Manufacturing
The Learning Curve: Why the Thousandth Unit Costs Less Than the Tenth
Unit cost falls with cumulative production rather than with calendar time. That single fact explains a great deal about industrial…
Manufacturing
Where things are made, why there, and what moves production elsewhere.
12 articles · updated August 11, 2026
Manufacturing
Why Moving a Factory Takes Years Rather Than Months
The building goes up quickly. Everything that makes the building produce sellable output takes far longer, and most of it cannot be bought.
More in Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Minimum Efficient Scale, and Why Some Plants Have to Be Enormous
Certain processes are uneconomic below a size, and that size decides how many plants a whole world can support.
Manufacturing
Labour Cost Is a Smaller Share of the Bill Than the Argument Assumes
Wage comparisons dominate discussion of where things are made. For many products, direct labour is a modest fraction of what the…
Manufacturing
Tooling: The Capital That Cannot Be Moved Cheaply
Moulds, dies and fixtures are made for one part on one machine. They are also one of the strongest anchors holding production in…
Manufacturing
Certification Locks a Supplier In Long After Price Stops Mattering
In regulated industries the approved supplier list is the real constraint. Changing it is a project, not a purchase order.
Manufacturing
What Automation Changes About Where Things Get Made
Replacing labour with machinery does not simply move production to wherever machines are cheapest. It changes which factors matter.
Manufacturing
Knowing How to Make Something Is a Separate Kind of Knowledge
A design can be transmitted as a file. The ability to manufacture it reliably is held in people, routines and equipment settings…
Manufacturing
Capacity Utilisation: Why Factories Run Flat Out or Sit Idle
Manufacturing plants rarely operate at a comfortable middle setting. The cost structure pushes them towards extremes.
Manufacturing
Assembly Looks Like Where the Value Is, and Usually Is Not
The country where a product is put together gets the label and often a modest share of what the product is worth.
Manufacturing
Diversifying Production Without an Ecosystem to Move Into
Adding a second manufacturing location is straightforward for assembly and much harder for everything that feeds it.
Manufacturing
What a Special Economic Zone Actually Provides
Zones are usually described as tax breaks. The more important thing they often supply is a working administrative environment…