How to Automate Iron Plates Production in Factorio 2.0

Iron Plates is the first basic line of production you will automate in Factorio 2.0. Since most of the production lines will rely on these Iron Plates way past the early game, you’ll always continue expanding your Iron Plates production almost every single time you get a new research upgrade. This is why automating Iron Plates to an extent where it is easily expandable is the best way to automate them and here’s how to do it in Factorio 2.0.

Early Game Automated Iron Plates Setup in Factorio 2.0

In the early game, you have no choice but to use Furnaces that use fuel to smelt Iron Ores into Iron Plates. However, the most common mistake players make is they do not leave space for another conveyor or transport belt beside the Furnace so you can add an “automated” refueling line.

Since Furnaces need fuel from Wood, Coal, or other sources, you want to have a transport belt that inserts fuel into every Furnace. So, the simple early automated Iron Plates setup is to build one long line of Furnaces and have one grid of free space on two opposite sides (above and below or left or right).

Bring a whole line of Iron Ores and put it two grids apart from the Furnace so you can put an inserter between them. Bring another whole line of Coal on top of the Iron Ore line and use a Long Inserter to automate the refueling of the Furnaces. On the opposite side of the Furnace, make another line to start getting the Iron Plates. You can add an inserter at the end and put them in a chest or storage container.

You want all the Iron Plates production to go into one transport belt for now. Every production line that needs Iron Plates will just need to “steal” from this line, and it is up to you not to “spaghettify” your setup when you start making other production factories.

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Expanded Mid-game Iron Plates Setup in Factorio 2.0

If you did the above setup, there will be some slight tweaks. For one, you don’t need Coal anymore since you’ll have a Furnaces purely powered by electricity. That research upgrade frees you up one whole transport belt line.

Second, you want to have more space to increase your Iron Plates production since more production lines will need more Iron Plates. You want to have more space and a way to add Splitters to the whole Iron Plates line so you can distribute them evenly to other production lines that need them. Just the Steel Beams automated production alone will need a lot of Iron Plates and at this point, you are already using Iron Plates for automated Fast Transport Belts, Iron Sticks, Iron Cogwheels, and more.

It is safe to say that Iron Plates will need a big space for further expansion, which is probably why “the Factory must grow’ has been a popular saying among Factorio players.