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A factory without takt time is a workshop. Takt is the rhythm customer demand imposes on a line — and this factory sets one: the customer is the human operator, and takt is his sustainable absorption rate for verification and intent. This is a one-human plant. Every certified unit requires operator attention exactly twice — once at intake, writing the work order, and once at certification, accepting the claim. Compute is not the constraint. Agent throughput is not the constraint. Human trust-bandwidth is the constraint, and the whole line paces to it.

Practical consequences

  • Takt is set explicitly and low — on the order of 3 to 5 certified units per week at current staffing. Every WIP limit derives from it via Little’s Law.
  • The only way to raise plant capacity is verification leverage, not more agents: reference-free judges that turn human review from “check everything” into “audit the auditor.” Every point of judge-alignment gained is capacity gained. This is Thesis 1 seen from the demand side.
  • Overproduction is redefined. An agent built faster than it can be verified is not early; it is waste rusting in the yard. The classic first waste — building agents nobody asked for — gets a sharper sibling: building agents faster than anyone can trust them.

The design of the two touches

The stations exist to protect the attention budget. Everything mechanizable is mechanized; what reaches the operator is judgment that only the operator can supply. At Station 0 that judgment is intent — what should exist and why. At Station 4 it is acceptance — whether the claim and its evidence deserve a signature. What the operator reviews at certification is the claim and its evidence, not the work — that is what the verification shop bought. Automating everything except the decisions that matter is not a compromise. It is the point of the whole system.

Self-audit

ClaimSource
The customer is the operator; takt is his sustainable absorption rate for verification and intentdocs/factory-design.md:71
One-human plant; attention twice per unit (intake, certification); trust-bandwidth is the constraintdocs/factory-design.md:71
3–5 certified units/week; WIP limits via Little’s Lawdocs/factory-design.md:75
Verification leverage is the only capacity lever; audit the auditordocs/factory-design.md:76
Overproduction redefined: faster than anyone can trust themdocs/factory-design.md:77
Human reviews the claim and its evidence, not the workdocs/factory-design.md:146