I think it'd be cool if a "joint mod" was created between factorio and KSP. You use factorio to get raw materials, the R&D tree is shared between the games, and when you want to launch something, your available parts are whatever you've manufactured and loaded into the assembly building.

I'm an industrial engineer and have thought about how to teach manufacturing concepts through the game. Tons of great lessons such as one piece flow, problems when you build up inventory, correctly balancing different production rates between machines, factory layout, etc.

And as another commenter pointed out, sometimes you're "refactoring code" and paying your technical debt.