What's the one question you should always ask a potential software supplier? Which links in the supply chain are the most vulnerable to lawsuits? What are the four "cosmic" metrics—the ones every corporation must measure?

The answers can be found in a new book, Fundamentals of Supply Chain Management: An Essential Guide for 21st Century Managers, by industry experts (and DC VELOCITY columnists) Kenneth B. Ackerman and Art Van Bodegraven. The authors, who note that they've been watching—and participating in—the evolution of the supply chain management discipline from "before the beginning," say they wrote the book because they saw a need for a reference that both covers the breadth of the field and concentrates on the basics.

Topics covered in the 250-page volume range from warehousing and material handling to speed, flexibility, and resilience. Highlights include the seven keys to customer service leadership; eight questions to ask yourself before choosing an order picking system; when to consider using a logistics service provider; the seven habits of highly effective inventory managers; and, of course, the authors' famous 12-step program to inventory health.

The book is available for $69 a copy. To order by credit card, visit www.dcvelocity.com/books. (Answers to the questions in the first paragraph can be found below.)

Answers
1. "If I handed you $500,000, how would you use it to further develop your product?"
2. Warehousing, transportation, and information technology
3. Cash-to-cash cycle time, supply chain cost as a percentage of sales, perfect orders, and economic-value added (EVA).