Last week, even the Colonel couldn’t help KFC restaurants in the United Kingdom. Approximately 800 of the 900 KFCs in the U.K. temporarily closed because of a chicken shortage, according to CNN Money.

While retailers are still celebrating one of the strongest holiday buying seasons in recent years, the secondary retail market is now enjoying its own successful season. Once consumers take their unwanted items back to retailers, resellers and reverse logistics groups acquire those items to turn their own profits.

The days of high-volume production and cheap goods are gone. By treating the first mile of the supply chain as strategically as the last mile, companies will experience fewer surprises, more opportunity and better results.

As my kids have gotten older, I have started worrying less about what they are packing for lunch, and more generally about how they are living (or will soon live) on their own.

The following do’s and don’ts can help you in your shipping journey.

Supply chain professionals know that the answers to many questions lie in the data. Of course, the first step is to collect the data needed for analyses. A recent article in GreenBiz highlights how large-appliance manufacturer Whirlpool implemented a data collection and management initiative that ultimately helped the company.

The supply chain skills gap is a real crisis. There are literally millions of open manufacturing jobs, and this number is only going to escalate as more Boomers retire. The good news is that more and more organizations are beginning to tap into a vast, highly skilled talent pool: women.

In movies, on television shows and even in the news, robots sometimes are portrayed as the enemy of the worker because they threaten to take away people’s jobs. In the auto industry, however, this is proving to be untrue, as large manufacturers opt to balance the work of both humans and robots on their assembly lines.

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Learn how to eradicate this global crisis from your supply chain.

After blockchain technology has proved its use in a variety of fields and industries, the digital ledger has officially secured its place in the financial markets. Two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on blockchain technology launched last week to help investors take advantage of the digital platform’s popularity and growth.

Simple, low-tech solutions can shine in the modern supply chain.

UI Lab’s Digital Manufacturing Design & Innovation Institute helps small and large manufacturers with innovation and manufacturing excellence.

India grew its automotive industry to the 6th largest in the world through manufacturing strategy and investments by Ford, Toyota, Honda and others.

How can supply chain leaders use their end-to-end perspective to disrupt and transform their own business?

Apple’s exemplary supply chain is a model in the tech industry. But when it released the iPhone X shortly before the 2017 holiday buying season, its logistics functions became paramount. According to a recent Forbes article, Apple exerted great effort to ensure estimated delivery dates were met or exceeded.

For this week’s issue, I’ve invited Jennifer Proctor, APICS director of publications, to write a piece derived from the first APICS Women in Supply Chain Forum, held earlier this year at APICS 2017.

Brands such as Michael Kors, Polo, Kate Spade and others want to “win” Christmas. Bloomberg’s Stephanie Hoi-Nga Wong wrote about how they might do that in “Christmas Becomes Inventory War Game for U.S. Fashion Brands.”

Stephen Bernard is senior sustainability manager in global supply chain at AT&T and winner of the inaugural APICS Individual Award of Excellence-Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Catalyst. The award recognizes consistent integration of CSR and reduction of environmental impact throughout the supply chain.

Japan is dealing with another scandal tarnishing its reputation for quality. Toray Industries announced last week that one of its subsidiaries had faked quality data on its textiles. The Wall Street Journal reports that Toray joins Nissan Motor Co. and Kobe Steel in their quality scandal woes.

The other day, while driving through a suburban neighborhood, I saw an abandoned shopping cart on the street. It stood out for a couple of reasons. First, there weren’t any nearby stores, from which this one could have strayed. Second, it was creating a little traffic jam on a normally quiet street.

The world is headed toward a new era of globalization, marked by increased political fragmentation but stronger global digital connection. This challenging environment presents many risks which supply chain managers must carefully plan for and navigate.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the United States, and to celebrate many families around the country enjoyed a feast, which almost certainly included turkey.

For supply chain professionals, much is made about utilizing data analytics to improve demand planning and forecasting. However, Deloitte reports that 35 percent of companies now use analytics to mitigate third-party supply chain fraud, waste and abuse, an increase from 25.2 percent in 2014.

European Union businesses expect to contract less with U.K. suppliers and more with suppliers in their own market after Brexit. Earlier this week, The Guardian reported that British exporters could lose billions of pounds in business once Brexit is finalized. 

This year, I’ve had the opportunity to interview several business leaders who believe in the power of encouraging corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities throughout their supply chains to make the world a better place.