How Microfactories Could Be the Manufacturing Strategy of the Future | WSJ

At Hyundai’s EV plant in Singapore, robotic arms, AI and robot dogs are some of the new features used to assemble cars in specialized cells. It’s a new automaking method taking place in smaller, more flexible microfactories instead of traditional production lines. But is the future of car manufacturing leaning towards more automation?
WSJ explains how microfactories could change the way cars are made and what that means for the future of automaking.
Chapters:
0:00 Singapore’s new EV factory
1:00 Microfactories vs. traditional factories
3:10 How microfactories affect labor
4:31 Are microfactories the future?
News Explainers
Some days the high-speed news cycle can bring more questions than answers. WSJ’s news explainers break down the day's biggest stories into bite-size pieces to help you make sense of the news.
#Cars #Manufacturing #WSJ

[@user-iu6hu8oq5p]

Note also that there's a high import duty tax in Singapore for cars. So, this assembly might makes sense in Singapore only - to sell to the local population and evade taxes on import.

[@prabhjotathwal380]

Singapore has 150 cars per 1000 residents. Only 850k cars total. It has high import taxes as a way of raising revenue on a luxury product, not to capture manufacturing for a local market

[@user-iu6hu8oq5p]

@@prabhjotathwal380so far, sure, cause it takes too much space and resources. My point was that microassemblies would be a way around the taxes for companies - nevermind the intent of the gov. Just would be interesting to know where do they sell those cars.

[@Avantime]

@@prabhjotathwal380 No doubt Singapore wants this so as to promote their strengths in high-tech robotic manufacturing, but the govt can't make it too successful because it would completely undermine the import tax. Other places do it by controlling and taxing (e.g. stamp duty, auction) the supply of number plates.

[@seasong7655]

It's also being done by Arrival in the UK

[@siruitao]

Thanks for the info man. This makes lots of sense now. Cause I know for sure Tesla's Giga factories have a similar if not higher level of automation but they still stick to large factory design.

[@Nainara32]

I don't feel like this video explained what the advantages of a small-footprint cell based assembly plant are. Yes, it's automated, but so are assembly lines. Moreover, assembly lines are designed to support high-throughput, whereas cell-based assembly appears to be severely constrained.

[@doujinflip]

Consumer demand wants to trend towards local customized builds instead of the offshored mass produced stuff that's been available. An agile microfactory would fill the niche between 3D printers and a full-sized town-dominating manufacturing plant.

[@hyy3657]

@@doujinflip But they can produce different type of cars at once, might be suitable for a space colony in the future.

[@Chaos_rider_666]

​@@doujinflip but since it doesn't benefit from economy of scale the manufacturing cost will be extremely high not to mention it's not providing any job for the local people if so what's the point of Bringing back the off-shore plants back to our nation?

[@broenthompson4634]

What I understood was that they have 10% the footprint and 10% the output

[@ongenor6099]

They tried to signal, that they are more space efficient than Tesla, but I can not imagine, that that is correct. But the good thing of the cells is, that you can adapt them faster and you have more freedom to build different products, than an assembly line. It gets more efficient, the more products you have. Also it is cheaper in the long term compared to the assembly line, because you do not have to change too much, when implementing a new product.

[@ReddoFreddo]

2:41, I don't think I've ever had a "We're in the future" moment more pronounced than when watching this clip. An autonomous robot working together with a human wearing an exoskeleton. The closest I came to this feeling was watching a rocket land, and before that the realization I had of how cool smartphones are. And of course we have AI, sooner or later we'll be able to have verbal conversations with computers, and thus also with autonomous robots. We're approaching Star Wars levels of tech.

[@nomadv7860]

Dude I had the exact same thought, everything is coming together and we're going to be living in a sci-fi world sooner than we might think

[@CHMichael]

Star trek

[@TobiasDuncan]

and the way they just dropped that in there They totally buried the headline

[@Ravver]

Deathstranding come to life

[@Hathur]

The exoskeleton has been in use in several physical labor jobs for around 6 years about now. They're used to reduce repetitive stress motion and (slightly) augments a person's overall strength. They're a far cry from the stuff we see in sci-fi, but they work wonders at reducing wear and tear on the body in repetitive motion jobs. Many car manufacturers in the EU and North America use them.

[@felixwalton4612]

Hyundai is the current owner of boston dynamics, makes sence that their using spot. The companies innovating technology like this are definetly the ones that will last

[@Distortion0]

Full automation has been " just a couple years away" since the 1800s.

