The advent of 3D printing for production at scale seems to be getting closer to reality. Sure 3D printers have been used for prototyping and remote delivery of pre-production items. And creating one-off parts and custom designs is becoming increasingly common. But forward thinking companies see a future in which goods are delivered by high volume 3D printers that can match manufacturing quantities and lower costs by using generic production materials that are printed in the shapes and quantities needed. That vision is not yet a reality but at least one company is delivering the first wave of production scale printers.

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Supply chain processes throw off a lot of data. If you’re a successful supplier who fulfills a significant number of orders then you understand that the detail of the transactions generated by orders, shipments, receipts, and all the miscellaneous transactions associated with every order is just too much to be able to read through, much less make sense of. But every part of your operation from your suppliers to your customers demand some kind of accountability, and it’s your responsibility to know of any problems or even potential problems long before everyone else. But with all the data flowing through your systems, is it even possible to separate the standard data from the trouble signals? Read more...