I’m sure you have seen images of the robots Amazon uses to automate its warehouse operations. They are cool, but how can they apply to the rest of us? And how can robots be used to reduce labor and other costs that will enable more textiles and apparel manufacturing to be brought back to North America?

In a recent conversation with Kirby Best about his now on-demand apparel manufacturing facility in Arizona, he talked about what he learned from his first automated apparel manufacturing business, OnPoint Manufacturing, and how he has applied that to the new venture, BMC.fashion.

A key learning in making the process of moving “parts” from one operation to another more efficient was the move from a complex system of conveyor belts to robots. Not only does it take less space, but it is also more flexible. He explains, “This new-generation automated manufacturing operation is a hybrid of everything we have learned, taking bits and pieces from different areas to create a best-of-breed operation. The move to use robots to move components between sewing operations gives us pinpoint accuracy that we’ve never had before.”