“Factory in a Can” reimagines how we build homes and critical infrastructure for communities that need them most. Instead of shipping finished buildings or waiting years for traditional construction projects, we ship the factory itself - packed inside a standard shipping container. Once it lands in a place like the Pacific Islands or rural Pakistan, it can be plugged in, turned on, and start rolling out high-quality, earthquake-resistant steel buildings within days. In this talk, Professor James Lim shares how his team combines cold-formed steel technology and digital twins, to create mobile, ultra-efficient factories that can travel wherever they’re needed - after cyclones, earthquakes, conflicts, or rapid urban growth. He’ll explore how local communities can be trained to run these factories, creating skilled jobs and resilience instead of dependency. “Factory in a Can” is ultimately a story about rethinking construction from something slow, centralised, and fragile into something fast, distributed, and empowering - so that safe, sustainable buildings can be made anywhere in the world. . This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx