Why Doesn't the Empire use Droids in its Factories?

SPOILERS FROM ANDOR EPISODE 8&9
The prison labor complex on Narkina 5 is designed for one thing: cost efficiency. With a prisoner to guard ratio of around 57:1, it's minimally staffed further lowering salaries for the prison employees. We take a look at why the empire used this cruel system instead of investing in a large scale automated manufacturing.
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[@sirius4k]

"Why Doesn't the Empire use Droids in its Factories?" A character said it best in the episode: "They're cheaper and easier to replace." What I find extremely odd is that the empire is known to be heavily anti-alien yet the entire prison complex is filled with humans.

[@jaegerolfa]

Using humans was cheaper than importing alien actors to Earth for filming.

[@kennethpeterson7524]

No need for special dietary needs, no risk of natural resistance to electricity. And maintains the illusion of fair competition between teams.

[@Sporora]

Having a prison full of a bunch of different species means you have all these different species with different requirements for keeping alive.

[@VonJay]

Palpatine is from Naboo where they marginalized the indigenous comic relief “aliens.” I think that’s a good backdrop for what you’re saying, that he’d put aliens to work instead of humans. But I can see it work the other way as well as he simply doesn’t want to deal with aliens in any way.

[@mattstorm360]

I'm going to bet humans are likely kept in MUCH better care then the alien prisons. You get all the food and water you need, you get all the clean cloths and showers you need, if you do your job well you get flavor in your food, you only get floor shocked if someone around you fucks up. You are shown how many day you got left in jail instead of having to make marks on your cell. It's not the worst place to be in. I'm willing to bet the aliens get it worse even if they aren't sold to slavery.

[@laurelhill3505]

And the ratio is actually higher than 57:1 because look at all the unused boots on the wall. They are actually understaffed, and this shows in the frustration and panic of the guards in episode 8 when Andor arrives. They know they are screwed if something bad goes down and why someone panicked and fried a whole floor of men.

[@GenerationTech]

I imagine snowboard boots get sweaty after a while

[@RooftopsofAmerica]

That's some of great attention to detail and visual storytelling I enjoy about this show.

[@imjashingyou3461]

Allan also forgot about the 88 foreman prisoners. There's 50 per shift. The actual ratio is above 59 prisoners per guard. A fully staffed floor only has 12 guards to 14 guarding locations (7 rooms and 7 barracks) so any time they have an event requiring multiple guards there are multiple rooms with no one directly guarding them other then maybe a central controller.

[@giantnanomachine]

I would guess "never more than 12" might mean there could also a day and night shift for guards, so I'd guess 1:29 (24:700), maybe 1:25 if fully staffed (headquarters, logistics officers, communication specialists, ...) to 1:35 if understaffed. Or maybe their obsession with '7' means there's 7 imperials per floor and shift and the "never more than 12" is cause it's two times 6 guards + two times 1 non-guard officer/specialist shifts, which would make it an even 1:50.

[@bkayser05]

It's also higher because the med tech looks like a prisoner as well, he doesn't have shoes on either. That probably means someone is making the food and cleaning things when prisoners are working because all the clothing gets washed at some point and the food supply doesn't end, in fact the other prisoners say it is unlimited. So I'm guessing the number is more like 65 or more to 1 which is absolutely crazy

[@hambo100]

As a manufacturing engineer I’m glad you went into detail about the machines and the fact that technicians will still be needed even if the factory was automated

[@warrendourond7236]

As a slave owner he totally underestimated the costs and downsides of slavery.

[@uriel005]

ehh to be fair droids in Star Wars have human level or above human levels of intelligence and it appears that many of the issues we have in the modern day with dexterity, movement, and resolving issues generally involving locomotion are "solved" problems in Star Wars. Droids of similar model and make being able to maintain each other doesn't seem infeasible and for what can essentially be an unpaid labor force with no capability of revolt that can be upscaled so long as resources are available (which in an FTL capable, AI capable, galaxy spanning civilization I don't see this as being a particular issue) then so long as there is a net gain to a droid force it can essentially be scaled infinitely even if less efficient.

[@highend79]

@@uriel005 hmm perhaps one reason is after the separatist war alot of this droid facility is destroyed, also there is a machine/robots faction in separatist perhaps it got destroyed as well. Just to fill up the imaginary gap haha

[@kyleepratt]

He'll yeah hamboo. I was a process engineer for a semiconductor factory, the technicians kept that place going. The robots can do crazy fine grain work at incredible pace, but remove the technicians and the factory couldn't maintain itself for a whole day without multiple things breaking that the techs would have seen coming.

[@deathamphetamine3867]

I think Palps just got off knowing people, guilty or innocent but probably more innocent are being worked to death for his dark plans. Now I see where the Death in Deathstar came from

[@Kurama420]

And in Kamino, he is secretly making a clone army of modified doplhins against this channel...

[@rsdillbot3646]

Palpy: Talk dirty to me. Officer: My lord, we just imprisoned a planet full of innocent people and working them to death. Palpy: OH GOD YES

[@GenerationTech]

oh yea large infrastructure programs with proper monitoring can lead to huge amounts of death. Large sections of the Great Wall were built after a warring period in china , there was an abundance soldiers and they were converted into labor forces. Hundreds of thousands of them died and ended up being buried inside the walls.

[@wisegamer706]

I mean every sith empire had slavery. Bro just had to maneuver a bit so it wasn’t so obvious.

[@chrislecount4801]

It seems to me that they did use slaves to build at least the first Death Star.

[@kentslocum]

I love how the Andor prison episodes have resulted in more internet discussion than all of the previous episodes combined.

