Innovation

Competition to remain open until Feb. 2; winners to be recognized in May.

In today’s hyper competitive market, a huge part of driving excellence in “fulfillment” is the investment a supply chain is willing to make in the development supply chain to drive innovation.

This paper reports on a recent survey of over 6000 American manufacturing and service sector firms on the extent to which innovators rely upon external sources of invention.

Why are other countries investing in commercially oriented industrial R&D fields while the United States does not? There are two key reasons.

Insights from a new National Bureau of Economic Research study on innovation in manufacturing.

A rumor suggests that Apple is testing the health and fitness capabilities of its new iWatch with famous athletes prior to a July supply chain production and anticipated October release date.

Companies looking to innovate their supply chain should not be looking at someone else’s answer, instead look for a partner with expertise in supply chain and technology to help you think differently about tomorrow.

Initiative brings together 40 industry partners, more than 30 academic, government and community partners and 500+ supporting companies.

The model described in this article helps companies to choose the right partners and maximize their chances of developing the innovations that will help them maintain their competitive position.

Awards program refresh highlights changing industry trends.

Before pursuing any supply chain innovation, a company has to be clear about the objective; is the goal continuous improvement to maintain market position with a modest increase in margin or to disrupt the industry? Many managers get starry-eyed over the latter objective but actually need to target the former.

Robotics manufacturer recognized for people, processes and philosophies.

There are lessons for the materials handling industry from supply chain managers

Today digital technologies and borders open to the flow of ideas, goods, and services make it possible to build international partnerships for bringing innovation into production and into the market. We must take steps now to regain U.S. manufacturing momentum if we want to sustain the nation’s signature economic advantage: innovation.

The supply chain discipline is replete with rules that most managers live by. But in certain cases, true innovation and breakthroughs come only when those conventional rules are broken. By clearly understanding the nature of the rules and the details of your supply chain, you can better determine where and when rule-breaking makes sense.