Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Datebook

Datebook

Europe conference offers timely advice on cost control

In a slumping economy, the key to supply chain success is to manage those things that are within your control while anticipating and mitigating those that are not. At the top of the "control" list for most companies: supply chain costs.

That focus is reflected in the theme of CSCMP's Europe Conference 2013, "How to Cut Supply Chain Costs Without Paying the Price." The event will be held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, May 15-17.


Sessions will examine how to use sourcing strategies, sustainability, lean administration, and more to control costs without compromising quality and service. To keep these discussions grounded in reality, supply chain executives from companies like Unilever, Dow Chemical, Procter & Gamble, and Siemens will talk about their real-life supply chain challenges and solutions.

The conference also includes the European Research Seminar, which examines current issues in European logistics and supply chain management.

Event: CSCMP Europe Conference
Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Dates: May 15-17, 2013
Info:cscmp.org/events/europe-conference


ASU launches online master's in SCM and engineering

Arizona State University's new Master of Science in Supply Chain Management and Engineering will teach students to use both business and industrial-engineering perspectives to solve supply chain problems. The online program will be delivered by ASU's W. P. Carey School of Business and the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

Classes will cover operations and supply management, strategic procurement, supply chain cost and design, logistics, modeling and analysis, deterministic and stochastic operations research, and math tools. In a capstone project students will propose and evaluate solutions to actual supply chain problems and present their recommendations to a client business.

The 21-month program, which requires one orientation visit to the ASU campus in Tempe, Arizona, is designed for mid-level professionals with several years of experience in the supply chain field.

Program: Master of Science in Supply Chain Management and Engineering
Location: Online
Dates: Application deadline June 3, 2013
Sponsor: W. P. Carey School of Business and Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University
Info: wpcarey.asu.edu/masters-supply-chain-management


Master the logistics of health and humanitarian response

Recent events have demonstrated the importance of logistics know-how in providing assistance to those affected by natural and man-made disasters. But there are significant differences between logistics management in those circumstances and the version practiced in commercial settings.

The Georgia Institute of Technology Supply Chain & Logistics Institute's Health and Humanitarian Logistics Certificate program examines those differences and prepares graduates to effectively manage in the uniquely challenging and rewarding humanitarian response environment. The three courses in the program cover pre-planning strategy, tactical decision making, and systems operations in health and humanitarian response organizations.

Program: Health and Humanitarian Logistics Certificate
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Dates: May 6-7, May 8-10, and September 11-13, 2013
Sponsor: Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistics Institute
Info:www.pe.gatech.edu/scl/2013

Recent

More Stories

A photo of brown paper packages tied up with shiny red ribbons.

SMEs hopeful ahead of holiday peak

Businesses are cautiously optimistic as peak holiday shipping season draws near, with many anticipating year-over-year sales increases as they continue to battle challenging supply chain conditions.

That’s according to the DHL 2024 Peak Season Shipping Survey, released today by express shipping service provider DHL Express U.S. The company surveyed small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to gauge their holiday business outlook compared to last year and found that a mix of optimism and “strategic caution” prevail ahead of this year’s peak.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

screen shot of AI chat box

Accenture and Microsoft launch business AI unit

In a move to meet rising demand for AI transformation, Accenture and Microsoft are launching a copilot business transformation practice to help organizations reinvent their business functions with both generative and agentic AI and with Copilot technologies.


The practice consists of 5,000 professionals from Accenture and from Avanade—the consulting firm’s joint venture with Microsoft. They will be supported by Microsoft product specialists who will work closely with the Accenture Center for Advanced AI. Together, that group will collaborate on AI and Copilot agent templates, extensions, plugins, and connectors to help organizations leverage their data and gen AI to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and drive growth, they said on Thursday.

Keep ReadingShow less
holiday shopping mall

Consumer sales kept ticking in October, NRF says

Retail sales grew solidly over the past two months, demonstrating households’ capacity to spend and the strength of the economy, according to a National Retail Federation (NRF) analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.

Census data showed that overall retail sales in October were up 0.4% seasonally adjusted month over month and up 2.8% unadjusted year over year. That compared with increases of 0.8% month over month and 2% year over year in September.

Keep ReadingShow less
chart of sectors leasing warehouse space

3PLs claim growing share of large industrial leases, CBRE says

Third-party logistics (3PL) providers’ share of large real estate leases across the U.S. rose significantly through the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same time last year, as more retailers and wholesalers have been outsourcing their warehouse and distribution operations to 3PLs, according to a report from real estate firm CBRE.

Specifically, 3PLs’ share of bulk industrial leasing activity—covering leases of 100,000 square feet or more—rose to 34.1% through Q3 of this year from 30.6% through Q3 last year. By raw numbers, 3PLs have accounted for 498 bulk leases so far this year, up by 9% from the 457 at this time last year.

Keep ReadingShow less
chart of global supply chain capacity

Suppliers report spare capacity for fourth straight month

Factory demand weakened across global economies in October, resulting in one of the highest levels of spare capacity at suppliers in over a year, according to a report from the New Jersey-based procurement and supply chain solutions provider GEP.

That result came from the company’s “GEP Global Supply Chain Volatility Index,” an indicator tracking demand conditions, shortages, transportation costs, inventories, and backlogs based on a monthly survey of 27,000 businesses. The October index number was -0.39, which was up only slightly from its level of -0.43 in September.

Keep ReadingShow less