A lot of these ideas come from other games I've played (i.e. Minecraft of COURSE!
)1)You would need to build a 'datacenter' to manage all the systems in your factories which would need different servers, consoles, monitors, etc.
2) Programmable logic using possibly LUA language (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrUHUhfCY5A)
3) Able to access all your connected systems in 1 location
4) Have a dedicated 'data' layer to easily manage all your network connections (i.e. Prison Architect)
5) Be able to craft monitors to display stats on inventory levels, power production/consumption, issues with production (lack of resource(s)), etc.
6) Perhaps an upgrade to the map where you can see details of the different areas (what the block is, how many resources are in it, etc). Right now, the map only shows you a color representation of the ores.