Notes from the build. https://factoryintelligence.com/blog/ 2026-11-14T12:00:00Z Factory Intelligencehttps://factoryintelligence.com/ https://factoryintelligence.com/blog/what-our-first-cell-does-today/ 2026-11-14T12:00:00Z 2026-11-14T12:00:00Z Factory Intelligence

One production cell in Huston Electric's prefab shop breaks tabs, bends wire and drives screws on its own, supervised. Here is what that means.

<p>We have one production cell. It has worked in Huston Electric's prefab shop in Lafayette, Indiana, since September 2026. This is what it does today.</p> <h2>What does the cell do?</h2> <p>Three jobs. It does each one on its own, while a person supervises.</p> <ul> <li><strong>Tab breaking.</strong> The left arm takes an outlet from a tray, breaks its tabs in a fixture and sets it in a rack.</li> <li><strong>Wire bending.</strong> The right arm takes a wire from a tray, bends it in a jig and drops it in a bin.</li> <li><strong>Screw driving.</strong> An arm lowers a screwdriver onto an outlet held in a fixture and drives the screw.</li> </ul> <p>You can watch all three on <a href="https://factoryintelligence.com/#today">our home page</a>. The tab breaking and wire bending clips come from a single run of nearly three hours, and play at five times speed. The screw driving clip is sped up too. Each clip says so underneath.</p> <h2>What does "on its own, supervised" mean?</h2> <p>The cell does the job itself: nobody steers the arms. A person is in the shop with it while it runs.</p> <h2>Where does it work?</h2> <p>At Huston Electric, our first customer, in their prefab shop. Harold L. Sloan III is a prefab technician there. The robot is Harold L. Sloan IV.</p> <figure> <blockquote><p>&ldquo;My boy. I'm so proud. &hellip; He's doing so good.&rdquo;</p></blockquote> <figcaption>Harold L. Sloan III, on Harold L. Sloan IV</figcaption> </figure> <figure> <img src="https://factoryintelligence.com/assets/huston-crew-1600.webp" srcset="https://factoryintelligence.com/assets/huston-crew-800.webp 800w, https://factoryintelligence.com/assets/huston-crew-1600.webp 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 760px) 100vw, 656px" width="1600" height="778" loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="Huston Electric's crew and the Factory Intelligence team standing together in the prefab shop, in front of the cell and under an American flag" /> <figcaption>Their crew and ours, by the cell</figcaption> </figure> <p>Huston Electric has its own film of the shop <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kidyCv3lkjI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on YouTube</a>.</p> <h2>What comes next?</h2> <p>We're building Factory Echo in Lafayette, Indiana. It will make outlets, coiled wire and junction boxes for data centers, and it opens at the end of Q1 2027.</p> <p>The idea behind it is short. One cell learns a job. Every cell repeats it.</p> <h2>Want parts made this way?</h2> <p>If your shop still does this work by hand, <a href="https://factoryintelligence.com/#write">write to us</a>. Tell us what the part is, how many you make a month, and what it costs you to make now.</p>