Late last week, Forbes published an intriguing piece by Paul Martyn, who had asked experts for their supply chain predictions for 2017. He started his interviews with the statement: “Tell me something I don’t know.” Following are Martyn’s top 5 findings.

Another year is almost over. As we look ahead to 2017, I’m sure many of us are compiling some personal and professional resolutions. With a full, new year ahead, you might be tempted to dream big and resolve to do something life- or career-changing. To make sure you are successful, consider taking some advice from The Daily Utah Chronicle and reframe your resolutions as goals or habits to form in the new year.

I’m pleased to welcome guest blogger Jason Wheeler, CPIM, CSCP, to “Thinking Supply Chain.” Wheeler is Process Improvement Engineer, Warehouse Operations for Roche Diagnostics Operations and the former APICS chair-elect.

At the close of 2016, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your continued support of and engagement with APICS. Through your efforts and feedback, we can ensure that APICS remains the premier association for supply chain management.

In the previous blog the different segments of the master schedule as they pertain to the demand plan were discussed. The driver of the schedule was noted as the sales forecast campaign. Once the forecast was developed, it could then be dropped into the master schedule

There are television commercials airing frequently that show people using their smartphones and other accessories to experience virtual reality. The users in these commercials usually are in studios or experiencing it as a part of everyday life. However, The Wall Street Journal contends that this technology could really make an impact in the workplace, specifically on the factory floor.

To fans of the wearable tech company Pebble, news on the company’s Kickstarter page this week came as a shock: “Fitbit has agreed to acquire key Pebble assets. Due to various factors, Pebble can no longer operate as an independent entity, and we have made the tough decision to shut down the company. The deal finalized today preserves as much of Pebble as possible.”

Last week, CIO made the case in “How Manufacturers Make the Most of Machine Data” that supply chain professionals should be working more closely with information technology professionals to collect and use the data machines generate.

The previous blog ended with a description of how a sales campaign is decomposed into a possible period, weekly, and daily product-level forecast in the master schedule. Before the discussion can proceed much further, it is important to review the demand section of the MPS grid.

As I’ve shown in previous blog postings, cognitive biases are like built-in software. You don’t have to purchase them or download them. They come pre-loaded in your subconscious.

The holiday shopping season is in full swing, and retailers and distributors are working hard to meet customers’ needs. However, with more trucks filled with merchandise hitting the roads during the busy buying and shipping season, cargo theft is expected to “surge,” according to NBC Los Angeles.

Yesterday, we celebrated Thanksgiving in the United States. I know many of us here indulged with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie and then kicked back to enjoy some football. But of course, Thanksgiving also is a time to celebrate the gifts in our lives. Among these, many can count their family and friends, their homes, and their work.

Business Insider published a story this week describing how Tesla CEO Elon Musk might finally have solved his company’s production challenge. For years, Tesla’s demand has outpaced its supply because of production delays. Musk thinks the answer might be in the acquisition of automated manufacturing company Grohmann Engineering in Prüm, Germany.

In my previous blog I introduced the perpetual problem plaguing most businesses in their efforts to integrate the sales forecast and production scheduling. The root of the problem was identified as residing in the discontinuity of many of the basic functions performed by demand and supply management.

Are these tabletops identical? Of course not, one is much more narrow than the other – right? Well, actually, they are identical. Don’t believe me? Watch this 21-second video: https://youtu.be/t2n3dBiN8R8

In the United States, as in other areas of the industrialized world, factories have changed. Many have moved to lower-wage countries, leaving industrial wastelands in their place. Earlier this week, in “Small Factories Emerge as a Weapon in the Fight Against Poverty,” The New York Times focused on one such area in Baltimore. There, Marlin Steel is a success story, maintaining its ground and producing metal baskets for bigger manufacturers such as Ford, Boeing, and Merck.

The effective management of demand and supply has always resided at the core of the manufacturing and distribution enterprise. A veritable mountain of books and articles, accompanied by the availability of countless hours of classroom instruction and professional seminars, have mapped out every process, elaborated on each principle, and discussed the topic from every possible angle.

At APICS 2016, APICS announced that the iconic CPIM program will be reconfigured in 2017.

You are a rational, logical being who sees the world as it really is. Right? You are in control of your life and make your own decisions. Right? Your opinions are the result of years of rational, objective analysis. Right? Well . . . maybe not. Your “hidden brain,” your unconscious mind, exerts more control over than you realize.

Trick-or-treating may be over for the year, but tricky suppliers are a problem all the time. Forbes highlighted this last week in the article “Do Supply Chain Audits Work? Dealing with Deviant Suppliers Like a Journalist.”

If you know me, you know I’m a fan of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. This certainly has been an exciting week with the Cubs playing the Cleveland Indians in Major League Baseball’s 2016 World Series. Game three is tonight, and my home team is returning to its home, Wrigley Field. Of course, I’ll be watching the game, hoping the Cubs can become the World Series champions for the first time since 1908.

BlackBerry might not be making smartphones anymore, but the company has a new business model and is attempting to capitalize on the global market. According to The Wall Street Journal, BlackBerry is licensing its software and outsourcing its production in its largest market, Indonesia, which boasts a population of 250 million people.

Last Thursday, members of the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) agreed to cap carbon dioxide emissions from international flights after 2020. The Wall Street Journal reports that airlines that don’t limit their emissions will have to buy carbon-offsetting credits.

What happens when all partners in a global supply chain find themselves in a purely defensive position? The current situation surrounding the Hanjin bankruptcy provides an example of this. Since the global shipping giant declared bankruptcy, it has had trouble moving its ships into port. In some locations, Hanjin ships are barred from entering, because port operators feared Hanjin would not pay the port fees. As a result, some ships had to idle in the middle of the ocean or return back to their ports of call, carrying mountains of undelivered cargo. Because of this, port operators, longshoremen, customers of Hanjin, and ship-leasing companies all are on the defensive.

Last Friday’s cover story in The Washington Post, “The Cobalt Pipeline,” carefully examines how the valuable mineral travels via supply chains from Congo into consumers’ phones, laptops, and electric cars. Congo is home to a wealth of minerals and natural resources, but its population is very poor. Corruption along with human rights abuses and child labor in cobalt mining run rampant.