It is well known that China has been the biggest producer of goods for many years. From children’s school supplies to the contents of every handyman’s toolbox, “Made in China” is found in small print. However, China’s labor costs, much due to its economic growth from manufacturing, have risen to the point that the competition from nearby Asian countries is taking some of that manufacturing business. These shifts, along many others over the last two decades, have been heavily influenced by the conglomerate Alibaba, affecting the supply chain of companies worldwide.

The fourth industrial revolution is on the rise. This time, instead of replacing human hands with machinery, companies are replacing scheduled surveys with timely repairs. Industry 4.0 includes machine learning on a variety of levels, but one of the most intriguing (and financially applicable) is predictive maintenance; the practice of predicting machine failure before it happens. Face detection, talking refrigerators, and mood-setting light bulbs are fun, but when big money talks, everybody listens.

NetSuite had strong growth for the first quarter ended August 31 with a 26-percent increase in revenue. Figures released for this year and the year-ago first quarter also show the number of NetSuite ERP customers rose to more than 15,000 from 12,000, up more than 25 percent.