Ponoko is young. Ponoko won't necessarily knock your socks off.
If you're a manufacturer, Ponoko will probably change your life.
In "Automated Custom Manufacturing" (published by MIT), you'll find a complete description of Ponoko. Here's an excerpt:
"A visitor to Ponoko's website can either upload a digital design for a product or select another user's design, and within five to ten days, the company has manufactured the components of the product and is ready to ship them back. Customers can also design objects without building them, leaving their designs on file for others to use; the website has a "showroom" where customers can browse through a catalogue that lists pictures and prices of designs and products created by other users."
Currently, there's not a lot on Ponoko to tickle the sensibilities of high-functioning manufacturers and engineers. You'll mostly find lamps, furniture and other commercial commodities.
But it's the
potential that makes Ponoko so important.
"Just as personal computing went from the mainframe to the desktop, and the result was distributed desktop computing, we see the same trend occurring with digital manufacturing, as it moves from the warehouse to the desktop," says Derek Elley, the chief strategy officer for Ponoko.
Just a few cats in Wellington, New Zealand, have created a model that finely represents the movement toward personalization for consumers, and greatly truncated manufacturing and distribution channels for suppliers.
