You could start climbing the "tech tree" by crafting the different structures manually. I would recommend crafting every item at least once, that way you can become familiar with what they do and what they are used for. Once you have crafted the structures needed for automation, you can start automating things like treated wood and industrial bricks, as those will be used a lot for structures. Once you have automated enough things to the point where expanding the factory isn't too much of a struggle, you can start automating the food.