[@0013bluejay]

It's because we are in the action phase of the show, instead of the setup, like the previous episodes. And action usually garners more discussion over the populace.

[@kentslocum]

@@0013bluejay Good point; the action section wourdn't be nearly as powerful without the setup. That's why so many shows that have action are still lackluster--because they failed to properly set the stakes for the audience.

[@floriananderer2574]

When you Look at the deployment of military as police force in the empire, it immediately made me think of battlestar galactica and Admiral Adama: "There's a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state. The other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people."

[@josephperdue8469]

Right on!

[@kyleepratt]

*side-eyes USA's heavily militarized police*

[@rexlumontad5644]

Empire when seeing the people as cheap labor force: "It's free real estate."

[@nicklucansky3765]

Or perhaps the empire was trying to stop resistivism, by training their criminals in semi-skilled tasks. With the intention that when they got out of prison they didn't have to go back to crime...

[@benjaminlautenslager4887]

@@nicklucansky3765 except none of them are leaving the prison alive so

[@alanleos3637]

Empire asking Princess Leia, "Whats your dad like? I wanna meet that dad!"

[@troublefollows9986]

Cheap labor? The slaves don't get paid anything. Free labor.

[@fumfering]

@@troublefollows9986 They have to be fed and housed well enough to keep them productive. Nothing is free.

[@davidgee8601]

Another important angle is the need for secrecy, assuming they are building parts for the Death Star, or something with a similar need for anonymity. By repurposing the inmates as laborers, as long as no one gets out to tell people the real story, the Empire can simply point to these facilities as “prisons” and nothing else. If they use droids, then the facility is only a factory, thus losing the cover provided by the prison facade in the event that anyone discovers the existence of the facility.

[@justinvanvolkenburg5298]

That, and human shields are a wonderful deterrence against militaries that value the moral high ground.

[@isleapyhunter7769]

Maybe their building tie fighter parts?

[@knicks5426]

@@justinvanvolkenburg5298 the rebels did some screwed up stuff though….

[@wastelesslearning1245]

General purpose B1 battle droids can replace all those guys and be more productive and more secret. Sure I guess human labor can be a Neet additional boost but there is no way they will out produce droids for the majority. As for a meat shields for moralistic factions there are better ones then prisoners. “Innocent” engineers, medics, charity work, missionaries, are much more dishonorable to effect with collateral damage then seemingly non-innocent prisoners. A better use of resources would be build droid factory in some sort of space structure surrounded by a colony of innocents. Headlines of “rebels blew up slave prisoners or just prisoners in jail break” is not nearly as sensational as “local factory gets blown up by rebel forces. Orphanage, medics, and nuns caught in the cross fire.”

[@o-wolf]

@@justinvanvolkenburg5298 ooooh good one

[@its_dey_mate]

Using Kino's wording of " *Never more* than 12" tells me the odds might be even worse for the guards. Considering how much they panicked when only one or two people were late for duty, it also tells how much the Empire doesn't care for the staff, the design is what keeps the prison machine alive and the humans are the weakest link and are not given much thought. If the prisoners rebelled with only one pair of boots taken from a guard they could turn the tide instantaneously, just a matter of time.,

[@catherinesanchez1185]

That’s what ib as thinking !! Never underestimate management trying to cut costs by reducing employees. All of us have seen this first hand I’m sure

[@soakedbearrd]

Its a paper empire, all shock and awe but spread thin, with overreliance of technology and appearance of power through presence which gives them a false sense of security. Overt control is always doomed to fail, because people can point and say "aha", covert control however, where people think that their vote matters and there is justice and opportunity is much more insidious and harder to overcome. In the latter system, control of information, "experts", governing bodies, influencer/entertainment icon control, entertainment media, psychological operations and infiltration are musts. And yes I am speaking only hypothetically here 🤞

[@ellicel]

I really enjoy your approach of offering an in-depth explanation of something from the latest episode instead of just an episode recap/review. Your content really adds to the show; it helps me to understand (and thus appreciate) the episode on a higher level. I’m relatively new to SW so all this background is extremely valuable, but even though it’s accessible to someone like me, I still feel it would be equally valuable even to more established SW fans. Thanks for providing such high quality content!

[@GenerationTech]

Haha welcome to the madness of star wars, one of the riches fictional franchises out there!

[@jiffypoo5029]

Prisons already exist for criminals. The first step is to turn the existing prisons into labor camps. That sets up the culture that labor camps are the way to go. Building prisons is also a great way to prop up the Imperial economy. Droids don't deal with the homeless problem or rebellion; Prison labor is a solution to both for the Empire.

[@theawesomeman9821]

good point

[@msb4838]

Exactly

[@ZachariahWiedeman]

It's fifty prisoners per room. Don't forget to count the supervisor. This also makes adding up the total prisoners a lot easier - x 2 shifts = 100 prisoners per room. Now just multiply by 49 for the full facility. 4900 prisoners per facility.

[@justinvanvolkenburg5298]

Add another hundred prisoners with technical expertise like medical care. Makes it an even 5000 at the end of the day.

[@ZachariahWiedeman]

@@justinvanvolkenburg5298 That is entirely likely, although, I wonder if the Empire would be able to keep them busy all the time or if they just pull them off the line at times to do special tasks and so the population is only limited to the factory floor shifts. 🤷‍♂️

[@mario97br]

@@ZachariahWiedeman Imagine the maintenance needed to care for 4900 people. Food, clothing, technical supervision. Very likely they rounded up to 5000. Although our perception of multiples of 5 and 10 as significant is only because we decided in our society that the next digit starts after 9. So, who knows.

