Capability Thresholds and Manufacturing Topology: How Embodied Intelligence Triggers Phase Transitions in Economic Geography

arXiv:2603.04457v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: The fundamental topology of manufacturing has not undergone a paradigm-level transformation since Henry Ford's moving assembly line in 1913. Every major innovation of the past century, from the Toyota Production System to Industry 4.0, has optimized within the Fordist paradigm without altering its structural logic: centralized mega-factories, located near labor pools, producing at scale. We argue that embodied intelligence is poised to break this