microfactory
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The 750-Acre Bet: How a Chinese Owner Talked Americans Into Building Washers in Kentucky Again
General Electric sold its appliance business to a Chinese buyer and expected quiet decline. Instead, Haier handed the keys to the people running the machines - and GE Appliances started pouring billions back into Kentucky.
unspun
unspun is a San Francisco-based fashion-technology company that built Vega, the world's first 3D weaving system for apparel. Vega weaves garments directly from yarn in minutes, skipping cut-and-sew steps to enable on-demand, near-zero-waste, locally produced clothing. A certified B Corp founded in 2015, unspun sells custom-fit jeans direct to consumers while licensing its hardware and software to brands and retailers aiming to decarbonize their supply chains. Its stated mission is to reduce global human carbon emissions by 1%.
Reframe Systems
Reframe Systems is a Massachusetts robotics and AI company building net-zero, climate-resilient homes through a network of small, regional 'microfactories.' Founded in 2022 by three former Amazon Robotics leaders, it pairs proprietary 'pixels to parts' design software with vision-guided robotic workcells to mass-customize modular housing - cutting construction costs by roughly 35% and deploying homes in about 100 days. The company aims to make high-performance housing economically viable and to build one million resilient homes globally by 2045.