An air brake or a compressed air brake system, is a type of friction brake for vehicles in which compressed air pressing on a piston is used to apply the pressure to the brake pad needed to stop the vehicle. Air brakes are used in large heavy vehicles, particularly those having multiple trailers, which must be linked into the brake system, such as trucks, buses, trailers, and semi-trailers, in addition to their use in railroad trains. George Westinghouse first developed air brakes for use in railway service. Air brake systems are typically used on heavy trucks and buses. The air brake system has a wider application in service brakes, parking brakes, and includes wider range of components such as control pedal, an air storage tank, and various other components. The air brake system is a type of friction brake for vehicles in which compressed air pressing on a piston to put pressure in the brake to stop a vehicle. It comprises several components including compressor, governor, tank, air dryer, foot valve, brake chamber, and slack adjuster. Currently, there are two types of air brake system commonly available in the market, namely, disc air brake system and drum air brake system. The air brake system is integrated in heavy as well as commercial vehicles to apply more massive brake effort. The increased demand for air brakes has positively impacted the air brake system market.

The installed capacity of thermal power plants in China was 1,144 GW at end-2018, representing 60.2% of the country’s total capacity, having increased by 3% y/y. Both the share in total capacity and the y/y growth rate have been slowing down in recent years, in line with the country’s decarbonisation strategy and targets. In terms of investment in the Chinese electricity sector, the thermal sources recorded an 8.3% y/y decline in investment to RMB 78.6bn in 2018, from RMB 85.8bn in 2017. The ongoing replacement of thermal power by renewable energy in China can be gauged by the fact that in 2018, out of a total 128 GW newly added installed capacity in China’s electricity sector, 73% went to renewable energy capacity. The thermal electricity in China is almost entirely generated by coal-fired power plants.

China’s chemical fertiliser sector is highly competitive as a whole, due to severe overcapacity in some subsectors such as urea, phosphate fertilisers and potassium sulphur manufacturing. The key competition elements include independent innovation ability and high efficiency and safety. In the last few years, the Chinese government has encouraged domestic companies to invest abroad in order to gain expanded access to foreign markets via an international sales network.

China’s cement industry is characterised by relatively low concentration and severe overcapacity. In 2018, China had about 3,500 cement enterprises. However, restrictions on adding new cement capacity have recently pushed cement manufacturers to expand their production through M&As. The economic imbalance between the coastal and inland parts of China is the reason for the unequal performance of cement producers from different regions. Most of them are located in the regions of the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and Southwest China.

The rate of unemployment has been high in the past. However, it has decreased in the recent years due to the rising number of young jobseekers and growing economic growth of various countries in APAC, including India and China. Strong internet infrastructure in Asia-Pacific has enabled applicants to search for jobs in various industries anytime and anywhere. The robust internet infrastructure providing an online platform for hiring process is also benefitting the employers looking for potential candidates from Asia-Pacific region. A rising number of young jobseekers is one of the substantial factors boosting the adoption of corporate assessment services as this rise is compelling organizations to conduct the process of recruitment with the assistance of tools such as cognitive, personality, language proficiency tools, and so on. They can also access online platforms for assessing tests along with figuring out new forms of work in several industries, which can provide flexibility to them while searching a job.

The increasing demand for air travel, the expansion of airline fleets to accommodate a larger number of passengers, and the rising number of flight movements have led to a reduction of the ground time to increase the efficiency of their fleet. Airlines are not only hiring additional employees but are also looking to increase the efficiency of their aircraft fleet by adding new travel routes. Traditional airlines operating medium-haul routes fly 7–14 hours approximately per day. In contrast, LCCs aiming to maximize the aircraft fleet efficiency implement intensive short-haul flight schedules, which sometimes double the flying time as compared to the industry average.

The term ‘smart factory’ refers to the various fully integrated automation solutions adopted for manufacturing facilities. Such integration helps in streamlining the material flow during all the processes involved in the manufacturing, thus enabling effective movement of materials across the factory floor. Several manufacturing companies are capable of achieving zero waste production and shorter time-to-market. Effortless monitoring, reduction of waste and speed of production are some of the major advantages of automated manufacturing processes. This technology offers users an improved quality of standardization, as well as dependable products, within the time and at much lower cost.

The usage of labels has increased manifold across many end-use sectors. Factors like technology and cost continue to drive changes in the labeling industry. Businesses have become aware of the potential for profit and the impact of consumer interaction on the success of a product. With numerous options in the marketplace, brand and label recognition is essential, especially to capture the customer’s attention.

Continuous monitoring of patients’ parameters such as heart rate and rhythm, respiratory rate, blood oxygen saturation, electrocardiogram, blood pressure (BP), and many other parameters have increasingly become important for critically ill patients in healthcare settings. Patient monitoring systems are used to continuously monitor the patient’s vital signs. During treatment, it is highly important to monitor the vital physiological signs of patients continuously. Therefore, there is a high demand for patient monitoring devices in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The continuous improvement of technologies not only improved the access of medical personnel to patients’ vital signs but has also simplified the diagnostic process and, as a result, has risen the monitoring efficiency of patients.

A significant portion of testing, inspection, and certification work is outsourced. This is benefitting the independent TIC companies, primarily due to high growth rates and operating margins, and reliable revenue streams. TIC companies are leveraging technologies, such as Big Data and even drones (unmanned vehicles), in order to stay competent, while providing enhanced services to their customers. For instance, Bureau Veritas, in December 2018, collaborated with Delta Drones, in an effort to emerge as the leading TIC company, primarily to serve the agricultural sector in Africa. The partnership is aimed at developing solutions for precision agriculture, based on crop inspection, by drones. Bureau Veritas was also involved in a joint investment project (remote evaluation of coatings/corrosion on offshore machiner y and marine structures/ships (RECOMMS)), to develop drones that have the capability to inspect steel structures in enclosed spaces.