[@Voxabonable]

It's an assembly line, not a factory. Finished parts are imported from Korea and Indonesia. This site costs $300 million, and doesn't manufacture a single bolt. To have a real factory would cost way more with tons more red tape. Dyson's now abandoned plan to set up a EV manufacturing plant in Singapore was budgeted at $2 billion. they're now investing about the same just to set up a battery production line. To say micro-factory being the manufacturing future is naive, please don't treat us like children.

[@phunk8607]

Yep

[@purplemist2779]

Finally someone with a more nuanced statement.

[@Pow_rice]

scale always wins

[@Justin_Bikes]

2:49, used to only see exoskeletons in movies but it's cool to see them regularly used for simple but heavy-load tasks

[@LukeBockman]

This only works in a place like Singapore. (very high car prices + cheap labor right across the border to make the sub assemblies + avoid the tariffs by being inside singapore)(Theyre only doing assembly as well so most of the work is done offsite)

[@alexanderfuhrmann492]

Still it is working. Efficiency comes over time as learning and refinement takes years. How will it be in 15 years from now?

[@thesadboxman]

I didn't hear any reasoning to suggest that a micro-factory makes any sense. The Hyundai rep just said that they're testing all sorts of factory solutions and that large scale factories are needed in addition to microfactories. But he provides no reason why micro-factories are advantageous. All the cool visuals of the automation could equally be done at a large scale factory. Please tell me where I'm wrong. I must be missing something.

[@saltymonke3682]

Tax, that's it

[@thesadboxman]

@@saltymonke3682 Tax incentives? Makes sense for the business but it's artificially helpful for the local government

[@saltymonke3682]

@thesadboxman not just incentives, car import to singapore is very expensive and they have EV tax incentives. So that's why. Other countries have similar tax regime. They just assemble the cars there, but parts are still made in the big factory

[@Withnail1969]

it doesnt make any sense. Go big or go home.

[@saltymonke3682]

@@Withnail1969 yea until your big factory in a country can't sell with competitive price in another lucrative country because of tax and tariffs regime.

[@MatthewStinar]

They never answer the question, just blather on about automation.

[@AndreyRubtsovRU]

deal with it mate. you go this video for free.

[@MatthewStinar]

@@AndreyRubtsovRUI bet you feel so big right now, like a Kindergartener who got the right answer. No I was commenting on their business execution, not some perceived obligation they failed to meet.

[@AndreyRubtsovRU]

@@MatthewStinar :-) have a good day, mate.

[@douglasunmack961]

Yes this is the way to build a car factory IF you want it in Singapore. By WHY would you want it in Singapore? Most likely the government is propping this initiative up via incentives, grants, etc. Otherwise this factory would be somewhere cheaper … like Malaysia right next door.

[@Sjalabais]

I was waiting for this point to be discussed the whole video.

[@doujinflip]

It develops the concept for further deployment in countries without the cheap flat land, masses of laborers, or open trade policies that would support a full-sized investment. For S'pore it also gives a non-zero manufacturing capacity in case a COVID or some other event locks down movement in and out of the island again.

[@saltymonke3682]

Exactly

[@richardwilde1348]

I sold all my Arrival shares as they have virtually gone to zero. Definitely have my doubts about the concept, not least the logistics of shipping all the parts to a larger number of factories instead of more centralized. But still an interesting concept, will be keen to see how it plays out.

[@nottera]

That seems great for producing a larger variety of cars/custom models bc they don’t have to set an entire factory for specific models

[@mattsipes6186]

Wall Street Journal used the Tesla giga factory as an example but didn’t put any context behind why it’s the size it is. A Tesla giga factory can produce more than 1 million cars. The reason why the Texas location is at a 250 K capacity is because it’s being ramped up for the cyber truck as well as creates a significant portion of their battery cells.

[@Charlie-gf4mv]

But the point of a factory is that it is big and can rack up huge savings from economies of scale..

[@mellis966]

Boston Dynamics is owned by Hyundai. It was purchased in 2020 for 1 Billion dollars. Logically the use of their robotics systems will be deployed for 90% of assembly task. This will be the model for almost all vehicle builders within 10 years. Note: he said "a smaller factory that allows us to produce as many types of mobility devices in a cost effective way." Logistics & Assembly

[@vasilykotikov6916]

Check Arrival van and bus history, Hyundai used to have a small portion of it's shares

[@saltymonke3682]

This is an assembly line. Not a factory. All of the parts are made elsewhere

[@mellis966]

@@saltymonke3682 And? Most factories only make one system. The body in white.

