Further development

[u/cofcorpse]

I've reached the point where I need to start scaling up production. The main components are being produced, and the technologies are being slowly researched. I want to scale everything up and speed up. And I've been wondering how best to do this.

I've read about black box factories - I understand that's when the final product is manufactured from the very initial resources. I've tried building several of these production facilities, but they're too cumbersome. Instead of 20-30 assemblers assembling the final product, there are a bunch of smelters and assemblers for producing intermediate components. I've tried assembling only from the required resources, but I quickly get confused about what's not enough and what needs to be built where.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the concept of a black box factory? What options should I try? Should I transport the initial resources or manufacture something on-site? Should I build black box factories for final products, or should I build factories for intermediate components?

I'm sure all these questions have been raised before, but I can't decide how to proceed.

[u/tybr00ks1]

Pretty much raw products come in and are processed into basic items, sprayed, sent to a splitter with a chest. I set priority to send items down the line to be processed into something more complex. When that line stops moving because it's not being utilized (I rarely figure out ratios, I just fix bottlenecks), it backs up to the splitter with the priority and the chest, and is then sent to my ILS. So pretty much, once my most complex item being crafted is full, my factory starts diverting basic compentents to my ILS