Upcoming Editions
Preview forthcoming editions, their editorial focus and scheduled publication dates.
The Modern Manufacturing Plant: Designing Industry for Efficiency, Safety and Scale
A manufacturing plant is a system in which layout, equipment, utilities, material movement, people and information must work together. As production requirements evolve, plant design increasingly needs to account for efficiency, safety, flexibility and future expansion. This edition examines the principles shaping modern manufacturing facilities, from workflow and infrastructure to automation and resource utilization. It explores how thoughtful plant design can reduce operational friction while supporting reliable production and sustainable growth.
Industry in Transition: The Manufacturing Shifts That Defined 2026
Manufacturing continued to evolve throughout 2026 as investment, automation, artificial intelligence, energy priorities, supply-chain changes and workforce requirements influenced industrial operations. This edition brings these developments together to examine the broader direction of manufacturing during the year. Rather than ranking technologies or companies, it considers how multiple shifts interacted across the factory environment and what the experience of 2026 reveals about the continuing transformation of industrial production and competitiveness.
The Industrial Outlook 2027: Manufacturing Through a New Cycle of Growth and Change
Manufacturing enters 2027 amid continuing investment in capacity, infrastructure, automation and digital technologies, alongside changing requirements around energy, supply chains and skills. This edition examines the industrial environment at the beginning of the year and the forces manufacturers need to understand as they plan ahead. It connects productivity, technology, demand, logistics and operational resilience to provide a broad view of the conditions shaping manufacturing without attempting to predict individual winners or outcomes.
The Economics of Manufacturing: Where Productivity, Cost and Competitiveness Meet
Every manufactured product carries the combined economics of materials, labour, energy, equipment, maintenance, logistics and capacity utilization. Improving competitiveness therefore requires understanding how these factors interact rather than focusing on any single cost. This edition examines the economics behind manufacturing performance and the role of productivity, process efficiency, technology and operational discipline. It explores how better utilization of industrial resources can strengthen margins while supporting quality, reliability and long-term competitiveness.
Machines That Think: The Emerging Role of AI in Industrial Operations
Artificial intelligence is expanding the analytical capabilities available to industrial operations. By interpreting equipment data, images, production patterns and process variables, AI can support decisions that conventional automation may not address as easily. This edition examines its emerging role in predictive maintenance, quality inspection, production planning, process optimization and energy management. It also considers the importance of reliable data, domain expertise, cybersecurity and human oversight when deploying intelligent systems in demanding factory environments.
Building the Smart Factory: Connecting Machines, People, Processes and Data
A smart factory is not defined by a single machine or software platform. It emerges when equipment, production systems, people and information are connected in ways that improve visibility and coordination across operations. This edition examines the building blocks of smart manufacturing, including automation, industrial IoT, software integration, analytics and workforce capability. It explores how manufacturers can approach digital integration progressively while ensuring that technology remains aligned with production requirements, reliability and measurable operational value.
The Future of Industrial Maintenance: From Breakdown Repair to Predictive Operations
Maintenance is evolving from a reactive function toward a more informed approach built around equipment condition, operating data and planned intervention. Sensors, analytics and connected maintenance systems are giving manufacturers new ways to understand asset health before failures disrupt production. This edition examines preventive and predictive maintenance, condition monitoring, reliability practices and asset lifecycle management. It explores how better maintenance strategies can reduce unplanned downtime while improving safety, equipment utilization and production continuity.
The Sustainable Factory: Making Manufacturing Cleaner Without Losing Competitiveness
Sustainable manufacturing increasingly involves practical decisions about energy, water, materials, waste and the efficiency of industrial processes. For manufacturers, environmental improvement must also work within the economic and operational realities of production. This edition examines how factories can reduce resource consumption and waste through better processes, measurement, technology and energy management. It explores the relationship between sustainability and competitiveness, showing where efficiency can support both environmental objectives and stronger industrial performance.
Engineering for Reliability: Why Quality Begins Long Before the Production Line
Quality is often measured at the end of production, but many of the factors that determine reliability are established much earlier. Product design, material selection, equipment capability, process control, maintenance and testing all influence the consistency of the final result. This edition examines quality as an engineering discipline extending across the manufacturing lifecycle. It explores how manufacturers can build reliability into products and processes from the beginning, reducing defects, rework and variability while strengthening confidence in production performance.
India's Manufacturing Ambition: From Production Capacity to Global Competitiveness
India's manufacturing ambitions increasingly extend beyond adding production capacity toward building an industrial base capable of competing across global markets. Scale must be supported by quality, technology, logistics, skills, infrastructure and dependable supplier networks. This edition examines the interconnected capabilities that influence manufacturing competitiveness and explores how stronger industrial ecosystems can help businesses improve productivity, meet international expectations and convert expanding manufacturing capacity into sustainable economic and commercial value.
The Industrial Cybersecurity Challenge: Protecting an Increasingly Connected Factory
As factories connect machinery, control systems, sensors and business networks, cybersecurity becomes an operational concern as well as an information technology issue. Industrial environments often combine modern connected systems with equipment designed long before cybersecurity became a central requirement. This edition examines operational technology security, network segmentation, access control, legacy systems and incident preparedness. It explores how manufacturers can improve digital resilience while maintaining the availability and safety of production operations.
The Flexible Factory: Manufacturing for Faster Markets and Changing Demand
Manufacturers increasingly operate in markets where product cycles are shorter, customer requirements change quickly and demand can be difficult to forecast. This environment places greater value on production systems capable of adapting without excessive cost or disruption. This edition examines flexible manufacturing through modular equipment, automation, digital planning, faster changeovers and responsive supply chains. It explores how factories can balance efficiency with adaptability while maintaining quality, utilization and control across changing production requirements.
The Next Industrial Supply Chain: Connected, Visible and Built for Resilience
Industrial supply chains are becoming more connected as manufacturers seek better visibility across suppliers, materials, inventory, logistics and production requirements. Digital systems can improve coordination, but resilience also depends on sourcing strategy, supplier capability and operational planning. This edition examines how industrial supply chains are evolving through traceability, data sharing, inventory visibility and stronger supplier integration. It explores how manufacturers can combine digital connectivity with practical risk management to create more responsive networks.
The Factory of Tomorrow: How Manufacturing Is Being Rebuilt for the Next Decade
The factory of tomorrow is taking shape through technologies and operating practices already entering manufacturing today. Automation, artificial intelligence, connected equipment, advanced maintenance, cleaner energy and changing workforce skills are gradually reshaping production. This edition brings these developments together to examine how factories may evolve over the next decade. It focuses on the interaction between technology, people, processes and infrastructure, and why successful industrial transformation will depend on integrating them rather than pursuing each in isolation.