In this issue of Supply Chain Standard magazine:

May/June 2008

Uncertainty principle
If supply chain practice ever needs a fashionable rebranding, we could do worse than style ourselves ''risk managers'', for in these economically and politically febrile times, managing and mitigating risk is an increasing part of what we do...

The English patient
Improving the public sector healthcare supply chain is, to use currentmanager-speak, ‘a no-brainer’. Lessmoney wasted on procurement and logistics, on lost, excess or obsoletematerial and in wasted staff time, ultimately should meanmoremoney to spend on patient care...

Take it easy
Things are changing. Top retailers are facing far more sophisticated challenges within their supply chains following the wide adoption of multi-channel strategies to market. No longer is it a matter of picking cases or pallet loads for a typical store profile; variance in store format - convenience store, town superstore, hypermarket or e-commerce channel - requires a wider range of order profiles...

Avoiding the bottlenecks
Decisions about the location and design of warehouses are critical to shaping modern supply chains, but without effective warehouse management systems to run them they cannot possibly operate efficiently...

Life after the Credit Crunch
According to property pundits across Europe, despite a more subdued level of activity around the world following the recent tangle in the finance markets, occupiers of warehousing are looking at increasing rent levels...

NEWS

All ship shape
Although recent studies have suggested that the situation is not quite as rosy as often assumed, there is a consensus that sea transport is in terms of carbon footprint and other measures, generally the least environmentally-damaging method of moving goods around the globe...

Buksesnedkeren races to market
Sports and leisurewear company Buksesnedkeren, has opted for RedPrairie´s warehouse management system and workforce management solutions for its Danish distribution centre...

Carbon project partners Merrill Lynch
The carbon disclosure project, a collaboration of 385 institutional investors has entered into a three-year global partnership with Merrill Lynch...

>> More News

VIEWPOINT

Adding up the green benefits
An increasing number of carbon footprint calculators are available on the internet but the outcomes of these differ widely as various methodologies and emissions conversion factors are used...

Automation of invoices pays off
Any stage in the accounts process that involves manual activity acts as a drag on efficiency and profitability so it''s no surprise that SAP users are turning their attention to extending process automation beyond...

China's marathon
China's determination that the Olympics should take place under blue skies in August means that the government will close factories and restrict traffic during the month-long sportsfest in a bid to cut the air pollution near Beijing...

>>More Viewpoint

CORPORATE INSIGHT

Balancing risk
Two major humanitarian disasters - the Burmese cyclone and the Chinese earthquake - provided a sombre backdrop to ''Supply Chain Standard''s Roundtable discussion on supply chain risk...