As a revolution, on-demand manufacturing/3-D Printing has yet to take off. However, as a concept and technology its potential continues to grow.
(Do you still think this is a pipedream? The photo at right is of injection molding tools made with 3-D printing. +Photo source: U.S. National Science Foundation.+)A recent article in Wired Magazine revisits many of the on-demand manufacturing play-yuhs and touts the obvious impact these technologies and models will have on the supply chain.
Welcome to the age of the instapreneur. With nothing more than a design, amateurs can manufacture jewelry, robots, T-shirts, furniture - anything. No warehouses. No minimum orders. And no money down. The digital economy isn't just digital; the same market forces that allowed midlist musicians to make a living distributing their songs online now give amateur clothiers the chance to sell their wares without having to persuade (a retailer's) buyers to carry them.Unlike the industrial revolution - which transformed the physical world in obvious ways, and saw reactions that created new technologies and business acumen - the on-demand revolution will (+is+) happen(+ing+) outside the peripheral vision of most manufacturers.
Just as the Luddites were upended by technology, what we know as traditional manufacturing protocols, practices and channels to sustain businesses will morph completely. In their place, instarpreneurship will emerge - the path from concept to market will dramatically shorten, supply and materials chains will skew and reinvent themselves, and the value of the traditional hands-on craftsman will drop.
Also from the Wired article:
Large brands are starting to see the appeal of manufacturing-as-a-service, too. Lexus recently used Blurb, an on-demand publisher, to print 1,800 copies of a book promoting the automaker's green practices. Franchises from Dilbert to the Discovery Channel sell licensed merchandise on CaféPress. Disney has uploaded more than 3,500 of its designs to Zazzle, allowing the company to sell a wider range of products than just the blockbuster Mickey Mouse T-shirts favored by conventional retailers. The service also gives the Disney machine unprecedented agility. "Here, I can see that Hannah Montana is taking off, we can upload a design right into Zazzle's system, and in a day or two it's a product," says Patrick Haley, senior manager of customization for DisneyShopping.com.And Ponoko, the model that best compares to the channels for discrete parts manufacturing, now has 5,000 merchants on their platform after 1 year of existence.
From idea to part to market in an instant. With minimal technical savvy. That's instapreneurship.
