"There is nothing permanent except change."

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus made that telling observation more than 2,500 years ago. But it's as true today in modern Atlanta or Anaheim as it was in ancient Greece.

The immutable nature of change is, in fact, the overarching theme of this issue. As John Julius Sviokla Sr. of Diamond Technology Partners points out in his opening article, the change process in business is being accelerated by the "acid" of information. The former Harvard Business School professor argues that new technology like the Internet is radically eroding traditional business organizations and processes—particularly their supply chains. How quickly and effectively companies react to that reality will ultimately determine their future, Sviokla believes.

The story of Procter & Gamble's Streamlined Logistics initiatives is really a story about change, too. P&G executive Ralph W. Drayer relates how the consumer products giant moved from a complex and cumbersome set of customer interfaces to a simplified, streamlined approach. The result: lowered costs and improved efficiency for everyone in the chain.

Nowhere, perhaps, is change any more evident than in the retail sector. Long-time industry watchers Jules Abend and Penny Gill chronicle the growing dominance of the mass merchandisers in this space. They then describe how two innovative manufacturers—Jockey International and VF Corporation—are responding to the supply chain challenges being presented by this power shift.

Changing times demand new ways of approaching core business activities like planning. In their feature article, Sumantra Sengupta and Deep R. Parekh of Ernst & Young unveil an innovative approach to planning called CRISP—or Constrained Resource Integrated Supply Planning. Unlike conventional methods, CRISP simultaneously addresses all of the supply chain constraints across the enterprise, resulting in more accurate and more integrated plans. Companies also need to change the way they think about their supply chain capabilities. For Kevin Keegan of the consulting firm PRTM, this means managing those competencies as valuable assets just as you would a portfolio of stocks and bonds.

Heraclitus would probably not understand much of anything in this issue. But he certainly would appreciate the accent on constant supply chain change—and applaud the efforts to respond creatively to that change.

Looking for supply chain-related information on the Web? One valuable site is www.supplychainlink.com, which offers a wide range of information from Supply Chain Management Review and related publications from Cahners Business Information. Another is www.manufacturing.net. This new site from Cahners is a complete business-to-business Internet resource for anyone involved in the manufacturing/supply chain process.