I’m not talking about equipment as much as ingredients and processes. Ask your friend about the impact of stabilizers, yeast nutrients, relaxers, flavoring agents, preservatives and the million and one techniques that allow for cheaper, faster and more efficient production.
Sum them up and you’ll find a qualitative difference.
That was actually one of the first questions I asked. One baker told me that technology evolved because of the need to make bread on a massive scale on a consistent basis. However, he also told the food processing technology that made possible for large-scale bread production could be modified and scaled down to make true artisan breads on a larger scale than old-fashioned methods.