Comment by scott_w

> If the machine shop is so tightly constrained and error-phobic, that sounds like there's very little space of tinkering

For plenty of industries, margins dictate that this is the desired outcome. The goal is to optimise output, not react quickly to changes.

There are factories that work to order and can change to adapt to customer needs. These are fewer and further between, and tend to be more expensive as they aren't (by design) able to take advantage of economies of scale.