[@ZachariahWiedeman]

@@mario97br You make VERY excellent points, sir! 😁

[@ZachariahWiedeman]

@@mario97br Well, after Episode 10, it turns out I was right. Just 4900 prisoners. Fancy that. ha

[@MrIbes007]

Alan always has excellent points. I don't know why this channel doesn't have more views.

[@jimbob8840]

The point isn't whether using robots or prisoners is cheaper, the point is the Empire *wants to imprison tons of people* Having the prisoners do factory work is just a way to defray the costs

[@lukedalton]

Cruelty is the point

[@mystyle_jm8997]

That also explains why any Imperial Ships in the Fleet such as the Imperial-class Star Destroyer holds 37,000 crew capacity, since they only rely on Human Crew over Automation unlike MC80 Star Cruiser that holds 5,000 crew.

[@Obiwan7100]

Separatist ships are even more automated, The Providence-class Dreadnought needs a crew of 900. And it can carry 1.5 million droids or 42,000 organic soldiers.

[@IsaacKuo]

There's also the fact that Emperor Palpatine is Darth Sideous - a Sith Lord whose Dark Side power feeds directly from suffering. Droids don't suffer ... well, not with midiclorians or whatever they don't.

[@mzaite]

Except whatever the hell was going on in Jaba’s palace. What the hell was that even?

[@nullpoint3346]

Droids do suffer, palp just doesn't benefit from it.

[@80sOGRE]

As prisoners, the empire has total leverage over them. If you have absolute power of death and or extreme pain over someone, you could get them to do anything ultimately. It's better even for the prisoners if they are kept physically and mentally busy each day rather than atrophy.

[@ChristopherHowes]

One of the books I read (I forget which and it’s probably not cannon) stated that the Empire wanted people dependent on their version of the military industrial complex to keep them loyal. That’s one of the reasons why Imperial vessels are so heavily crewed and why everything is disposable or rapidly (relatively) obsolete.

[@jpmojo]

Working in the Industrial Automation space, we are in the Industry 4.0 era. It’s heading in the direction more automation but human element will always be involved . Very complex topic. Great job covering the pros and cons.

[@TJDious]

1. Droids, no matter how sophisticated, still need some level of human supervision. 2. Prisoners require no investment to create, only to capture. 3. Population control. 4. Training and hardening of Imperial a-holes.

[@DS9TREK]

Humans cost more in food than droids do in energy. And droids can last longer through simple maintenance

[@waltciii3]

Item 4! Prisons create the harshest cops. See L.A. County Sheriff Dept.

[@mods-mocs3190]

I agree on some points but most of the prison system still doesn't make sense at all. 1. In the SW Universe, there is already advanced AI, in which CHEAP droids can have high-level tactical / intelligence / thinking even personality traits (e.g. R2 & C3-PO), which means they can do all the re-tooling and sophisticated factory management. You might need a small cadre of human engineers to supervise these manufacturing droids, since only the innovative design aspects require human creativity and inventiveness. The rest of the mundane & repetitive manufacturing work (as shown in Andor) can & should be done far more cost-effectively by droids & robotic systems. Thus, a droid-run factory will still be much cheaper & more efficient than building and running all the logistics of food & security for a whole bunch of human prison labor that is prone to revolt and is slow and troublesome. 2. Agree. The question then becomes weighing the Pros & Cons of capturing the civilian population versus Cloning a compliant one for prison labor. Having a large percentage of the civilian population imprisoned may be LOW cost initially, but implies high probability of rebellion against the harsh Empire eventually. Conversely, Cloning an obedient army of prison workers has higher upfront investment costs but amortized over the longer-term this has negligible probability of fermenting revolt / rebellion. So, in the long-run, a smart Sith Lord can see that the total cost of labor would still be much CHEAPER for the Empire to use Clone prison workers, yes? See also No.4 below. 3. Ironically, if the Empire really wanted more "free" prison labor, then they should NOT do population control. In fact, they would encourage MORE births and profligate human numbers, then capture the bulk of this into prison labor systems via a totally draconian justice system like giving 20 year sentences for minor offences like say littering or simply being "suspicious-looking" as in the case with Cassian Andor. If you meant "population control" as in keeping the civilian masses in constant Fear under the Emperor's thumbs, then yes, the harsh sentences & prison systems makes sense, but again there are much easier & cheaper ways to "control" a population, such as via introducing CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currency) throughout the SW galaxy ;-) 4. Cloning technology is already highly developed in SW. So, if the Empire wanted to have a large batch of hardened Imperial A-holes, they can more easily make a billion strength A-Hole Clone army. Lol. That would be much faster & more efficient than hardening their Imperial ranks over many decades of slow training to be A-holes. These Clone A-hole army can also be easily controlled with the same brain-implanted microchip used in Order 66, so no chance for a revolt by (non-Clones) Imperial turncoats.

[@Shane-zl9ry]

I work in the semiconductor industry. Great video !

[@laurelhill3505]

I believe now, more than ever, that Palpatine doesn't want order in the Galaxy, rather he wants all the little ants in the galaxy running around crazy, in fear under the auspices of order. He just wants to cause as much suffering and pain in the universe as possible from his throne.

[@GenerationTech]

yea generally sith are great at destroying other factions but terrible at maintaining power

[@TJDious]

He doesn't want order, he wants his way. Same as any tyrant who claims to want order.

[@AreRiksaasen]

Spot on, and all in the "name" of "order".

