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Global manufacturing is being recast by a new industrial revolution, the seventh in a series of crucial epochs during the sector’s development over the past 2,000 years and the most important since the original industrial revolution that started in northern England around 1780
Democracy made with personalised products
FT series: 3D printing technologies that reduce barriers between design and production are used to improve productive capabilities
Programmed for personalisation
Software techniques have been developed enabling designers to create shapes of parts in 3D on computer screens and transfer instructions for their manufacture to production machines
China’s industries in Mittelstand-off
FT series: Can world-renowned German industrial brainpower win in its latest battle against Chinese counterparts pushing to expand globally?
Stability is key, says German manager
Freudenberg chief advocates continuity and scorns the tendency in the UK and US for the shareholders behind private companies to sell out
Industry: Nimble, niche and networked
FT series The UK, hub of the first industrial revolution, could be a winner in the latest. But its high-tech companies need tailored state policies to succeed, writes Peter Marsh
Industry: In search of inspiration
Chinese manufacturing has made strides in technology, but is some way from making its own innovative breakthroughs, writes Peter Marsh
Industry: Future factories
High-cost nations are considering a return to manufacturing as innovation makes it cleaner and more competitive, writes Peter Marsh
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Manufacturing set for decade high
Highest level for more than a decade as a percentage of total world output, indicating industry is returning to its historic role as a growth driver
Production processes: A lightbulb moment
The emergence of technologies such as three-dimensional printing offers manufacturers big and small the ability to combine the opposing goals of efficiency and flexibility, writes Peter Marsh
