As companies keep a very close eye on suppliers – looking for signs of fragility, vulnerability and risk – taking cost out of the supply chain remains a delicate process that needs careful analysis and ultimately, perfect balance.

Steve Knights has joined Knapp UK as business development manager for integrated projects based the Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire.

RedPrairie has launched the latest release of its WMS, Warehouse Management release 2009.1, to help retailers meet the challenges of multichannel retail.

Howard Tenens has invested in seven moving deck, fuel saver roof, double deck trailers for the Mars Complementary Petcare contract at Birstall near Leeds.

The British International Freight Association has claimed victory on the Insurance Mediation Directive after the UK government agreed that freight forwarding and its associated activities will be removed from the scope of the directive altogether.

Material handling integrator TGW has launched a new high-performance accumulation roller conveyor to meet the challenge of handling cartons and totes of varying sizes, weights and quality within a warehouse.

NFT has appointed Dale Fiddy sales and marketing director.

UK businesses could save more than £65 billion of the £350bn spent each year on non-core goods and services through better supplier relationships and managed costs, according to procurement specialist buyingTeam.

Cirrus Logistics has released the 11th generation of Class, its decision support tool for warehouse layout and optimisation.

Sainsbury’s has signed a five year deal with IBM to transform its supply chain network.