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MOD-01 · The model · Phase 3 of 6

Routing

Phase 03

The framework's core decision: the validated blueprint goes to whichever certified hub wins on energy price, logistics, tariffs, risk, and proximity to demand — not on wages. This is the thesis in a single step. Routing here is manufacturing routing, not logistics routing — deciding where production should happen, not how boxes travel.

What happens

The economics choose, the hub accepts

01 · Placement is computed across the network

The order bound to a tier, never to a factory — this is where that pays off. Routing weighs the blueprint's requirements against every eligible certified hub and asks one question: which tier-and-hub combination gives the best total cost, flexibility, risk, and portability for this product? Not "how cheaply can this one factory make it" — that is the old model's question.

02 · The certified hub accepts — capacity reserved

Certification is what makes the comparison honest: a hub's scorecard states what it can run and how well. Acceptance is not a handshake — it reserves real capacity against the blueprint's stations, tooling, and quality requirements. The hub readiness scorecard is the first public sketch of exactly this instrument — Layers 01 and 05 working together, certified capability making the capacity promise routable.

Worked example — routing the EX-100 (Tier 3 · 800 units/yr · demand in Northern Europe)
CandidateCertificationEnergyLogistics to demandTariff exposureCapacity slotCall
Hub A · NorwayTier 3Low, renewable2 days, roadNone (EEA)3 weeksSelected
Hub B · PolandTier 3Moderate3 days, roadNone (EU)9 weeksLoses on capacity
Hub C · VietnamTier 3Moderate~28 days, seaExposedOpenLoses on logistics + risk

The BOM can flip this table: if the critical long-lead sensor came from Asia and dominated landed cost, Hub C could win — the BOM is a routing document, not a parts list. Wages appear nowhere in the columns; that is the point.

The inputs

What routing reads

Ten inputs, straight from the thesis. None of them is a wage rate.

Demand location Production should move closer to where finished goods are needed.
BOM structure Heavy, low-value, or fragile components may determine the ideal production region.
Supplier geography Critical components may pull production toward their supply base.
Hub certification tier Only certain hubs can run certain production tiers — eligibility before economics.
Capacity availability The best hub is useless if capacity is unavailable.
Energy cost Robot-heavy production links productivity to energy and uptime.
Tariffs and taxes Location choice can materially change landed cost — sometimes decisively.
Political and war risk Customers may pay for optionality and backup production — risk priced, not hidden.
Shipping cost and lead time Shorter supply chains reduce cost and risk.
Quality history Hub selection must include actual performance data, not reputation.
The placement logic

Near the material first, near demand over time

Short term

While the network is thin, products are produced near the highest shipping-cost or most critical material and component — the BOM's heaviest constraint anchors the choice.

Long term

As certified hubs and supplier clusters mature, production moves closer to final demand. The scalable path is conversion, not construction: existing factories already have buildings, power, people, machines, and industrial culture — Moduloa adds the framework that makes them comparable and routable.

What a re-route means

Routing is not a one-time event. When tariffs shift, a war closes a lane, energy prices diverge, or demand moves, a Tier 5 blueprint can be redeployed to another certified hub — that optionality is precisely what the higher tiers ask customers to pay for; whether they will is an open claim the register tracks as P-09. Lower tiers trade that flexibility away for speed and lower upfront engineering, and the model says so honestly.

The honest limits

What has to be proven

Routing is the part of the model that needs a network to be real — and today the network is zero hubs. The comparison table above is the shape of the decision, not a screenshot of a working system. What the register tracks: P-09 (customers pay a premium for manufacturing optionality), P-23 (the first hub exists and proves the humanoid-native operating model by 2031), P-24 (the network scales by converting existing factories, by 2036), and P-25 (the framework operates as a global capacity network, by 2046). See the register →

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