They are automated but not fully automated. It wouldn't work. It's not only the production itself, it's also the supply. Steel mills are not fully automated either. Nor are ore mines. Eventually, and in this day and age it would only be a matter of days because of the way production facilities work, Skynet would run out of material. And you can't turn a BMW factory into a Terminator factory just by changing the software.
Terminator: Salvation actually addressed this, perhaps in an indirect way. Some of the Terminator units we saw were based on mass-produced human vehicles, such as the motorcycles and transport planes. It's possible Skynet first took over existing factories, automated them, and just had to hook custom computer equipment into each one so it could control the vehicles. If it was able to do this with cranes and forklifts and backhoes and other construction equipment, I don't think it's too much of a stretch for Skynet to become materially self-sufficient in a relatively short period of time.
The acquisition of the factories themselves as well as the installation of computer equipment to control them would've been the most difficult up-front tasks.
No, you are not paying attention. The raw material supply is a HUGE problem. What does it matter if you have complete control of a factory, if you run out of steel and other supplies? With humans gone, who will be mining and/or making those supplies? Delivering them? Fixing equipment that fails?
No to mention that any large-scale industrial facility is setup with molds and other equipment to make *specific* parts. And assemble things with other *specific* parts? Changing the software of the assembly robots would not allow you to suddenly make different part and machines.
It just doesn't work that way. You don't seem to understand how incredibly complex and interlocking all parts of the supply chain and infrastructure are to maintain our industrial capacity.
No need to get so touchy about it. Keep it in perspective: we are talking about a fictional/speculative setting, here.
Anything that can be controlled electronically wouldn't require any technology more sophisticated than PCBs. PCB printing is software-controlled.
Skynet could not have taken over anything if it is 100% software with no ability to physically interact with the world. Human-like robots (early Terminators?), at a minimum, would be required to be online before Skynet took over.
T4 also showed Skynet rounding up humans. Were they being used for slave labor?
It's impossible to speculate how Skynet maintained production capacity without knowing what was available to it at the time it turned against humanity. I am in agreement that it could not have achieved anything past nuclear destruction if it consisted solely of software and didn't have a substantial physical presence in the form of robots that could carry out all the same tasks as humans.
