At Ford Motor, Cisco is helping to network flexible factory lines at four plants, with each plant aware of which parts are on their way from suppliers.

FORBES: What Makes Cisco Run

The company has since been focused on raising money to market its flexible and light-weight panels and building a factory to produce them.

FORBES: SoloPower To Start Flexible Thin Film Solar Production in Oregon

After closing its historic Dagenham factory in England and revamping its continental plants to make them flexible, efficient and capable of high quality, it is turning to the overpriced brands it bought in Europe: Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo and Aston Martin.

ECONOMIST: The car industry

But additive manufacturing is only one of a number of breakthroughs leading to the factory of the future, and conventional production equipment is becoming smarter and more flexible, too.

ECONOMIST: A third industrial revolution | The

It recently gave the workforce at Land Rover's Solihull plant an ultimatum: adopt modern, flexible working practices and give up old habits such as eating and smoking on the job, or the factory closes.

ECONOMIST: The car industry