Quick answer
A Factory line needs four things at the same time:
- 1
- 2
a connected conveyor route;
- 3
a zombie worker assigned to the production station;
- 4
enough Mastery on that zombie for the selected recipe.
Conveyors unlock after 50 reputation with 
Jack and cost 70 red + 20 blue tech points. A normal zombie in a Carousel provides 7 Factory Power, while each powered conveyor cell, splitter or station consumes 1 power. If demand exceeds capacity, the entire powered Factory stops, including stations and workers.
Start with one short test line before building a giant network.
Why does the Factory feel broken?
Because the game barely teaches it.
In the current release, the intended Factory tutorial is effectively missing as a normal completed tutorial, so the pages explaining belts, workers and gears are easy to never see.
You enter a huge underground room containing:
broken carousels;
conveyor mechanisms;
stockpiles;
machines;
an unfamiliar power number;
and are expected to reverse-engineer the system.
Once you understand a few rules, however, the Factory becomes one of the most powerful mechanics in the game.
Where is the Factory?
The Factory is under your home, behind the blocked underground passages.
It has several possible entrances connected to:
the basement;
vineyard cellar;
underground tunnels;
the Old Mine;
later Town routes.
Opening one of the main entrance blockages is enough for the game to recognize that you have found the Factory.
In practice, this arrives after Iron progression because the blockages use materials such as:
If you are opening the Old Mine at the same time, see How to Unlock Zombie Gathering.
When do Conveyors unlock?
The major gate is Jack.
Reach 50 reputation with him.
This exposes the reputation gate leading to:
Conveyors
Cost:
70 red tech points;
20 blue tech points.
It unlocks:
Belts alone do not produce anything.
The next important technology is the 
Assembly bench, which gives you a real Factory workstation and an early production recipe.
I built a belt. Why isn't it moving?
The most likely reason is no power.
The Factory has its own energy grid.
Power comes from 
Zombie Carousels.
There are broken Carousels in the Factory when you first find it.
An early Broken Zombie Carousel can be repaired with:
Repairing the structure still gives you zero power until you put a zombie inside it.
How much power does one zombie generate?
A normal worker inside a Zombie Carousel provides:
7 Factory Power
One Carousel can hold up to 4 zombies, so a fully staffed basic Carousel can provide up to 28 power. The later Belt Master perk raises each Carousel worker from 7 to 10 power.
The zombie in the Carousel is occupied as a generator.
It cannot simultaneously:
operate an Assembly bench;
carry supplies;
mine resources.
Plan separate workers for power and production.
What consumes Factory Power?
Powered conveyor components consume the grid:
belt cells;
splitters;
stations;
related conveyor structures.
The simple rule is:
1 powered component = 1 power
If your Factory has:
7 power;
7 powered components;
it works.
Add an eighth belt cell without more capacity and your demand becomes 8 while supply remains 7.
This explains the classic problem:
“Everything worked until I added one more belt. Now nothing works.”
What happens when power is too low?
The Factory does not merely slow down.
When power demand exceeds capacity, the powered system stops:
conveyors;
Factory workstations;
worker progress;
connected production.
Keep some power headroom instead of operating exactly at the limit.
Always check the power display before expanding a line.
Build one simple line first
Do not build a beautiful Factory-wide network immediately.
Make a deliberately boring test:
Input Chest
↓
short conveyor
↓
Assembly Bench I + Zombie
↓
short conveyor
↓
Output Chest
Choose a simple recipe.
Load the inputs.
Verify:
- 1
- 2
ingredients arrive at the station;
- 3
the zombie begins crafting;
- 4
- 5
the item reaches storage.
Only then add splitters and parallel machines.
Why won't the Factory workstation craft?
A moving conveyor does not guarantee a working zombie.
Check the worker's own Mastery.
Factory workers follow the normal zombie rules:
Building recipes require Building Mastery;
Smithy recipes use Smithing;
Kitchen recipes use Farming.
Your Keeper's Mastery does not apply.
If the worker is below the recipe requirement, it simply cannot perform the job.
Give it the appropriate tool or improve its talents.
See How Zombies Work.
How does raw material reach the Factory?
This is where late automation becomes powerful.