[@robotman011]

This is crazy cool to see. The future is starting to turn into the present

[@jae_ventures]

This is pretty cool! Like the idea of reducing the physical footprint of manufacturing plants, hopefully making more room for people and wildlife. Would be great to see this used in other industries that take up a large footprint for manufacturing. Job security for manual workers is an issue though that we really need to solve as robots and AI keep getting better.

[@Nick-xc4fy]

This is not the future. The capital investment cost is insane and what people don't understand is that the mark up for owning a car in Singapore is insane.For most other countries, economy of scale and a mass production line in a large plant is the solution. Additionally, there should be a tax on robots and automation, but that's a separate topic.

[@cosminmorga1331]

Thanks

[@user-iu6hu8oq5p]

It's a bit of a stretch to call it a car factory. It's basically a car assembly compared to the Gigafactory.

[@yeffblanco]

This is a great channel.

[@iefimov]

Amazing! Truly a breakthrough in manufacturing.

[@telebiopic]

This modular layout is better suited for apparel manufacturing than cars 😅 as long as heavy objects need to be moved around, you will need non-linear increase in floorspace to safely grow throughout. Also floorspace is not among the primary factor to be optimized while thinking of setting up a car factory, as most people want it away from densely congested parts of the country.

[@tekmepikcha6830]

This new concept is a risk but an awesome innovative approach.

[@diraziz396]

Arrival also work on it.

[@sapphiron21]

Wouldn't many small microfactories instead of a huge one make supplying them with materials and shipping their finished products a logistic nightmare? And if they just build 1 or 2, they would lose the advantage of the economy of scale no?

[@Houthiandtheblowfish]

logistics companies would love to see this and 3d printing more parts more locations more trips

[@bencopp917]

A majority of production costs are directly tied to labor costs, by moving automation to these types of levels, which will only increase further, even with the losses on reduced benefits for logistics you're going to see increased gains overall in margins. There's also added benefits from the standpoint on value creation for the vehicles themselves, these production lines that can switch from one car type to the next, from customization X to customization Y on the fly without needing to reset the lines or down time are going to improve automakers abilities to push products that have more individual line items added which raises the attractiveness to consumers to make a purchase with potentially higher price point additions because instead of the basic trim, where they weren't going to buy the premium trim, they may be adding X Y or Z.

[@lokesh303101]

Yes!

[@AnotherAverageCanuck]

Wonder if this micro factory will be adopted as a means to reduce a physical footprint for manufactures and also pumping out more cars by designating specific factories for specific models and swapping as consumer habits change. So rather than 1000s of workers in one location, small groups across multiple sites so if a problem were to arise production doesn’t stop as other factories can step in and carry the load as needed.

[@Withnail1969]

We dont actually need more cars. Demand for cars peaked in 2018 globally.

[@Avantime]

It's more about making small, boutique carmakers more viable, and also to build cars domestically in protectionist, closed markets, just like how some countries used to assemble cars from kits made overseas. In carmaking, economies of scale is absolutely everything if you want to compete.

[@zhaojunzhou7306]

interesting

[@dgillphotos]

UPDATE: My bad. It's both - a City-State. (Old) Singapore is a country not a city.

[@ah64Dcoming4U]

No. Tesla Giga Texas is designed for 2 million cars. Which by area is 6x more efficient than the micro factory. And it also makes batteries.

[@ellejane6667]

need this for petrol

[@iiio12]

The fact that prices are not going down tells that the breakthrough is not here.

[@offroadsnake]

This have Big potencial specialy in developing countries with not enought density to get gigafacturies but with a hungry demand of new and cost/effective and Quality vehicules without need of importing

[@OffGridInvestor]

These look EXACTLY like those factories that basically impot parts in containers and ONLY ASSEMBLE. "Knock down" I believe is the term. A lot of it is preassembled, engines and transmissions and whole dashboards

[@United_Wings]

Wow

[@DjChronokun]

seems like the only reasons this factory is small are: 1. it's assembly only (pressings, machining, etc. are done else where) 2. it's low volume so yeah, it's probably just local assembly for the sake of Singapore's import duty and not much else

[@AleksandrVasilenko93]

Long ago: workers make an entire car Before and now: workers/robots make one component in an assembly line Future: robots make an entire car We went full circle boys! Technology is a circle.

[@marioxmariox]

Looks useful for low production models, but I think Tesla new Unboxed assembly is going to be much more efficient and will be using at least 1/3rd of the labor using Optimus bots that Tesla will be producing.

[@robertprawendowski2850]

⭐

[@biosecurePM]

If advanced mostly autonomous small scale manufacturing/assembly like this is possible in 2024, imagine what is possible in a VDLE-driven and real AI-coordinated economy in 2059 !

