If I'm understanding the bug reports correctly, would it not have been easier to change the final step to (for example) require having the kit in one hand, the gem in the other, and to "use" a riveter much like one does when making shields? That final step shouldn't require any other tool, so it seems like a much easier solution than messing with the smith tables themselves.
Once I can muster the will to log in I'll check the process, but I'm not sure how much stack processing can mitigate the damage. For making chainmail there are quite a few steps that you could do in batches when the tables were still working:
Mold Molten Steel into Steel Wire using Forge with a Wire mold. (Should be the same)
Wind Steel Wire into Steel Coil using Smith Table with a Mandrel. (Can we do this in stacks of 65 now? )
Cut Steel Coil into 15 Dozen Open Steel Rings using Smith Table with a Cutters. (I can't imagine we can turn a stack of 65 coils into 15 stacks of 65 dozen rings. Only 4 coils into 60 rings then? That's still amazingly slow given the quantity required to make anything.)
Weave 3 (varies) Patterns into Chain Mail Strip using Smith Table. (So we weave a stack of 60/63 into 20/21 strips?)
Weave (varies) Parts into (varies Piece using Smith Table. (Can we do this in stacks of 65 now?)
The final step I agree should be done one at a time simply because it makes sense.
Even if the answer to all of the above question is yes there's the fact that smithing skills are now the only crafting skills without a means of training at a faster rate by working in batches. Alchemy, Baking, Cooking, Herbalism, Metallurgy, and Brewing all have ways to train more quickly by working in batches of 24 or 32. Smithing really only had the few tasks I mentioned above and you couldn't purchase the needed materials cheaply from an NPC like you can with some of the other crafting skills. Is there going to be any attempt to balance the training rate?