[@robrules9807]

Anyone who believed that Palpatine wanted order are goofy Man literally started a galactic war, ran the whole thing as a puppetmaster to create an empire, and probably doesn't wash his hands

[@jamesricker3997]

He is a Sith Lord He wants all to bow down before him and if the entire galaxy is running around scared, they won't be able to rebel against him. That's how it was supposed to work in theory

[@christineyan8942]

Thanks for casting light on this - I was indeed curious why Cassian would say human prisoners are cheaper than droids. And I love how you bring in context from so many different sources to help explain why things work as they work in Andor (which, for a fictional universe and story, is incredibly realistic). Your videos really aid our appreciation of the story too. I'm looking forward to more!

[@Violet_Angel]

I both cried and screamed at the end of the latest episode, it was so sad and nail-biting ahhhh

[@GenerationTech]

yeah there was that foreboding sense that something was wrong hanging over the entire episode

[@robert_bbiii]

It is like Terry Pratchett wrote about if you're sick go to a horse doctor. Horses are expensive and no one wants to lose one. People are cheap. Droids are worth a lot. Their upkeep is expensive. Droid breaks down, you have to repair it to full working order. A person can easily be replaced or you can do just enough to keep them going for a little while longer.

[@ruthbennett7563]

GNU Sir Terry ❤

[@kharnthebetrayer1575]

The imperium of man agrees with you !!!

[@mzaite]

There are droids that are over 100+ years old getting on fine with minimal overhead. They’re already a PERFECT slave race. Hell their parts are interchangeable and they can fix and modify themselves. They aren’t 21st century industrial robot arms. But they aren’t part of the force, so Sith want nothing to do with them, and writers don’t really have a clear idea what to do with them.

[@SpottedHares]

I’m not sure if it was this channel but I pointed out that the prisons guards ace in hole is the electric floor. It’s the key to keeping prisoners in check, and the key to beating the prison. You only really need to beat that electric floor became the prison was designed this way for cost cutting.

[@koekiebad5690]

Love how how you use stuff from the real world to explain things in your video, keep the channel up. Amazing how its getting educational for star wars stuff

[@jamesh7469]

@5:30 you had me worried for a second. Glad you added that part 😂

[@martijnvangelder1902]

A couple years ago, I went to one of the most depressing places I have ever been. It was the concentration camp in Dachau, the first concentration camp to be built by Hitler's regime. I didn't realize it, but the permanent exhibition there also mentioned the subcamps that sprang up around the terrain. The part you can visit, with the building and the reconstructed barracks didn't actually function as the primary place for inmates. That main camp was where the prisoners who were too sick to work were holed up. The main part of the inmates was actually kept outside of Dachau, in the subcamps, where all sorts of things were made for the war effort of their captors. This video made me realize that the Empire is even more evil than I realized.

[@GenerationTech]

Thank you for sharing

[@caspiansfriend]

Another great video! As the son of a man who devoted his life to auto manufacturing, it sure seems to me that you're description of the complexity of automotive supply chains etc, is spot on. As for using prisoners as slave labor, I just figured it was like this: "We have all of these people that the Empire is arresting and sending to our prisons! What are we going to do with them? I know. Let's warehouse them and give them absolutely nothing to do but read books and lift weights." "Nah. Let's make their time with us useful, and profitable. Let's make them make stuff."

[@sundragon7703]

Decades ago, I had a job in the food manufacturing sector. You are correct with respect to reducing cost and waste. Let's look at this a step farther. What happens to manufacturing machines when they reach the end of its service life, i.e. when a prisoner dies. Is the goal still zero waste? (Soylent Green biscuits...anyone?)

[@GenerationTech]

I think that paste might be made out of clone troopers

[@kharnthebetrayer1575]

Corpse starch…… uuummmm uuummm good to the last Guardsmen !!!

[@AB-ln2py]

Which prisoner ? Not every specie can eat the same stuff

[@The7thFleet]

I have a feeling that Kino will sacrifice himself for the other workers, would be so great for character development.

[@GenerationTech]

that does seem like where the character arc is going

[@arthurbriand2175]

He will get horribly scarred and find a golden bathrobe. That much seems obvious to me.

[@adventurekitty1016]

@@arthurbriand2175 😂 Love it.

[@SimonBauer7]

@@arthurbriand2175 and somehow get forcepowers

[@Brismo7]

Its Gilroy Star Wars. EVERYONE DIES.

[@ByronBohte]

Great video, good job. It's nice to watch knowing that you appreciate the fundamentals in different industries.

[@SierahtheDaring]

This video is thick with knowledge drops. Really great way to explain semi conductors and why building fabs are so expensive. I hope they build some in US

[@jrstoelting]

I came for Star Wars lore, and I learned a lot about manufacturing infrastructure and the military/industrial complex. Great video. Good analysis.

[@jharrisbrooks]

I loved this video! I really loved the part about semiconductors. You are 100% correct on that. I’m a plumber/pipe fitter and I’ve worked at a semiconductor facility twice for a year each time. Keep up the great content! Thanks!

[@Mike-wt6yj]

Than you for all your content!!

[@Penfolduk001]

There's a UK sci-fi comedy called Red Dwarf. When Rimmer questioned why the "Scutters" (robots) weren't doing the basic work the low-level human technicians had to do, Lister states "They've got a better union than we have" 😁

[@jnort95]

Great video !

[@multipass113]

“But I just designed this awesome Tungstoid steel electrocution floor!” -whines Dr. Gorst cousin For an occasional SW viewer, your analysis of this universe (and its parallels to our own) have been informative and quite enjoyable. Thanks, Allen.

