How can I make assemblers, refineries and containers automaticall give their items to other containers?

[TheLunaticist]

Is there a way to "suck" out items out of the output of production equipment and containers?

[Burstar]

Conveyor Sorters set to Drain All. Be prudent with your black/whitelisting.

[Monoxide]

TL;DR - check the assembler paragraph for quick answer*

You need to have them connected via conveyors and they will automatically do it. Getting it to do this more efficiently is a little more difficult though.

For example: Our main base bas 3 connectors on the ship dock. The connectors meet at a junction to combine into a single conveyor. That conveyor tube then leads to a main storage bin with a sorter pointing to the main storage. The sorter whitelists all ores and set to drain all (this pulls everything brought back but not things like hydro bottles, compents, etc).

From the main storage, there is a path leading out with another sorter leading into another container. This container pulls all ore for storage. The other side of the ore storage leads to the refineries which automatically pull from the ore storage when they need to.

The other end of the refinery line has a sorter whitelisting ingots and set to drain all leading into a 3rd storage container. This is the ingot container that holds everything for when it is needed. The ingot container has conveyors coming out leading to the assemblers so they can pull as needed. It is important to not have "drain all" set to going INTO the refineries/assemblers as you can fill them too full, making it harder to swap out things if you ever need to.

*As the assemblers make things, it then doubles back into the conveyor system with a sorter leading back to the original container and set to drain all. This will pull all components back to the main, original container. As we have it set, this container will only have components unless we have more ore than we are able to quickly refine (which is pretty difficult to do unless we actively tried to).

We also have another tube going off to the med bay and o2/h2 generators and such, but you didnt ask about that.

[Daynen Drakeson]

Important point of note: refineries, assemblers and o2h2 generators will automatically pull appropriate materials when needed. I.e. an 02h2 gen will constantly seek ice to melt as long as there is empty storage for o2/h2 connected, an assembler will automatically pull ingots if you have any components queued up and a refinery will always grab any ores it can get its hands on.

Sorters can prevent/redirect some of these behaviors as desired, but most "production" modules have their own "suction" built-in otherwise.

[Buzzard]

There's a 'push/pull' system in place for most machines. As things are needed, by default, they will 'pull' in from the nearest available source, be it storage or another machine's OUTPUT (never input). As a refinery or assembler fills up the output, it will start to 'push' things out to the closest available location that can take the items, be it storage or another machine.

Pull requests start close (by the network, not necessarily the physical location) and work outwards. Push requests work similarly, seeking to dump things in any location that can take the stuff. This can lead to certain undesirable behavior in the case of refineries being directly connected to assemblers. The refinery seeks to offload, and the closest spot is the assembler's input hopper. The assembler's input hopper can get filled completely, leaving no space for other materials needed for a construction order's needs.

Personally, I like a setup like so:
Input -> ore storage buffer -> refinery system -> ingots buffer <-> assemblers <-> components storage

The reason for having assemblers able to move stuff to and from ingots and components is for disassembly purposes. Eventually, you may run into a situation where you find yourself with a few tons of components and running out of places to put things (or want the materials for other things). Ingots store in less space than components, so...
You can have sorters on both ends of the assembler chain to block ingots from going to component storage and stop components from going back into the ingots bay. You'd just need an extra sorter for the return trip, and leave off the 'drain all'

[CZ_bpk]

Splitsie has made an excellent tutorial on how to use sorters and conveyor systems:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3kgpLryzmI&list=PLfMGCUepUcNx_aiABC0ECOKGtqLTFGmHq&index=2