Every sector among the options requires intensive capital investment. However, only manufacturing and retails bury much of their working capital in form of inventory. Raw materials and WIP only present in manufacturing sector.
The manufacturing industry is undergoing massive change, rivaling the Industrial Revolution that began in England and continued on Detroit's assembly lines. But today's revolution is "smart," thanks to factories using artificial intelligence and robots.
A new trend is the "cobot" - a collaborative robot designed to work with humans. One company called Moduform uses them to make furniture in the U.S. The company credits using cobots for reducing their staffing turnover, since the robots do mundane repetitive tasks that bore humans, while people can now do cognitive tasks requiring judgment and diversified responsibilities. Other innovations include 3D printing, Artificial Intelligence and automation.
Today's artificial intelligence manufacturing revolution improves performance in two key areas of manufacturing: productivity and quality control.
Reference:
- The Key Characteristics of Manufacturing (bizfluent.com)
- CIPS study guide page 74-76
LO 2, AC 2.1

Using standards in specification is very convenient. They reduce the time and effort to produce. They tend to be very accurate with correct technical terminologies. They are well recognised and accepted by a wide range of suppliers and buyers. However, since a standard is very specific, complex and lengthy, it requires a lot of time to be drafted and approved. Therefore, standard tends to be static and don't encourage innovation. It may also not accommodate latest technology and trends.

The buying organisation is keen to encourage innovation so they should use the outcome or output based specification. In an outcome-based specification, umbrella statements like 'good quality', 'ambient temperature', 'convenient way' are often used. This may confuse the suppliers, and it's hard to check the solution that supplier offers. On the other hand, ouput-based specifications often include measurable requirements. For example, a specification for air conditioning system states that the system should maintain the room temperature at 19-24 degrees Celsius. Therefore, output specification is more appropriate in this case.
Reference:
LO 3, AC 3.1