A report from China says that, facing a worldwide glut and slowdown in hand-held digital tablet devices, Chinese manufacturers are looking into making other products, including smart phones, wearable devices and vehicle navigation systems. And high on the list of new product ventures are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), known familiarly as drones.

Drone-making would not be an entirely new enterprise for the Chinese. One report says that existing Chinese drone makers shipped 160,000 units abroad in the first five months of 2015, with a value of US$121 million. This was a radical international increase in the sale of these little flying machines, and a notice of the worldwide interest and investment in them.

More than 10 former tablet makers in China displayed drones at the 2015 Global Sources Electronics Show held in April in Hong Kong. Drones may soon be a familiar site over your mill. Will they be yours...or a competitor's...or a supplier's?

Chuck Swann is the senior editor of Paperitalo Publications. He can be reached by email at chuck.swann@taii.com.