companies to increase revenues by an average of 14.6 percent over the next three years. This year, 3PL CEOs, surveyed in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions, are generally optimistic about company and industry growth prospects over the next one and three-year periods. 

North American and European CEOs forecasted higher three year company revenue growth projections than last year, 14.6 percent and 10.3 percent, respectively. For the three-year period, Asia-Pacific CEOs projected 11.6 percent growth, down from 12.5 percent in 2012.

U.S. manufacturers have long been lured to emerging markets for the many advantages these developing regions offer, including an abundance of raw goods, lower labor and production costs, and for asset investment, higher yielding returns. These countries have also presented enormous market potential with swelling GDPs that have expanded a middle class hungry for western goods. 

Yet while those manufacturers that have chosen to extend their operations offshore to these areas have been reaping the benefits, there are also real hazards that, if not managed carefully, can potentially outweigh the rewards.

In October of 1913, Henry Ford's entire automobile factory began building its vehicles using a continuously moving assembly line. This revolutionary step changed the manufacturing game at the time, cutting the production time for the Model T down from over 12 hours to fewer than 6 from start to finish.

Could 3-D printing, also called additive manufacturing, revolutionize the production industry to the same extent as Ford's assembly line? When Michelangelo was asked how he sculpted the famous David statue, he's reported to have simply replied, "I just chipped away everything that didn't look like David."

Carriers are becoming increasingly anxious about finding good drivers. Good drivers want to know why, in a time of shortage, they are not being rewarded better. And shippers are keeping their fingers crossed, hoping trucks will continue to be readily available – and affordable.

The solution seems simple enough: boost driver pay.

But pesky basics like market economics and sound business practices keep getting in the way. Mix in some increasingly costly regulations that take drivers out of the industry with one rule and reduce productivity with another, and trucking faces a challenging operating environment – again.

By producing the right-sized boxes for each of its products as they're needed, Franklin Electric has cut material requirements, storage space, waste and shipping costs.

Founded in 1944, Franklin Electric has grown from a small electrical motor manufacturing company into a global provider of water and fueling systems found in residential, commercial, agricultural, industrial, municipal, and fueling applications. Headquartered in Fort Wayne, Ind., Franklin Electric now has manufacturing and distribution facilities in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Africa and the United States.

Martin Hubert, chief executive officer with Freightgate, outlines the benefits of cloud technology for supply-chain managers and logistics providers. He suggests a road map to a "collaborative, inter-connected cloud."

The cloud enables collaboration among multiple partners, working together to execute a cohesive supply-chain strategy. "It’s natural that you extend collaboration beyond the four walls," says Hubert. "Having pre-existing connections to carriers and manufacturers helps tremendously to reduce start-up costs."

China's factory activity accelerated in October, the latest sign that the world's second-largest economy is on solid footing. 

HSBC said on Thursday that its "flash" measure of sentiment among manufacturing purchasing managers advanced to 50.9 in October, its highest level in seven months. The index is an early gauge of the health of the sector, which is seen as a bellwether for China's export-heavy economy. 

Sticking to the known best-practices and markets may be the quickest path to irrelevance when it comes to designing and building new products and mapping out corporate direction.

At least, that was the premise of Adam Hartung, managing partner of Spark Partners, a consulting firm specializing in innovation, during his presentation at the Electronic Component Industry Association (ECIA) executive meeting in Chicago this week.

A slow but steady shift in manufacturing away from China to other southeastern Asian nations but especially into North and South America may have profound effects on the design and operation of global supply chain networks – with U.S. trucking services expected to be affected as well.

That’s one of the findings from the 20th Annual Survey of Third-Party Logistics Providers, sponsored by Penske Logistics and authored by Robert Lieb, professor of supply chain management at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim school of business.

The Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI) announced that it is developing a new solution tool, the GEMI Supply Chain Sustainability Tool™ (SCS), which is focused on supply chain sustainability and the procurement decision making process. 

The project will be supported by and conducted in partnership with the Northstar Initiative for Sustainable Enterprise (NiSE) at the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota and the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan.

In August 2013 the United States exported $189.2 billion of goods and services, slightly lower than July’s exports of $189.3 billion. August’s exports are marginally lower than June’s all-time record high of $190.5 billion, according to data released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Commerce Department.

Exports of goods and services over the last twelve months totaled $2.2 trillion, which is 42.2 percent above the level of exports in 2009. Over the last twelve months, exports have been growing at an annualized rate of 10.1 percent when compared to 2009.

Firms that use standards-based technologies, such as barcodes and radio frequency identification (RFID), have better integrated supply chains, according to two reports based on a 10-year study.

The reports have been produced by the Department of Management and Marketing in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne and GS1 Australia.

It’s been almost a month since the pilot Shanghai Free Trade Zone was formally launched with fanfare and high hopes. The zone covers 28 square kilometers in four areas of the city. What will be some of the biggest impacts for one of both China’s and Asia’s most important international business centers?

The U.S. manufacturing sector gained 2,000 jobs in September, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Employment in the manufacturing sector rose to 11,963,000 jobs in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the bureau's September jobs report, which was delayed two weeks due to the government shutdown. 

For the year, the sector has gained approximately 12,000 jobs. 

The rise of just-in-time manufacturing has created a revolution across the supply chains of many industries, including electronics components.

Accurate forecasting and inventory control have enabled far-flung manufacturers to produce and deliver components, essentially on-demand, to a global network of suppliers and customers, while avoiding costly warehousing and other overhead expenses. However, these just-in-time policies have a downside and can leave many companies vulnerable to missed production targets and inability to meet customer demands.