Eric Talmadge

Associated Press

Trends in Manufacturing: Insights from 750 Leaders

Trends in Manufacturing: Insights from 750 Leaders

Despite manufacturers’ best forecasts, no one could have predicted what 2020 had in store. For many manufacturers, the destabilizing force of the pandemic exposed weaknesses along the value chain. It also highlighted opportunities to justify larger-scale.

A worker runs a conveyor belt moving bottles of soft drinks near a propaganda banner that reads 'Let's uphold the banner of the speed of Mallima (a mythical Pegasus-type horse)' at Kumkhop Trading Co. food factory in Pyongyang, North Korea.

North Korea Facing Food Shortages

The country's UN ambassador says record-high temperatures, drought and flooding also shaved more than 500,000 tons off the 2018 harvest.

In this Oct. 22, 2018, photo, a worker monitors the production of bottled beverage at Songdowon General Foodstuffs Factory in Wonsan, North Korea. Though the international spotlight has been on his denuclearization talks with Washington, the North Korean leader has a lot riding domestically on his promises to boost the country's economy and standard of living. His announcement in April that North Korea had sufficiently developed its nuclear weapons and would now focus on building its economy marked a sharp turn in official policy and set the stage for his rapid-fire meetings with the leaders of China, South Korea and the United States.

N. Korea's Focus on Factories

And he has shown little patience for those businesses who come up short.

North Korea's Coke Not the Real Thing

Coke doesn't do business with North Korea because of sanctions, but that doesn't stop Coke -- and Coke knock-offs -- from making their way into the supply chain.