Source: Ars Technica
Three engineers departing SpaceX's propulsion division to start a manufacturing company suggests AI can automate craft work in heavy industrial production—not just logistics optimization or supply chain prediction, but the fabrication of precision parts. Steel component manufacturing has resisted full automation despite decades of robotics investment. If these founders solve the quality and consistency problem at scale, they threaten the labor arbitrage model that's kept some production in the U.S. and accelerate consolidation in factories that adopt the technology.