Given they’re near Hangzhou they can source a lot of stock for 1/4-1/40th the price as the US. I would guess $1.5k-$2k for the hot mess they show at 6:06 and $8k for the polished setup plus $0-$850,000 in billable hours to some PLC engineers.

The old school way to learn this field is an Allen Bradley or Siemens certification[1] but it’s pretty dry and tedious [2] with good money [3] because once you have a network you can show up at any factory or bottling line as they all use Siemens or Allen Bradley and they’re always breaking down.

The new school way is AI, raspberry pi’s, and 3D printer tool chains.

It’s worth watching the Valve Steam Controller Factory video to appreciate the scale of these lights off factories: https://youtu.be/uCgnWqoP4MM

[1] https://www.youtube.com/c/TimWilborne

[2] https://youtu.be/zDmGSHGH_is

[3] https://youtu.be/aLd2Y7pQ79o

Are there any places in the US where you could get the stock as easily? Ignoring the cost differences for now, I'm more thinking about where you might want to be if you wanted to build machines like this as a small business in the US. Of course, maybe the right idea is not to do it in the US.