[Suicide Junkie]

The UI part could almost certainly be done...
I imagine the problem would be in that the AI script dosen't deal with single components, but rather creates an entire design on its own.

Which is why the "place it as close as possible to where other existing designs have placed theirs"
IE, if all your designs to date have the engines in the bottom middle, then autoplace the engines in the bottom middle.
If you've got lots of ships with supply tanks symmetrical on the left and right sides, then doubleclicked supply tanks should go to the left or right (whichever has unused slots).