check the screenshot of my Work In Progress factory

https://pasteboard.co/KhYTMD0.jpg

Nice. What are the blue combinators?

The 1x1 blue combinators are crafting combinators, 2 for each assembler

the first sets the recipe according to the given signal from the constant-combinator
the second reads the recipe from the assembler. So you can preset the factory by setting the constant-combinators, even when technology is not yet researched, when the recipe gets unlocked the assembler is automatically set.

here i provide screenshots of the modules:
Old design with manual set ingredients via additional constant-combinators for each assembler
https://pasteboard.co/sYyn5lWGQVOi.png

The new design is reduced to just have one constant-combinator and 2 crafting combinators for each assembler, everything is connected to a tweaked version of compact-combinator, i currently name it hd-combinator, it has 24 I/O pins
https://pasteboard.co/9HIKTjBdpVWq.png

the design requires some tweaks, the circuit wires need to be connected over wider distance, otherwise you need to plaster poles for connecting everything. for each assembler we need 3 connections, one for the set recipe, second for the read recipe, third for the connection to the chest to control required items and production limit, maybe i need to expand the internal surface of the hd-combinator to put all required logic in place.

Internal view of the original compact-combinator https://pasteboard.co/AIwUTe3UfSEK.png

Internal view of the hd-combinator https://pasteboard.co/PaUngS4YwL3d.png

For connecting not just a long row of those modules i added a vertical connector module to be able to have some kind of matrix
https://pasteboard.co/AfqjRdLWiUhP.png

The idea is to put all the remaining logic into the hd-combinator, calculate also ingredients with recipe-combinators, set the reserve chest by some formula and use the shortwave mod for several kind of statistic or flood prevention.

I experienced several times that requests are repeated again and again, so the DCs got flooded with items, the current logic sums the content of the DCs minus the set reserve, and then using this information to block production or blocking items at the "entrance", according to the amount of "free" items in the system.

Using another "frequency" of the shortwave network it may be possible to monitor what kind of items are getting produced.

Wait, do each assembler produce only one type of item or you set items to produce dynamically by providing according signals?
I was in progress making a special combinator that changes recipes dynamically, so, for example, one don't have to place a separate assembler for each type of item in a mall, by thus making malls smaller, more efficient (since assemblers in a mall can stall most of the time) and easier to extend.

This is another part i am working on, i already have some kind of "factory on demand", but for a full featured automated production you need some sort of recursion, if your product you demand can not be build because other ingredients are missing and not being produced already.

Here is a screenshot of the current design, i also use a DC for sending items to the assemblers

https://pasteboard.co/UFwhJMKXJkuI.png

The two assemblers in the upper right corner are solely for producing ball bearings,
the logic filters which items are being built, in the current design the main assembler at the bottom is able to build items without fluids, or with lubricant.
the reverse factory on the left converts the surplus of bearing balls back into the respective material, this is currently needed unless i wait for the assemblers to finish the current batch and consume all bearing balls, because the ball bearing assemblers get just the right amount for a complete bearing and the inserters divide the ingredients in the right ratio.
it is also not possible to have a universal blueprint to set all signals in advance since not all signals are present if the mods they are based on are missing.
Unless you use constant-combinators mod-wise which are then just getting ignored if the mod is not present.