How are companies doing at managing inventory levels? Not well. according to the annual working capital report from CFO magazine. Average inventory levels are up for most companies, driven by more offshoring and rising commodity prices. We take a look at the numbers, and call out some of the companies that have made great inventory progress over the past three years.

So just where do you stand in terms of your performance in supply chain effectiveness, distribution, and transportation? Many over rate their actual position; by definition, half have to be in the bottom 50 percent of the class.

Labor Management Systems for Distribution are being adopted by an increasing number of companies across many industry sectors. As SCDigest Editor Dan Gilmore took another deep look at LMS for our recent Supply Chain Digest Letter, he wonders: What is there not to like about Labor Management?

What were the key trends, issues and events in supply chain and logistics for the first half of 2007? SCDigest editor Dan Gilmore shares his perspective. Going green got huge, Dell needed a new Supply Chain Chief, Wal Mart RFID controversy, surging agricultural product costs and more.

While it has been around for a decade, the concept of Bucket Brigades and self-organizing logistics systems is not well known. It can deliver savings or 25-50% in order picking though, says Dr. John Bartholdi of Georgia Tech, and just may have applicability elsewhere in the supply chain.

In Part 3 of his Supply Chain Best Practices series, Editor Dan Gilmore shares more feedback from readers on the question of what Supply Chain Best Practices really are, and how or where they add value to a company's supply chain strategies.

This Week, We're Back With Part 2, Including a Summary and the Complete Q&A

CSCMP and Rosalyn Wlson are back with their annual State of Logistics Report. We're back with our review and comment, as a variety of pressures continues to drive logistics costs higher.

SCDigest editor Dan Gilmore has a great one on one interview with Dick Cantwell of Procter & Gamble on a range of RFID and EPC topics. Here are the highlights.

Perhaps no word gets tossed around more in supply chain than optimization. Sorting out optimization from other technical approaches to decision-making, such as heuristics and simulation, isn't easy. We give it a try.