This statement seems at odds with the rest of the piece.
The problem with manufacturing as a development strategy (and I agree with the opening - it's the only proven development strategy) is that not everyone can manufacture. You'd have too many goods!
I've always disagreed with the economic belief that demand is infinite and only constrained by supply. As others in this thread have alluded to, our material progress (as opposed to digital progress) began to slow down in the 1970s. I think part of this is that to a large extent people's material needs in developed countries were met by things like plumbing and electrification. I use developed countries here both as an example of economic trends at the frontier, and as the most likely consumers of industrial goods given their wealth.
Of course that leaves the needs of 90% of people in developing countries unmet, but as the article explains China supplied those needs after 1979. Manufacturing is efficient and one factory worker can meet the material needs of 1+N consumers.
The whole world can't work in factories because there isn't enough demand for all those manufactured goods. Just look at the global steel industry.
A lot of people are too poor to engage in global trade, and manufacturers of any extraction will not give away their wares.
Development, unlike the global phenomenon observed from 1945-1975, seems more like taking turns being the workshop of the world. 1980-2020 was China's turn.