[@tarabottogino]

Can`t wait for the ultimate factory, "the light out factory"! Not a single person is need it. The only question left for me to ask is, who is going to buy the final product? I think, people need money first to buy Hyundai or Kia or whatever, but if robot can do it basically for free, then!

[@rmar127]

This looks like an assembly plant rather than a manufacturing facility. I’m assuming the manufacturing of the components happens elsewhere.

[@RichardSong20]

does anybody help make a total cost evaluation for this kind of micro factory? mass production could help bring much bigger total cost reduction, I assume that most people knew it. I'm not sure if people really need so many high cost, small volume customizations.

[@rui569]

Fix the audio levels.

[@Sjalabais]

Humans surveilled by automated robot dogs is not creepy at all...that said, cell based microfactories made an appearance in the 1970s, too, look at Volvo's Kalmar factory, for example. Back then, the point was the opposite, though: The cars made there were touted as "hand-made" cars, just like a Rolls-Royce.

[@d4nt3_023]

Funny seeing the robot dog after watching that Black Mirror episode with one years ago😂

[@Arkan_Fadhila]

i still don't get the point of these microfactories. Sure creating more customizable factories and products is a welcome improvement and increase in automation is a good thing too, leading to higher efficiency. However big factories is still the way to mass-produce things and many automation things from microfactories can be brought to big factories too.

[@Nainara32]

This is my take-away too. Perhaps WSJ did a poor job explaining the benefits, or perhaps it's simply a solution out looking for a problem.

[@doujinflip]

It provides local manufacturing capability when access to farther full-sized factories gets disrupted for whatever reason. In the meantime these make custom builds more practical to produce.

[@user-yv4gg7jb2f]

😍

[@ronaldbell7429]

Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me... This kind of automation was what Tesla was trying to do; and after it found that it couldn't, everybody yelled at that for having tried.

[@rerikm]

cars on demand.. sounds great to me. costs and profits are to be seen

[@CHMichael]

Great for highly customized vehicles. But how many do we need of them ?

[@aslamnurfikri7640]

They're assembling Ioniq 5 so not a customized vehicle. Maybe fulfilling regional orders

[@CHMichael]

@aslamnurfikri7640 one way of avoiding import taxes or restrictions.

[@raydosson2025]

Is the narrator/voice over guy from Maryland?

[@Atipat12]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@Gammaduster]

Like current automotive plant were not already quite automated, you make it sound like it's still a model T assembly line, and just throw buzzwords like AI... A nice concept / pilot Factory maybe but nothing more than a lab basically

[@yapepyaka4190]

Had hunday invested in Arrival and now taking their technologies to do this microfactories?

[@tvm73836]

What would UAW do?

[@kuztomix]

Looks more like an assembly factory. Gigas are actually making most components...

[@user-bo6bg4jt5p]

No more workers 😢

[@vamseekotha]

What about economies of scale!

[@williamlloyd3769]

Micro factory requiring 30,000 plus parts per car, not to mention custom modifications, what could go wrong with this supply chain? What happens during cold / flu season if three or four highly skilled workers are absent?

[@timbehrens9678]

I don't think that such a microfactory is more susceptible to a flu season than a traditional large one. An assembly line might be forced to stop if a critical amount of workers at a certain station are sick. In a microfactory, a few not staffed cells might not cause a full stop because the rest of the cells can potentially work in parallel.

[@vasilykotikov6916]

Arrival 2.0

[@sr-3734tqp]

RIP factory workers 💀

[@stickynorth]

In an alternate future, that Singapore factory is producing the Dyson car! Seriously though, I do think this is an incredibly cool tech that will democratize many an industry that now takes billions of dollars to start, just to lose billions more... Lucid Motors anyone? Rivian? Faraday Future, Lordstown, Canoo... If you aren't going to go the asset-lite manufacturing route like Fisker 2.0 (which has partnered with Magna and Foxconn to build their cars) you might as well start with turnkey micro-factories that can tailor your output to demand on a very local scale... Think Shein for cars!

[@aknetworkedit]

I keep Googling the Capital of Singapore and cannot find anything. How can a country not have a capital city?

[@MrEnajiza]

Welcome to the new World///

[@AliasHSW]

UBI now.

[@nguyep4]

The Tesla Gigafactory is not cap at 250,000 but will push to produces 1M+ vehicles. The comparison is misleading.

