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Old 09-14-2017, 05:30 PM   #10
Michael Thayne
 
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Join Date: May 2010
Default Re: [High-Tech] GURPS Industrial Economics (building on Low-Tech Companion 3)

Poking at this further, I'm seeing things that say pretty much all machining these days is numerically controlled. So you can use the CNC systems from High-Tech for mechanical parts. Then use production-line rules for assembling the parts. This would also dovetail with what I've read about modern aircraft being expensive mainly because of their electronics.

OTOH I'm unclear on how much of modern factory equipment can be represented by the flexible CNC systems described in High-Tech. Obviously to the extent a factory can use that approach, it will, because you don't need new machinery when you get a new design for something. But I've also heard new car designs generally do require millions of dollars in new tooling. So not sure. Does anyone know about this area of manufacturing? Where is the line between general-purpose CNC tools and things that are specific to one model of an item?
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