With all this new information available—about interdependencies, the flow of materials, the cycle time, and so on—manufacturers can lower their inventory costs and reduce the amount of capital required. But don't forget: this involves huge amounts of data, and the fundamental prerequisite for such a system is that it is stable and reproducible. Common sense won't help here; this involves rigorous mathematics. And what's interesting is that the algorithms for this already exist. Mathematics has already solved numerous problems that we won't encounter in the real world for another 50 years. But analytical talent is becoming increasingly rare in the labor market, so there will be fierce competition for mathematicians and analysts. The opportunities presented by the Internet of Things are clear—but so are the challenges.