Trends

The RFID chatter is getting louder. After conducting successful pilots of item-level RFID initiatives, Walmart, then American Apparel, and now Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Dillards and JCPenney have all announced plans to roll out EPC (electronic product code)-enabled, RFID technology at the item level in their stores this year.

In a presentation on its first-ever annual analyst day today, Urban Outfitters made an announcement: The chain, CIO Calvin Hollinger said, will switch from cash registers to Apple products. "Sales people will have iPod touches," Joe Weistenthal reports, "and cash registers are being phased out in favor of iPads on a swivel."

Due to its simultaneously disgusting and entertaining nature the 2013 meat adulteration scandal, or horse meat incident remains in the news even months after beginning. You might not be in the food industry yourself, but the scandal points out how vulnerable a supply chain with low upstream visibility can be.

Inspiration often comes from the unique vision that a leader brings to the organization. The vision gets energized and transmitted to those who follow. There is an expectation of achievement, of success.

Distribution center (DC) and material handling equipment (MHE) design must be flexible to meet the challenges of today’s changing business climate, according to a new paper by Tompkins Supply Chain Consortium.

Blame it on the Internet. Blame it on Amazon. Whatever the reason, there is no debate that shoppers have different expectations today than in the past and that retailers are being forced to rethink how they interact with shoppers and the distribution center is in the middle of a transformation in the way retailers interact with customers.

A “what’s next” conversation with Greg Cronin, an executive vice president with Intelligrated about the acquisition of Datria Systems, a provider of Voice over IP voice recognition solutions.

Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently spoke with Vitran Corporation President and CEO Rick Gaetz about the North American less-than-truckload (LTL) market, Vitran’s recent divestiture of its Supply Chain Operation (SCO) 3PL subsidiary, and the freight economy, among other topics.

A flurry of major service provider deals captured the headlines in recent months, the consequence of this activity has yet to be measured by domestic and international shippers. Meanwhile, the EU flounders, Asia remains strong, and emerging nations may represent the next opportunity for the major 3PL players.

Building on a long tradition of supply chain innovation, HP in 2010 saw opportunities to further leverage its scale and launched a company-wide transformation program targeting substantial supply chain improvements in procurement, processes and IT, warranty and services, and network and logistics.

Supply chain technology continued to evolve throughout 2012 as companies realize that a highly visible supply chain is necessary for success in today’s business climate. Of course, overall IT trends such as the cloud, big data and mobile are impacting the supply chain sector just as they do other sectors. But there are other trends specific to supply chain that came to the forefront in 2012.