Trust the Process - The Real Moat Isn't the Breakthrough - it's the Billionth Battery

This chart from the New York Times' recent piece on China's clean energy dominance isn't really about climate tech—it's a map of the future of all manufacturing. We pioneered the science behind lithium-ion batteries, solar cells, and EVs. China captured $143 billion in exports by mastering something we've dismissed as boring: process innovation.

Here's what that means on the factory floor: While we chase the next breakthrough, Chinese manufacturers run millions of repetitions—tightening process windows from ±10% to ±0.1%, driving first-pass yield from 60% to 99.5%, cutting cycle times by seconds that compound into competitive advantage. They treat factories as learning systems, with in-line metrology feeding back to digital twins, SPC charts wallpapering control rooms, and playbooks that replicate success across dozens of facilities.

As technology analyst and author of the new book "Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future", Dan Wang observes, "China is an engineering state trying to build its way out of every problem. The US is a lawyerly society that is really good at stopping a lot of things." (Listen to the full interview with Ross Douthat on the NYT's Interesting Times podcast here). While we litigate, they iterate.

The path forward isn't abandoning innovation—it's recognizing that process is innovation. Instrument every line. Protect recipes and process IP like the crown jewels they are. Publish OEE curves so teams see progress in real-time. Build right-sized, replicable modules instead of monument factories.

Breakthroughs open doors. Process builds empires. The question is whether we'll trust the process before China owns every industry we invent.