Monday - April 7, 2008
IBM is unveiling upgrades to its WebSphere Premises Server at Impact, its SOA event taking place in Las Vegas this week. The buffed-up SOA software -- Version 6.1 -- and IBM's RFID Information Center will be the two main product spotlights at the event. The cumulative effect of the improvements is that users will find it far easier to gather, analyze and act upon data from radio frequency identification tags and other sensors, said Scott Burroughs, director of sensors and actuators.
[More...]
Tuesday - March 18, 2008
The phone rings and John answers, "Accounts payable, how may I help you?" It's the fourth call John has received from ABC Supply this week. Why? ABC Supply wants payment for an invoice that was sent more than 60 days ago. How is this possible? Actually, it isn't surprising. There is tremendous variability with regard to the purchase to pay cycle. Just think of the typical steps required to pay an invoice.
[More...]
Thursday - March 6, 2008
RFID has gained ascendancy in the corporate world more by fiat than through efforts to persuade suppliers that the technology could deliver internal returns -- at least, in the beginning. With the requirement to deploy it or lose contracts handed down by such entities as Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense, partners scrambled to comply.
[More...]
Thursday - February 21, 2008
The dam has burst in regard to the demand for supply chain management services in the small business segment, according to recent Aberdeen research. The results of a December 2007 outsourcing survey of more than 300 organizations reveal that small businesses -- with annual revenues of $50 million or less -- are reporting a major uptick in demand for SCM services.
[More...]
Wednesday - February 20, 2008
It is a truism in business that the customer is always right. However, in the peculiar world of military contracting, it is not always clear exactly who the customer is. By most reasonable criteria, one would presume that the customers of military contractors are the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who defend the nation. However, that is not necessarily so.
[More...]
Friday - February 15, 2008
Your company -- every manufacturer, regardless of size -- is part of a supply chain. You order parts and supplies from vendors; you ship parts to customers. This is the way it's been in American manufacturing, at least since Henry Ford gave up on the notion that he could bring raw iron ore into one end of his massive Detroit-area Rouge Plant and drive completed Model Ts out the other.
[More...]
Thursday - February 14, 2008
The remote identification of assets has received considerable interest recently, thanks in part to Wal-Mart's radio frequency identification program. Improved industrial technologies have helped companies quickly identify and track critical assets to improve sites' operations efficiency, security and even personnel safety.
[More...]
Monday - February 11, 2008
Trading agents have become a prominent application area in AI because of their potential benefits in electronic commerce and because they present a stiff challenge to models of rational decision making. This workshop focused on the design and analysis of agents that must operate in open, uncertain, competitive economic environments.
[More...]
Monday - February 11, 2008
Growing at more than 25 percent per year, e-commerce gives consumers a lot of what they want: broad assortment and convenient shopping any time from anywhere. To successfully compete with the bricks, all e-commerce has to do is stock the "long tail," ensure order accuracy, ensure nearly instant gratification with overnight shipping and keep shipping costs down.
[More...]
Monday - February 4, 2008
"Get it in writing" is a quaint concept in the electronic information age -- especially in B2B e-commerce, where a more suitable direction may be: "get in it cXML." Every industry has major players moving back-office functions from sourcing and procurement to invoicing and payment to the Web.
[More...]
Thursday - January 24, 2008
Microsoft recently announced RFID enablement for its BizTalk Server software and numerous supporting RFID partner companies. These announcements and the use cases and solutions resulting from them reflect Aberdeen Group research, which shows that 62 percent of survey respondents now cite data integration as their chief cost concern regarding RFID.
[More...]
See More Articles in SCM Section >>
Sign Up for Business and Technology News Alerts
Business Central
Headline Feeds
