[glimshe]

I lived in one of these cities. I don't even understand what you're arguing against. The US has highly automated manufacturing because that's what makes sense with the current incentives. Other parts of the world still have factory cities.

The US can align incentives to encourage different types of manufacturing of if it wants. I didn't say anything about whether it's a good idea.

[notfromhere]

US has highly automated manufacturing but only in a few industries where they're still competitive or have trade protections.

Though I feel like generally the narrative being spun for folks is that factory jobs largely got automated, which is true only in the fact that the remaining factory jobs got automated. The vast majority of them went overseas because it was cheaper. Otherwise the country wouldn't be filled with rusting factory towns and you'd still be able to find lots of household goods made in the US.

[alephnerd]

> Other parts of the world still have factory cities

I mean, factory cities in other countries are also increasingly being automated as well.

Look at what happened to Wolfsburg in Germany as well as the investments in robotic and additive manufacturing in China leading to around 20 million factory jobs being shed from 2013 to 2023 [0]. If an Indian auto manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki themselves had a 1 robot for 4 employee ratio by 2017 [1] in a country where labor (skilled and unskilled) is cheap, it shows where the tide is turning globally for factory cities.

Globally, manufacturing (especially in electronics, chemicals, pharma, automotive, and aerospace) has become much more automated because the cost barriers for automation have fallen significantly. For example, a robotic arm like that which Kuka or FANUC manufactures costs around $30-40k to install, whereas 30 years ago an industrial robot would have costed around $65-115k in 2003 dollars [2]

The era of single factory cities is coming to a close globally. Industries are overwhelmingly clustering in hubs in order to take full advantage of supply chains and vendor ecosystems.

[0] - https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/06/10/f...

[1] - https://www.livemint.com/Companies/0qexlea1C0MelXiAXcveOJ/Ro...

[2] - https://unece.org/sites/default/files/datastore/fileadmin/DA...

[glimshe]

I'm fine with all of this. Factory hubs are the new factory cities. You still get to employ thousands who don't necessarily have a PhD in computer science.

[alephnerd]

Ah ok! I thought you were pining for the days of a town with only a single employer dominating hiring.

That is an unsustainable model.

> You still get to employ thousands who don't necessarily have a PhD in computer science

You're a magnitude off. It's more like hundreds, and you will tend to hire people with a BS in an Engineering discipline.