Although any number of trends surface in every industry every year, we’ve seen some winners in 2017 that are driving environmental improvements across all industries.

Kobe Steel Ltd, at the centre of a data-falsification scandal that has shaken Japan’s manufacturing industry, admitted for the first time that executives were aware of the cheating, and reassigned three senior officials.

U.S. companies are bringing new trade lawsuits against their foreign competitors with a scope and frequency not seen in more than 15 years, government documents show, as a wave of new complaints builds under President Trump.

Factories from America’s Rust Belt to Germany’s Ruhr region to Japan’s Aichi prefecture are revving up production lines in a unified acceleration not seen in years.

The French Ministry for the Economy is taking Amazon to court, accusing the e-commerce giant of imposing unfair contracts on suppliers.

International Data Corporation (IDC) surveyed the global manufacturing landscape for its new report, "IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Manufacturing Predictions 2018." The global market intelligence firm examined ecosystems and experiences, greater intelligence in operational assets and processes, data capitalization, the convergence of information technology (IT) and operations.