Microsoft last week unveiled new tools intended to democratize artificial intelligence by enabling machine smarts to be built into software from smartphone games to factory floors.
Data and analytics have redefined the way we compete. Data is a critical corporate asset that organizations are starting to monetize in new ways to get ahead of their competition. The bottom line? Companies that leverage data to drive the performance of their organization's decisions are winning at a faster rate than their competition.
It seems everywhere you look, traditional original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI). Ford recently announced its plans to invest $1bn over the next five years in Argo AI, a start-up formed just in December whose focus is the development of autonomous vehicles. Similarly, last year GM invested $1bn when it acquired Cruise Automation, another AI start-up.
Manufacturing is having a moment. Optimism on Wall Street and rising levels of consumer and business confidence have put manufacturing squarely back into growth territory. One index that tracks global manufacturing performance, the JPMorgan Global Manufacturing PMI, is the highest it's been since 2011. Production growth rates are at a three-year high. So is the rate of expansion in new orders. And factory payrolls are growing faster than they have in over five years.
General Electric Co. shook up the 3-D printer market last year by laying down more than $1bn on two acquisitions. Turns out that may be just the beginning.
Chicago has been a food and beverage manufacturing hub since the days when James Kraft delivered cheese by horse and buggy and the newborn National Biscuit Company went on a bakery-buying bender. In 1914, the city became "hog butcher to the world" and "stacker of wheat" in Carl Sandburg’s poem. Sandburg, had he had more wind left in him, also might have added "palace of sweets" - as Brach's called itself - and "citadel of Cracker Jacks."
As the current Baby Boomer-dominated generation of supply chain leaders starts to reach retirement age, the industry will increasingly need to tap into the younger generations of managers and influencers.
German sportswear giant Adidas says it will start selling shoes with 3-D printed soles, taking a new step in expanding its customized sporting goods range.
