Then you, of all people, should understand how massive is the value and expertise chain all the way from the product, to the CNC machine tool, to the CAM progra

Then you, of all people, should understand how massive is the value and expertise chain all the way from the product, to the CNC machine tool, to the CAM programming, to the CAD software, and the other forks up through the materials, the robot assembly. Even if you worked only in robotic final assembly, that is NOT stuff we want to offshore. I did see one case where it sort of made sense to offshore to China, and then only to have production near some other markets. The company literally prepared and shipped only the final secret input chemical and it's curing agent, to be mixed in a certain ratio, poured into a big vat, then cut into slabs. They were still wicked nervous about it, and I don't think the arrangement lasted long. Even if all the components are made here, with all the materials engineering, CNC machining, molding, forming, fabrication, etc. done here, and only final robotic assembly done in China, that is still a non-trivial skill to program and maintain those robots. And at that point, it's only a few experts, so why ship it and not keep it here?