[@gouravmisra2317]

Namaste sir good evening 🌆🎉🎉

[@auro1986]

how? make factories as small as a garage but with human staff ready to replace robots

[@ridhobaihaqi144]

Hyundai/kia hiperfans from indo really love this 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@saltymonke3682]

You mean a small modular assembly line? All of their parts are made elsewhere. Giga factory is huge because they make chasis and battery packs on site, similar to toyota with their humongous suppliers nearby. If you want to circumvent high CBU car import tax in some countries by "making" the cars in the country with small assembly line so you can say "Made in X country", sure.

[@electric-fire21]

It's interesting to see the micro factory at work, but the video didn't explain fundamentally why microfactoreis could be the future.

[@keshan2675]

Imagine how many jobs this "revolution" will cost...

[@nzs316]

How stark to see no humans on the plant floor.

[@rabbitwooden2184]

Awesome! They can build Terminators next. 😂

[@zinjanthropus322]

No, volume wins everywhere except in the luxury section.

[@FranciscoRamirez-gb6zc]

So that’s why they invested on arrival EV. Now they are using their ideas

[@phunk8607]

Sooo Minority Report done this 20 years ago…

[@mrbigolnuts3041]

Where are the ones with guns? Surely they can replace human soliders?

[@krrk6337]

That factory has more wasted space left than any other factory I have visited and adding automation is nothing new. MINI factory in Oxford back in the day has a single line and yet to be able to make tons of customization on their cars. Cells or lines do not matter if all you do is just adding more robots. Also the car needed to be specifically designed from the ground up if you want to be heavily automated and reduce part counts, nothing of which mentioned in this video. As many comments said already, all I hear is a bunch of BS /or WSJ knows nothing to ask the right question /or this is just a corporate PR BS.

[@Heseesme101]

this is a Singapore issue we in America we like everything big this is useless investment will never be a reality

[@bpenaval567]

Speak for yourself. I like things just the right size. Not too big and not too small. The ironic thing in your statement is that for the majority of consumers big is usually useless like a big truck.

[@tipoomaster]

Canoo

[@robbrand922]

Micro factory concept is not new. It has been used in industry for many years for small volume product.

[@Atipat12]

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@Dj_narco_antonio_solis]

Theyre taking our jebs!!!! 😅

[@hipsterjr]

“Day turker jurbs “

[@DanSchallerforPOTUS]

The only way car manufacturing could possibly be revolutionized is by making vehicles that don't suck in nearly every way. That, if you're unaware, requires those of use with a real sense of aesthetics and form following function (instead of function following hideous form) along with logic, to be at the forefront of the design and implementation with some oversight of the manufacturing process included. - That is until and unless the ones currently start hiring people with working critical thinking faculties. For one thing, making windshield (and doors) that curve into the cabin - That takes away cabin space, head clearance, the ability to effectively see through the windshields, and it allows people to look into their vehicle (without permission). - removing the ability to use sun visors (since they block nearly everything, get in the way, and obstruct the rear view mirror. That curving into the interior (cabin) of the vehicle only allows debris and precipitation to easily get inside the vehicle (which is where it does NOT belong). The whole making the vehicle closer to the ground does not help the vehicle do anything other than get stuck in small snow drifts and make it very difficult to perform maintenance (like oil and oil filter changes) on the vehicle. Once we departed from the early part of the 1990s the design of vehicles deteriorated massively and the gas mileage got significantly worse (instead of better).

[@daviddefortier5970]

Nobody is commenting about how all jobs are being taken away by automation, robots & AI 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@emoryhill4746]

Comparing the gigafactories 10M sqft with an output of 250k cars gives you ~40sqft/car and Hyundai 935k sqft at 30k per year gives you ~32 sqft/car. This isn’t a huge improvement, + the Hyundai numbers are theoretically and will likely decrease after the factory is finished.

[@Pauli-xl8nr]

looks like sci-fi already

[@Atipat12]

LOOK #ASEAN NOW !!!! 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎

[@bilbocoffeman1392]

Why is it always cars? Can it be something else for a change?

[@canonest]

even human workers are not people anymore, they are cyborgs 2:50

[@ElementalExcel]

ah man, UNION workers would hate microfactories xDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD Ford gonna be investing into these for sure and tesla

[@asiftalpur3758]

I don't like the way the video is talking about humans making cars in a negative connotation.

[@DevotedGamer1]

There goes your jobs

[@jzisers]

Imagine if cyberattacks were to punch though these robots brains, would a disaster

[@MrMaxcypher]

Heeey, wait a minute. Wasn't Tesla the first to use this cell manufacturing?

[@soodlorr]

It's not revolutionized, it is just a method for small-number production.

[@32BitJunkie]

This just sounds like a crummier more expensive version of normal factories. Why would anyone ever do this?