Manufacturing is a low margin high capital and highly regulated business. That’s why the us has so few manufacturing start ups. In tech it’s easy you get a couple people In a garage with computers and you churn out a app it’s mostly just labor cost. If your want to make something you better be buying 50-100k of equipment and have the knowledge on how to run and maintain it, while trying to stay compliant with all the various regs.
Can confirm. Am at $50-$100k of equipment and three years into the knowledge on how to run and maintain it, and can't download any software anymore without certifying that I am not Iranian. Am under a thousand dollars in revenue. The only way to make shit in the US is (A) GSA contracts, which is the only reason Haas exists, or (B) niche luxury goods. My local distiller now makes about 20 different kinds of booze. I don't think they have anything under $50 a bottle, despite the fact that WA craft distillers pay a radically lower liquor tax. They're probably a million five into their operation and I suspect they're starting to break even.