Flawless order fulfillment from a distribution center or warehouse to the customer’s door is the neglected leg of the supply chain. Ironically, without careful attention to the last mile, e-commerce customers are disappointed with the quality, accuracy, and condition of the products being delivered. Although tablets and mobile devices can provide the needed visibility, they are relatively new to the most important part of the supply chain: last-mile delivery.

Two words no manufacturing organization wants to hear: product recalls. By their very nature, product recalls are unpredictable events.

The cost to a company transcends potentially expensive litigation and settlements. Product recalls and the effects that product failures have on companies that fail to conduct proper design analysis before, during, and after the manufacturing process are often unrecoverable.

It’s no surprise that multinational companies have complex global supply chains. What’s less obvious is how to simplify supply-chain processes and arrive at a lean, consistent, reliable, and cost-effective solution. One global leader, ITT Corp., has taken on this challenge with the help of Ultriva, a supply-chain solution by Upland Software, which supplies cloud-based manufacturing and supply-chain collaboration and execution solutions.

Established in 1982, the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) is a nonprofit association with a diverse group of stakeholders—including retailers, suppliers of all sizes, automakers, manufacturers, service providers, academia, and the government—working collaboratively to streamline industry processes via global standards development and harmonized business practices.