O-ring Sales & Service, a Kansas City-based distributor of o-rings and specialized components, is offering its industrial manufacturer customers an RFID-based solution to manage their inventory at manufacturing sites.

Companies like Ikea and Apple have been investing in their supply chains in order to avoid unknown and potentially environmentally damaging activities from their suppliers by purchasing forest, building wind farms, and taking over plastics recycling plants. Ikea has purchased forest in Romania and the Baltics, while Apple has invested in forest in the US, writes The Guardian.

Almost a third of factories worldwide were rated as "critically non compliant" with ethical and sustainability standards in the first quarter of 2017, according to a supplier audit company.

At a General Electric Co factory in this rural town, Keith Spahn, 60, used to take measurements of parts from railroad locomotives that are in for repair by hand.

The "Amazon-Prime Effect" - the notion that everything you order should arrive on your doorstep in two days - has left brands and retailers scrambling to keep up. As consumers' expectations grow and their patience around delivery time shrinks, one tactic businesses use to combat increasing time constraints is transparency.