Automatic Factory
The Automatic Factory or autofac has a very long history through both the Vilani and Solomani. The origins start with the combination of the mechanical manufacturing processes with automated control mechanisms. For the Solomani, this was the Jacquard loom, for the Vilani, this was Shurdarguu. In modern terms, the initial automation of manufacturing occurs at TL–4.
At TL–7 with the introduction of high speed computing systems and development of robotic arms makes some dramatic steps toward an automated factory. Many manufacturing processes can be, and are, replace sophont labor with computer controlled robotic arms. These factories are limited to manufacturing one item, requiring refit and reprogramming to change the manufacturing process.
As an outgrowth of the computer design technology at TL–7 and perfected in TL–8 is Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). The process uses a precisely control set of mechanical cutters to carve a solid block of material into the precise shape required. The CAM process is enhanced at TL–9 by the addition of laser cutters to the purely mechanical ones used in earlier machines. This improves accuracy of the parts and increases the speed of operation. The final evolution of the cutting machine design occurs at TL–11 with the addition of the meson beam cutter, utilizing a short range meson accelerator to carve voids and internal structures where previously it would be difficult to do so.
The next phase of development is a TL–8 3D printer. This device uses either a liquid or powered plastic which is congealed or melted using a point heating element or a laser. This builds an object layer by layer until completed. The refinements of this technique culminate in the use of Physical vapor deposition, building layers of individual atoms on a single object. The types of objects manufactured are limited by the handling of the materials used in the construction. The vapor deposition turns the source material into a plasma, even if briefly, in a vacuum chamber to form layers of material.
At TL–10 this vapor building process become the standard for construction of many parts. It is a required part of the manufacture of Crystaliron. By TL–11, the standard manufacturing process for most electronics uses the vapor deposition process, being the only manner to produce the 3 dimensional layout required for the high speed parallel processing CPU and memory chips.