Can you please explain this parable ?

Could someone help me appreciate this parable/anecdote/story involving Buffet? I can't remember if I read it in a book or heard in a talk/video but it goes like this: >Someone tells Buffet (at that time of Berkshire still being a clothing company) that there is a newly invented machine that can produce cloth more efficiently. >Buffet replies something along the lines of "I hope that is not true because otherwise I am closing this mill". Can you help me understand what this meant? I guess overall the it alludes to the fact that new technology will reduce costs ultimately for the end consumer and shareholder might not get the benefit of improved productivity. But if you are the owner of the 'new' mill, would you not have a stronger position/moat and hence a higher shareholder value? Or is there some other meaning to this story?