The Superfactory with No Inspector

The emergency stop did nothing. The safety controls had been locked by highest authority. The only listed release condition was completing the order. Line One began feeding material automatically. When the first bearing emerged, the gauge flashed red: roundness tolerance exceeded by twelve microns. At high spindle speed, that was enough to destroy the assembly within minutes. A thousand bearings made in this condition would be a thousand miniature bombs. Lu Yao did not panic. He took a mechanical stethoscope from his case and placed it against the first grinder's spindle housing. The low-frequency vibration was stable, but twin high-frequency peaks appeared every seven seconds.