So colleges and universities have been improving their physical plants pretty consistently.That's part of being a competitive industry.

所以学院和大学一直在不断改进他们的实体工厂。这是一个竞争性行业的一部分。

Technological progress means that many firms' most productive assets are now not their physical plant and equipment but intangibles like computer programs and patents.

技术进步意味着许多公司最具生产力的资产现在不是他们的实体厂房和设备，而是计算机程序和专利等无形资产。