Product lifecycle management (PLM) and product design have been applications that have been slow to move to the cloud, for a number of reasons. But as companies increasingly switch on to the flexibility, scalability and affordability that cloud platforms offer, so adoption has increased.

In the UK, Norbert Dentressangle is involved in a long-term scheme in the South East Midlands to support the 91,700 people already working in logistics, boost the logistics sector and answer an urgent need for 285,000 logistics workers the next six years.

Product development has traditionally been seen as the responsibility of research and development (R&D) or engineering departments. Hand-in-hand with product development comes product lifecycle management (PLM), a function which is often wrongly positioned as product data management and thus rarely used to its full potential.

A four-million-square-foot logistics development in the Northwest of England has taken a further step forward. Leading UK regeneration specialist Harworth Estate has confirmed the outline planning approval already granted by the local authority (Bolton Council) for Logistics North, which will be the largest distribution, logistics and employment site in Greater Manchester.

Yusen Logistics' warehousing facilities in Indonesia will hit 90,000 square meters in 2014, as it begins work on a 16,700-square-meter facility in February.

The procurement and fulfillment networks of global trading companies are becoming increasingly complex. Today it's not just multinational corporations who manage global supply chains - there are hardly any medium-sized businesses left, which don't have customers or suppliers in Asia, the U.S. and Latin America.

With the global economic outlook still far from certain, companies across all industry sectors are focused on delivering efficiency gains across their supply chains. This means that today's forklift trucks - for so long the workhorse of any well executed logistics operation - are expected to work harder for longer and with minimal downtime.