Integration is always a hot topic for the supply chain. It's a powerful tool to improve profitability by reducing costs. Like a lot of ideas, though, its effectiveness depends quite a bit on context. What works best for a small manufacturer may be considerably different than what does the trick for a large retailer. The pressure for profits may be the similar but there’s a huge difference in scale.

One thing about working in supply chain, EDI, or electronic commerce: it’s always interesting. 2013 is nearly ‘in the books’ and it was no exception. Luckily for you, the ec-bp.com writing staff produced a bumper crop of great articles on a plethora of topics, ranging from the impact of omnichannel retail to ‘big data’ to new efforts to implement supply chain control towers.  We wrote primarily about supply chain and EDI, but we also covered general management, trends, training, and other relevant subjects.