Labelmaster, a manufacturer and distributor of products for complying with rules for the handling of hazardous materials, has released a GHS (Globally Harmonized System) Product Guide, to help companies meet the newly revised Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Etched into the base of Google's new wireless home media player is its most intriguing feature. On the underside of the Nexus Q is a simple inscription: "Designed and Manufactured in the U.S.A."

Pushing the limits of an aging infrastructure, U.S. manufacturers face a future of increasing costs and instability unless new technologies and new investments can rejuvenate the system.

Technology and infrastructure investments will account for 50 percent of Pier 1 Imports' $70m to $75m in planned capital expenditures this year, but the retailer will have a lot of IT-enabled activity to show for its money. Two of the biggest elements are the July 28 launch of Pier 1's new e-commerce site and the planned rollout of its new POS system beginning this fall.

Idealcombi has reduced the time required to produce a custom window or door down to about one minute, using EPC Gen 2 passive UHF tags to automatically adjust the settings on its manufacturing equipment.

When Sonja Zozula and Jerry Anderson founded LightSaver Technologies in 2009, everyone told them they should make their emergency lights for homeowners in China. After two years of outsourcing to factories there, last winter they shifted production to Carlsbad, Calif., about 30 miles from their home in San Clemente. "It's probably 30 percent cheaper to manufacture in China," Anderson says. "But factor in shipping and all the other B.S. that you have to endure. It's a question of, 'How do I value my time at three in the morning when I have to talk to China?'"

You can learn a lot by monitoring consumer conversations in social media. It can predict political elections, the Oscars and even the next reality show winner. If you are a CPG marketer, social media can also be a real-time predictor of your new product's success.