Challenge: Prior to a WMS Go Live, a power equipment manufacturer wanted to stress test new servers to ensure additional load would not impact operations. Time-strapped, they turned to us to develop a test strategy to emulate 300 RF devices simultaneously working in the WMS.

Innovative partnerships between private sector companies, voluntary organisations and governments can help solve global challenges and provide access to healthcare and food, according to a report by SCM World and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

On Toyota's brightly lit assembly line here, workers guide wheel and engine assemblies into unfinished sedans. Driverless carts carry parts through narrow aisles to work stations. The assembly line moves with clockwork precision, able to pop out a vehicle every 72 seconds.

The factory to the world has a new export: inflation. And it's shipping faster than many thought possible just a few months ago. China's weakening yuan, stimulus designed to ensure robust growth ahead of a crucial Communist Party Congress next year, and rebounding commodity prices are pushing up factory prices.

U.S. manufacturers recognize the potential of the digital technologies known collectively as Industry 4.0 to create value, but they are largely approaching the opportunity in piecemeal fashion and may miss out on the significant business benefits these technologies offer, according to new research from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

In 2017 the luxury industry will be faced with a precarious balancing act on multiple fronts. Brands will be forced to find an equilibrium between an exponential growth in technology and their traditional emphasis on the human hand; between understanding their customers' behavior and surveilling it; between their global presence and their local consumer groups; and between the poles of a customer spectrum that stretches not just around the world, but over decades, from Generation Z to the silver dollar.