What would it take for manufacturing businesses to operate like the best online retailers? How can such companies turn orders around in a day, deliver them with greater customization, and replenish stocks seamlessly? These aren't idle questions for the top teams of manufacturers, because customers, across both B2C and B2B markets, are more fickle now; service demands are steadily notching upward; and economic volatility shows no sign of abating. Supply operations often struggle to keep pace, as many aren't sufficiently agile to capture fleeting upside opportunities or to mitigate fast-moving risks.

The recovery momentum for the chemical industry is expected to continue this year, backed by a strengthening U.S. economy, strength in the automotive space, healthy demand in emerging geographies and gradually convalescing construction markets.

Rising healthcare costs, competitive industry pressures, and concerns over stable power supplies in the face of recent severe natural disasters have generated a new and concentrated focus on the ways in which healthcare facilities procure, use and manage energy, according to a report from Navigant Research. These forces are driving governments and organizations to adopt new technologies to monitor and control energy use in in healthcare facilities. Global healthcare facility energy management system revenue is expected to grow from $948.8m annually in 2015 to $2.2bn in 2024.

Worldwide oil production is outpacing demand, and oil prices have fallen by more than 50 percent since June 2014. Many factors - including soft demand, increasing U.S. production and diminishing storage for crude oil - suggest that the days of $100-a-barrel oil may not return. This scenario presents potentially disastrous consequences for oil and gas (O&G) firms that are not prepared to accelerate their digital transformation. Innovative oil and gas firms, however, believe today's turbulent market landscape provides an opportunity to grab competitive advantage by harnessing new technologies, such as the Internet of Everything.

Some of the chemical industry's biggest companies plan to increase research investment this year, but they are holding back on capital spending.