[@patrickwalker6698]

I work in Automotive Manufacturing. Seeing their down time be next to 0 is mind boggling. So many factors could hold you up. I wouldn't be surprised seeing droids performing maintenance on the infrastructure and possibly defending the place....

[@khomo12]

Great video!👍👍👍

[@ZachariahWiedeman]

Sounds like you're saying it is basically about flexibility. That makes a lot of sense. The prison labor force can easily be retooled to a new task as the need arises, whereas an automated labor force must be built for a specialized task and then cannot be easily retooled. When building a Death Star - which has never been built before - it wouldn't make any sense to make specialized automated facilities for each unique component that has never been built before and will, in theory, never need to be built again.

[@starbournehero771]

Then again... for a project as absolutely MASSIVE as the Death Star... you'll be getting a lot of work out of those repeated components

[@ZachariahWiedeman]

@@starbournehero771 100%. But when it's done it's done. It's not like a product line that you are selling with infinite market potential. It has a very discreet and finite nber of parts needed - plus some replacement parts for repairs - and that's pretty much it. It has a clear manufacturing endpoint, is what I'm saying.

[@mzaite]

Except Droids are true UNIVERSAL ROBOTS. They aren’t the primitive industrial tools we have.

[@user-uo8mx3cv5k]

"we're cheaper than droids and easier to replace" - Cassian Andor nuff said

[@ADogWithGlasses00]

Super interesting topic!

[@JoeCensored]

The Empire also has to house many prisoners anyway, because there will always be criminals needing a prison. So the factory may have started as a simple cost reduction program before demand for the products exceeded supply.

[@mzaite]

The Empire genocides whole planets. They don’t need prisons at all.

[@NoobToobJamarMemes]

Some of the ASML lithography machine components are made in Connecticut, USA.

[@Bloop3r]

wooooow great episode Allen

[@abeautifuldayful]

I appreciate the quality of your channel and these explanations. I don't have much to add, but when the new inmates were told, upon entry, that they were "labor worthy," I wondered for how long and what was done with those who weren't deemed worthy. I guess we found out about that at the end of episode 9 for those sent to Narkina 5, but what about all the others?

[@davidparmly8828]

"Army Rangers guarding Venice Beach" is a movie I would watch! (RLTW!)

[@lancedominguez6071]

Awesome video

[@kleeblattchen38]

I have a suggestion for a topic of discussion that just occured to me while watching earlier videos about the economics, military size of the empire etc: how was star destroyer maintenance handled in the star wars universe... If you look at the big navies in our world for reference you realize how much effort it takes to keep up a fleet... most ocean-going vessels roughly abide by the "rule of thirds" which means that at any point in time a third of a given fleet of one ship type are either on deployment, preparing for deployment or in maintenance... Out of the 11 big nuclear powered carriers of the US navy there are actually only 3 to 4 carriers at a time ready for immediate action... as far as i can remember in discussions about the sizes of fleets in star wars it is always assumed that the total number of ships can also be deployed at the same time but even assuming that durability of star wars technology is far superoir, isn't that a bit of a far stretch?...

[@siarnne]

One of the things that the long-story arc of Andor featured was local security being replaced with storm troopers. It happened on Ferrix and Nardana-the complete supplanting of planetary peacekeepers in favor of imperial facilities and troops. You'll notice they have high ratios of imperial officers to troopers, overseeing these garrisons. It's probably instrumental that the empire, eliminate unpredictability by dealing with the indigenous and provides a mass-employment program to make it look like the empire is taking care of people that would otherwise be out of work. I think the empire stuck any conscript in a suit that they could find and told them the regular people had to get in line. Think about what it's like dealing with the TSA at the airport. Watch them wandering up and down the arrivals zone, with their whistles and clipboards, or at security, confiscating saline solution, cigarette lighters and anything that looks like too much fun? Those are your elite shore troopers-and by the way-they weren't to sharp on Scarif either.

[@tj3603]

All very valid points, it's true that one combine with trained technician is more productive, but it also more brittle and costly, than ten peasants with shovels working for food.

[@dallassoukup5199]

I work in smart manufacturing and this video gave me some real cool tidbits that'll help me at my job and i appreciate you for that

[@limxuanyi5398]

Coming here to know more about andor , ended up learning a lot abt the manufacturing industry

[@zacharysheetz3701]

Well said. It is also worth noting that they aren't building this from scrap. We don't know what all the other rooms on all the other floors, let alone the other six on Andor's floor, are doing; but I'm sure complex components are made by robots. Precision within micro or nanometers necessitates automation. Plus, the basic metal components are likely from an automated forge: stamped, cast, or laser-cut. That being said, the prisoners just do the final assembly. A single table team replaces a room of automation, with robot arms and conveyers. Furthermore, the more complex a machine is the more likely one small problem stops it all. So many hydraulic servos and electric motors moving in precise unison leads to a domino effect of destruction from say a loose bolt. Everything is halted until expert engineers fix it. An automated assembly line needs many other assembly lines to replace broken bits. Here, a table can still function minus a full team. Just at reduced output till replacements are sent for this unskilled labor. In a galaxy wide empire, millions are born each day.

[@tyleremery7088]

Came for Star Wars. Stayed for supply chain logistics.

