On the screen in front of me is a mountain range. Moving toward my troops from the top-right corner is an ominous yellow dot. I suspect it's an enemy drone, but it could be a bird or a civilian aircraft, so I ask my long-range camera to home in on it. Within seconds, it returns a snapshot of a wide-winged military drone. The incoming dot turns from yellow to red, signifying a threat.

Customized manufacturing is a major trend across all manufacturing verticals--from food and beverage to automotive. But the industry vertical that has likely been impacted most by this trend is electronics. Think about your electronics devices--from your computer to your tablet to your smartphone--and the various configurability options offered by the supplier. Now consider IT electronics, such as servers, and the amount of configurability offered by suppliers of these technologies to address various business demands. That's the level of complexity faced by Foxconn on its production lines in the company's Kutna Hora, Czech Republic, facility which produces HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise) IT systems.