After zombie gathering opens:
Sawmill produces
Logs;
Porter Stations can move those materials toward the Factory stockpiles.
Your real automation can then look like:
Zombie Miner
↓
Porter
↓
Factory stockpile
↓
Conveyor
↓
Factory Smithy
↓
Output
Zombie gathering and Factory production are designed to become one network.
What are Conveyor Chests for?
A Conveyor Chest is a buffer.
Belts can:
drop goods into it;
pull goods out;
feed different branches.
Higher tiers provide more storage slots.
That is useful when one raw material feeds several machines.
Instead of running a huge dedicated Iron belt to every station, you can buffer it and route outputs from the chest.
What do Splitters do?
A 
Splitter divides a conveyor flow.
They are useful, but do not begin with them.
A frequent mistake is designing a complex network before one straight line has ever worked.
Build:
one input → one station → one output
Then add:
splits;
filters;
buffers;
parallel production.
What is the Underground Conveyor for?
Underground Conveyors help cross awkward floor layouts and reduce belt spaghetti.
They are still part of the powered conveyor system.
Do not assume the hidden span is magically free because you cannot see every tile on the floor.
Its main advantage is layout flexibility.
Can I rebuild a bad layout?
Yes, and you should.
Dismantling Factory structures returns their build materials.
If the first layout is a mess:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
You do not need to preserve a bad design just because 
Bronze Gears were expensive.
What does Factory 20 mean?
Later, Jack asks to tour your Factory.
Factory Tour requires the Factory number to reach 20.
The game effectively uses the lower of:
running belt cells;
available power.
So you need at least:
20 belt cells + 20 power
Forty belts with only 14 power do not count as 20.
Thirty power on a line with only eight belt cells also does not count.
Both sides of the number need to reach the target.
Factory and Steel progression
The Factory and Steel are tightly linked through Jack.
Jack opens Conveyors at 50 reputation.
Later, his industrial storyline leads you to the Royal Foundry and Steel.
Steel then feeds:
later Factory repairs;
advanced components;
PR Machine upgrades;
equipment.
If Steel is your current blocker, see How to Get Steel.
How do Supply Crates reach Town automatically?
Later Factory progression can do more than craft crates.
A developed delivery chain uses:
Supply Storage;
a Porter route into the Town Warehouse.
That is a later optimization.
First make one crate reliably and get it out of your production station.
Trying to debug production, storage and Town delivery simultaneously makes it very difficult to identify the broken step.
What is the Bioreactor?
The 
Bioreactor creates the item 
Zombie Power.
Do not confuse this with Factory Power.
Its recipe is:
5 Wheat
→ 1 Zombie Power
It does not need a zombie worker.
But Zombie Power does not run conveyors.
The distinction is:
Bioreactor → the craftable item Zombie Power.
They are separate systems with unfortunately similar names.
Why did my Bioreactor stop?
Although the Bioreactor needs no worker, it still belongs to the Factory system.
If the Factory loses enough conveyor power, Bioreactor progress stops along with the rest of the line.
Having 
Wheat ready does not make it independent from the power grid.
How do I avoid the power ceiling?
Practical rules:
- 1
- 2
move chests closer instead of building decorative long lines;
- 3
check capacity before every expansion;
- 4
add more Carousel capacity as progression allows;
- 5
later, improve worker power output with the relevant perk;
- 6
do not build five machines before you can actually feed one.
Power demand from unnecessarily long belts is a bigger problem than many players expect.
What should I automate first?
Wooden Kit I is a good first real Factory product.
Why:
inputs are understandable;
Town consumes kits constantly;
the line is easy to debug;
After that, expand into:
Smithy production;
Building Kits;
Furniture;
Food;
Town supply crates.
FAQ
Why did my entire Factory suddenly stop?
Check power first. One extra conveyor piece can push demand above capacity.
The Carousel is repaired but power is zero
Put a zombie inside it.
Why won't the zombie at my bench work?
Check its Mastery, tool, inputs and selected recipe.
Does the Bioreactor generate Factory Power?
No. It creates the item Zombie Power.
Why can't I unlock Conveyors?
You need 50 reputation with Jack plus the required technology path.
Can I rebuild without losing materials?
Dismantled Factory structures return their build materials.