[@Lanwarder]

Seriously, this video is amazing and people should watch it even if they don't care about Star Wars. I've been hearing a lot of people say a lot of naive stuff about the economy......In Canada they are blaming it on Trudeau, in the U.S. they're blaming Biden, in France it's Macron....and opposition parties play the blame game non-stop....and people actually buy that B.S., but no opposition party actually has a real solution to offer. It's especially infuriating in countries like the U.S. where mainstream news are so busy doing propaganda that they appear not to remember how their job initially is supposed to be about reporting the truth as factually accurate as possible. I personally think that right wing American networks are especially partisan and dishonest, but pretty much all networks are guilty of being partisan to a certain degree. If at least interviewers had the decency to ask politicians "What would YOU do?", "How would you fix it?", "What is keeping you from implanting that solution by trying to come up with bipartisan solutions?".....Instead all we have is politicians throwing meat to the audience and hoping that we'll all be ill informed enough that we'll vote out of anger, frustration, and divisiveness, instead of voting for the party with the best actual solution to real life problems.......In fact, I think that to a significant portion of the population, especially in the U.S., certain political parties absolutely no real platform or solution to offer so they work on dividing the population through so called "Culture wars" by blowing situation completely out of proportion (For instance, no there are no kids who "Identify as cats or dogs and are forcing the school to have litter boxes in the classroom to accommodate them......If that was a serious thing, trust me, the internet would be filled with actual videos of it and they wouldn't just be videos that are an obvious joke/parody of that very stupid concept...........but even if there were kids who actually wanted that......we'd probably be talking about what 0.0000000000000000000000001% of the population lol? It's not even currently real and it's already receiving far more coverage than would be appropriate if it was.) Anyways, here's where I'm going with all of this. People who complain about the economy and blaming it all on current governing parties without having a single clue about what opposition parties would do differently and whether it would work or not would actually benefit from watching your explanation on supply chain, global economy, and how naive and visceral reactions like "We'll make everything in our own country from now on" aren't realistic immediately implantable solutions. I have nothing against the idea of making sure that various nations don't entirely rely on other nations in order to get crucial material/products......but I also can see the benefit of making sure that countries have common interests.....it kinda encourages peace and collaboration....Anyway, I could go on for even long and this already is half a novel right there, but yeah it's a well done video that should be watched by pretty much everyone independently of their appreciation or lack of appreciation for Star Wars.

[@Malone_brown_]

Thing is though, the Empire had like quintillions of leftover b1s from the clone wars, instead of melting them down immediately like surely they could be reprogramed to do some assembly line work, they have hands like a sentient so they aren't like automated factories seen in the real world, they are anatomically more like people where they can do different things, and with how many b1s there were should one breakdown they can be melted and replaced rapidly. B2s could be of use but not quite as useful as a b1 I think but still good, and tactical droids, bx series droids and even droidekas could be useful, with droidekas and of course I'm not sure if there's much precedence for this in Star Wars, but they could theoretically be used for mining operations, their blasters should clear rock like dynamite pretty quickly and their shields would hopefully protect them from the debris.

[@peterbarnard6396]

One of the things I haven’t seen discussed is how a massive military creates buy-in from the general population. When you work/worked (or when your dad/uncle/brother/best friend/kid works) for the military, you feel a greater sense of attachment and ownership (while also relying on the income). This reinforces the military as “good” and “essential” (see North Korea and Russia as examples). Building a bigger military builds greater loyalty, while putting in place the personal and infrastructure for control/oppression. Getting rid of the clones and switching to enlisted/conscripted got rid of the cost, but also ensured more families were innately vested in the empires success. The down grade in capability is an acceptable loss as there is no one to actually fight, and it’s all just security theater.

[@johnl2648]

Who says the Empire doesn't use droid factories? It's like saying just because the US has prison chain gangs doesn't mean it lacks factories.

[@toddkes5890]

The droid factories could be the ones manufacturing the components that the prisoners are seen assembling.

[@johnl2648]

@@toddkes5890 We know the droid factories can do everything themselves at least up to a degree - from AOTC to EU sources - and that this ridiculous Hunger Games bullshit super prison is just there to liquidate people and ruin will, since the cruelty is the point. God Andor is awesome. For all we know in the other end of the facility, the inmates are told to disassemble parts ("The Empire needs these components disassembled for refurbishing") and then the components are sent back and forth lol

[@toddkes5890]

@@johnl2648 I'd see the disassembly occurring at another facility. There were 7 prisons at the location where Andor came in, so even transferring from one prison to another prison might reveal the deception. Transferring the components to a location on the other side of the island or continent would be better.

[@johnl2648]

@@toddkes5890 maybe there were such accidents previously resulting in prior mass executions of whole wings but yeah this system is new (for all we know each Kamino-esque ocean platform has a different system of torture and toil) so who knows what they're trying out for all we know they probably planned to implement this in ordinary civilian factories - like IRL Amazon warehouses learning from private prisons - in Kuat or whatever

[@justwinfelipe6495]

The more I watch your videos, the greater I see the need that it been shown in elementary schools. How and why our species work with other societies are good life lessons. Thanks, again:)

[@alpree]

this video feels like a business management case study :D

[@aarongallaway7005]

Am reading too much into this, or is there something to Dedra’s reaction when sentencing was doubled? Could she have a relative or loved one in prison? Could she turn to the rebels after learning the truth? I mean, the way they cut to her close up to get her reaction after the sentence doubling was announced has to mean something.

[@GenerationTech]

I think she understands that these measures will only increase dissent. She probables sees herself (a scalpel) as being more effective at rooting out rebel movements

[@arthurbriand2175]

Well she might have a brother in prison considering she might be Cassian's sister.

[@aarongallaway7005]

@@arthurbriand2175 but she doesn’t know that he is in prison. If she did know, then she wouldn’t be looking for him. But thank you, I hadn’t thought that she could be his sister.

[@msb4838]

@@arthurbriand2175 I kinda hope not.

