Manufacturing

The last two decades could aptly be described as the Wal-Mart era in retailing. In 1990, its revenue was $32 billion. In 2010 it ballooned to $405 billion. Today, however, cracks are appearing in the empire Sam Walton built.

The JBS USA Beef sales organization will use SignalDemand to respond quickly to changing market conditions and identify win-win opportunities for its customers.

Fast Company released its annual list of the The Worlds 50 Most Innovative Companies for 2011 earlier this month. Not surprisingly, Apple, Inc. was crowned No. 1 followed by social networking stars Facebook and Twitter. While only three consumer goods companies made the Top 50, another 20 were named as market leaders in the consumer product and food industries.

Heidi Klum and Diet Coke launched the campaign at an all-star, first-of-its-kind "Capture the Flag" game in Los Angeles.

A comparison chart of solution providers to the consumer goods industry in 2011. Plus, industry experts address market trends and challenges, like demand planning, downstream data and S&OP.

Newell Rubbermaids Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process has been the subject of an intensive improvement effort over the past two years. In fact, an S&OP initiative launched in 2008, generated 30 percent more cash for a total of $603 million in 2009.

Unilever is always on task to decrease costs and maintain profits. The adoption of demand sensing and inventory optimization solutions in North America is now catching on in other markets to improve forecasts company-wide.