What did your lead say when you asked him about the rework side of it, like if a box ever has to move 6 inches for a remodel? That's the part I never get a straight answer on. If he's got a trick for adding length to a short run without a full repull, I'd want to hear it, because cutting it tight only saves a few feet off a 200 ft spool.

Track what the extra 20 minutes actually costs vs one scrapped part.

Does the pan really matter as much as what the pan is sitting on though? I had a cheap thin pan that cooked awful until I figured out my stove burner runs hot in one spot and the pan was warping. Once I moved it off center and let it heat up slow, the cheap pan worked fine. Your old cast iron probably wins because the thick walls even out the heat, not because it's old. A new heavy pan would do the same thing. So I'm on team heavy pan, not team old pan.