[@jaydigshistory36]

The “VOICE” of the prison sounds like the MCP(Master Control Program) in the original Tron

[@joshuawilliamson1378]

No I think this is more like the wheel for Conan the barbarian. On the next floor, they get the assembled part only to disassemble and pass it back up. The whole farm is just to generate Darkside force slowly and steadily.

[@ALX_Fitness91]

Also the constant fear, anger and suffering from all those slave workers experience on the daily must be great in fuelling the dark side of the force.

[@mzaite]

This is the real thing. The cost argument is just rationalization from a casual who only knows the force as superstition.

[@ebubechiibegbula5968]

Well said...

[@samwright1821]

I assumed after the Clone war there was a stigma around using mass amounts of droids for things.

[@stevenhatchel4042]

What would be a really cool twist is if they found out there were other floors whose sole purpose was to disassemble the assemblies other floors created. How soul-crushing would it be if you found out all of your labor was for naught.

[@Kaiyats]

It would make sense I suppose it didn't look like they were building anything of particular value and an effectively enslaved work force aren't reliable for producing things as they might not build them to a good standard or sabotage them entirely

[@Sardikar]

Reminds me of a planet in the game SWTOR called Balmorra. There was a completely automated droid and weapons factory that did its own resource extraction, tooling, manufacturing even its own QA all run by droids. This tech by that time was already thousands of years old! In the story the factories owners triggered the security system and buggered off after their world was invaded, nothing larger than an ant could even approach the factory without being blasted plus even if you destroyed the droid guarding the factory they would be almost instantly replaced and I believe they where expanding their territory. The Sith empire of the time ended up sending in legions of men in an attempt to shut down the factory until the plucky player character comes along and shuts the factory down. Now imagine the Empire in Palp's time setting up a factory like this, what if a Rebel slicer was able to access this factory and hit it with a virus that does the same as my example above? While in the case of the prison factory if they lose control all they need to do is turn on the floor.

[@bursegsardaukar]

We do feed machines. Machines require electricity and need to be switched off once in a while for maintenance and recalibration.

[@patroclusilliad233]

It's thanks to you guys that I've come to understand the real point of Star Wars. The lightsabers are cool, the force is interesting, etc, etc, but the real beauty of it, especially the prequels is that its basically educating us, the plebian masses, on how politics work, so we can be better armed against would be dictators.

[@hyphen1992]

Very well dine video

[@therookie7060]

I'm wondering, do you think Andors escape from Narkina 5 could perhaps be like the Great escape with different members being the leader, scrounger, forger and such, obviously minus the tunnel digging.

[@JohnKopasakis]

Great analysis, a feeling I was getting by watching the series was it seems like the term"rebel" was an imperial created term to create the continued justification for the autocracy. As much as luthen needs the empire to crack down to drive people to a unified rebellion, palpatine wants dissent to justify the continued existence of the oppressive imperial machine.

[@weldonwin]

I'm going to argue that droids would still be a better option here. The prisoners aren't exactly skilled labour, they are just slaves, doing the same repetitive tasks, over and over. Andor is basically thrown straight into the job with no training, leaning just by watching the other prisoners. There are generic labour droids, that can do everything they do, but would do it faster, more consistently and for far longer. You don't need to feed them, guard them, they don't need rest, just periodic maintenance and you could get droids to do that too. There would be an initial cost of purchasing those labour droids, but I argue it would be offset by the vastly greater efficiency and higher production. Personally, I am agreeing with the common sentiment that this is less about cost saving or efficiency and more about terror and oppression. It's Palpi McScrotum-Face, stroking the Evil Boner again, because he can't go five minutes without being mindlessly evil and cruel for absolutely no reason, besides that he gets off on it.

[@Flippokid]

But then you'd still have to feed entire prisons that don't earn their keep.

[@weldonwin]

@@Flippokid Then don't fill them full of vast numbers of innocent people you scooped off the streets for trumped up charges. The empire, constantly punches itself in the dick and makes idiotic choices, purely out of malicious spite and deranged cruelty.

[@KnightsWithoutATable]

Suffering can be fed upon by Palpatine to do cool Darkside stuff or power ancient Rakkatan tech, provided you can hate at it hard enough to get it turned on. As for automated assembly compared to hand assembly, it is a matter of volume. If you are doing a lot of volume, you automate fully. With the scale of production in Star Wars, most of it outside or large items and limited run/custom order would be built automated. Starships would still be a lot of labor to make, but the smaller ones, like your YT-1300 modules or star fighters would be mostly automated. The lines still need techs and engineers. Assembly lines always outproduce hand labor, but you have to cover the capital cost of setting up the line and you have to make enough of them to make it a minimal part of the cost.

[@ChiChiLand299]

Literally the whole reason why Britain was able to ban slavery in 1833 was because slavery became more expensive than industrial automation Even before the civil war southern plantation owners intentionally tried to stop industrialization of the South because that would make slavery less and less profitable which they had all their money invested in. Some point automation becomes cheaper than slavery

[@giantnanomachine]

Unexpected reference to the company I work for. Then again, ASML litho equipment is basically as-if-not-more advanced than a lot of Star Wars tech, so kinda fits :D

[@darthbradmedia8929]

Nice Meatbag reference!

[@gtair310]

You’re like the smartest you tuber out there

[@Nostromo212]

It wasn't until I saw the thumbnail for your video that I realized the actor of the old prisoner also played "The Broker" in the first Guardians Of The Galaxy haha

[@Brismo7]

remember in the early episodes when the ISB mentioned he was impressed by Dedra's detention numbers?

