The aerospace and defense (A&D) industry is poised to benefit from a surge in global commercial demand, along with the advent of new technologies, government acquisition reform and the use of analytics to manage “big data.” At the same time, manufacturers and suppliers face a number of challenges, including stricter regulations and the uncertainties that characterize the defense sector.

Corporations pay lip service to enforcing human rights and fair working conditions in offshore factories. But the deaths and injuries continue.

Long tails can get, well, rather long. Some see this as a mandate to hunt down and kill off the items furthest out on the tail.

While vast "smart products" opportunities are allowing many high-tech companies to grow and lower their cost of goods sold, 57 percent do not have access to reliable product genealogy information, and 72 percent believe their product data is less than 80 percent accurate.

Factories don't just make things. Viewed properly, they are where the rubber of corporate strategy meets the road of the marketplace. Ideally, then, a factory should operate in alignment with competitive business priorities: in short, it should be focused. When a business tries to group too many different products, markets, and technologies into the same manufacturing facility, performance and productivity suffer.

Inevitable, irreversible and irresistible. That's how some environmental experts view the coming of "the low-carbon economy."