The need to contain costs across the business is as strong as ever and the search for cost reduction opportunities is intensifying. There still remains one last major opportunity to take out costs - through the supply chain. Ultimately all costs will make their way to the final marketplace to be reflected in the price paid by the end user. Smart companies instead seek to make the supply chain more competitive through the value it creates and the costs it reduces overall. They have realised that the real competition is not company against company but rather supply chain against supply chain.