[@RooftopsofAmerica]

I'd posit the Empire does have many factories that are fully automated, it probably inherited more than a few from the Separatists as well. As you stated it has a huge war machine to feed. One thing to note in what we see here in this prison factory is the prisoners are doing strictly mechanical, rudimentary, and repetitive work. There is no electronic or electrical work going on, it's too complex. This is just busy work at best and I'd reassess my thoughts on what these parts are actually for. It makes it even more horrific if these parts are used for the most basic of things. They have minimal value because the Empire believes these prisoners have minimal value other than just cogs in the machine.

[@shanent5793]

How is electrical work any more complex than mechanical? Most electronic repair is just swapping modules

[@RooftopsofAmerica]

@@shanent5793 Detailed may have been a better word to use. It's all big, repetitive movements in their work routine, no small parts or detail oriented work to slow them down.

[@marsOrBust7816]

"Real human flesh is cheaper than a machine. It's the axiomatic truth of our times.” Also, the factory was using hydro power, that's why it was placed where it was.

[@AnthonyCarrierYouTube]

The ENTIRE Galaxy has a droid phobia post clone wars.

[@dillongage]

Having spent a lot of time working in factories that use Robots, the more complicated the robot and the more complex the task it is capable of doing, the more sensitive they are. My previous job extensively used robots to simply pick up and move hot parts from the mold, and If you so much as bumped the base of the robot it would take about 20 min for the technicians to reset it. Not to mention the cheapest robots we had were basically motororized suction cups and they cost anywhere from 1-4 million dollars. I don't think a single robot wr had cost less than $500,000k. Beyond that, half the robots would just fail for no reason without tripping any sensors so if no one is making sure they're doing the job properly and occasionally recalibrating them, they'll just manufacture bad, low quality parts indefinitely or even cause damage to the machines making the parts.

[@bendu8282]

Interesting very interesting

[@MonarchLMC]

You haven't even watched the video yet 🤦‍♂️

[@giantatom]

@@MonarchLMC bro just wants some likes

[@MonarchLMC]

@@giantatom fr

[@mr.DorianJames]

Being that I work in manufacturing, I was overthinking about the fact that not all the prisoners in Narkina could be making the same part. Which makes it even more insidious. Looking at the table the prisoners are working around. It looks like parts are coming from the bottom. If so, this means some how those sub subassemblies have to come from an room beneath the ones they're on. I'd assume there are workers below that are doing subassemblies. Which from a manufacturing standpoint, Having workers below building subassemblies and loading the next section would make sense . It would also mean transportation between low level assembly to top level would be minimized. Having as many assemblies done on in the same facilities would keep down costs. Logistical problems can cause parts shortages and transportation costs money. Also, considering it's a prison, having too many parts coming in would also give prisoners more opportunities for escape. So if each area makes different assemblies, how could the time studies be equal for each assemblies. Some assemblies would obviously take longer or less. Are some prisoner getting unfairly judges and " fried" more.

[@billstrader4326]

The other aspect of using slave labor in this factory is that they don't have to be highly trained. These are simple, repetitive actions that can be picked up quickly by even low intelligence individuals. And the individuals are motivated to learn by fear of punishment and the other prisoners do the actual policing. No slackers allowed.

[@sandervesik173]

I think you missed the most important part - its a critique of the US prison system that operates in many ways the same. Also, the US has hugely more prisoners than other developed countries, and most of these prisoners are used as slave labour.

[@sir_wabajack1442]

That’s a good point

[@johnfitzgeraldii1952]

Patrol Troopers (i.e. Military Police) and Imperial Marines (i.e. Naval Troopers) would normally be deployed rather than Shore Troopers.

[@wieczor3000]

There's one mistake in that thinking: automated production lines are always better than human. More reliable - and you are wrong - they are much cheaper. That's why more and more factories becoming fully automatic - as it's decreasing costs.

[@ironfist7789]

Maybe on earth, but the empire saves money on safety and doesn't pay wages.

[@wieczor3000]

@@ironfist7789 Right, but they have to feed them, changing and wash their clothes, deliver breathing air etc. In fact, that needs to be automated, and looking on work they are performing, machines doing that would be less complicated :) There's no perpetuum mobile, nothin can be simpler that it can :)

[@Obiwan7100]

Out of curiosity in the legends it is mentioned that the Galaxy had a population of 42 Quadrillions of humans, if you take into account that the Empire enslaves humans from planets like niamos that can exist hundreds of thousands or millions in the galaxy, they practically have unlimited manpower .

[@jamesjernigan1855]

The cost of manufacturing overseas outside the United States is also calculated by its shipping it cost three times more to ship something inside the United States and then it does to ship it from overseas thanks to the Jones Act

[@davidjenkins1814]

Having been a corrections officer in a certain state, the ratio of inmates to corrections officers in county jails could be up to 45:1, and at DOC could be about 100:1. C/Os are always vastly outnumbered.

[@VideoHitz2023]

I don’t think the Empire was really concerned about efficient manufacturing techniques, so much as they wanted to institute a state of terror. PORD was clearly about the Empire increasing its iron grip on the galaxy. Having that old man work on the factory floor made no sense whatsoever, and it inevitably killed him. The Nazi concentration camps made no sense from an economic point of view, all they did was kill people the Nazis didn’t like. Also, the Empire didn’t care about guilty or innocent, it was about terrorizing the population to keep them in line. And to use them as a free slave labor to boot? Why not? That what the Nazis did with concentration camp inmates, and working them to death was no big deal either.

[@robrules9807]

The sith also literally feed off of terror and misery. Making the galaxy a shithole makees ol Palps stronger