Curious how a modern American ammo factory works?

[msc545]

This is interesting and very informative. Have a look.
https://www.propublica.org/article/general-dynamics-artillery-factory-failed?

[goaded]

Wow. They've known exactly how to make these shells for a century, all they had to do was duplicate the production lines and spread out the institutional knowledge.

[msc545]

In reading the article, it seems like they imported a bunch of equipment from Turkey for some reason under a no-bid contract, which is not surprising, and then the equipment didn't work properly, and this was the result. There is a certain ironic justice in there being fires and possibly even explosions in an ammunition factory.

[goaded]

Yes, new technology, untested. I mean, upgrading to, say, CNCs rather than manually operated lathes would be one thing (that tech's been around for decades)... I bet the old hands at the old factory took one look and said the new stuff wasn't going to work.