I am intrigued by the idea of moving manufacturing off-planet.

Does anyone know of what would make this actually cost competitive? What industry would want this first assuming dramatic decreases in space access costs?

Space is cheap, Land is expensive. Orbiting factories have relatively little constraint on their size. No need to worry about regulations or cleanup. You don't get hemmed in by neighboring factories.

I can see a whole number of variables costing factories off of terrestrial production in the future with land cost being a major one.

One thing that is cheaper, because you avoid the cost of shipping heavy items to orbit, would be manufacturing space vehicles.

One would think some sort of space elevator system would have to first exist in order to make the transportation of raw materials economical.

Rendezvous with Rama