Kao, a detergent and toiletry manufacturer in Japan, has developed a distribution system so tightly networked that it delivers even the smallest order within 24 hours. In fact, you can. A truly adaptable factory must be modular. Its tools and workflow can be quickly modified and reassembled to manufacture a different version of car or a different formula plastic. One day the assembly line is grinding out station wagons or Styrofoam, the next day jeeps or Plexiglas.
Technicians call it flexible manufacturing.
The assembly line adapts to fit the products needed. It's a hot field of research with immense potential. If you can alter the manufacturing process on the fly without stopping the flow, you then have the means to make stuff in batches of one. But this flexibility demands tiptoe agility from multi-ton machines that are presently bolted to the floor. To get them to dance requires substituting a lot of mass with a lot of networked intelligence.