This is pioneering work, saving money in material and fabrication costs is something that will happen in the longer term when the tech is more mature.
This is a technology demonstration, not an example of super high efficiency. It also took much longer to make than it would have taken to make it in a more traditional way.
That said it still came in rather competitive compared to the alternatives, which says quite a bit about how manufacturers of such structures normally charge.
Having a welding robot run for 6 months straight will hardly reduce fabrication costs. Given the price of MIG welding wire it's also dubious if you could reduce material costs.
There's a great deal of point to it - saving money in material and fabrication costs.