Striving for perfection isn’t a walk in the park, but American manufacturers aim for it anyway. From car brands to snack food companies, executives set ambitious “zero-defect” goals to minimize employee errors. To achieve this, they’re investing in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic vision systems, streamlining workflows, and automating manual tasks.

• For instance, AppleAAPL
  recently acquired DarwinAI, an AI-powered quality inspector also utilized by Lockheed MartinLMT
  and BMWBMWYY
  to enhance manufacturing efficiency.
• Companies are banking on these pricey quality control investments to cut down the significant financial blows caused by production delays or paying out warranty claims.

Vertical integration to the rescue? Companies’ manufacturing investments might make once-appealing outsourcing look costly — especially considering the mistakes of BoeingBA

, which is in talks to acquire its troubled supplier Spirit AeroSystemsSPR

. Such efforts may prompt companies to explore alternative cost-cutting methods — but they might have to spend to unlock them.