Is manufacturing going the way of digital industries such as technology and media, where anyone with a good idea can distribute it cheaply around the world?
That is the latest notion popularised by Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, who previously brought us The Long Tail and Free.
I went to the Wired Store in New York last week to listen to Mr Anderson talk about how the rise of low-cost do-it-yourself design and construction techniques could transform manufacturing, an idea he dubs Atoms are the New Bits (although someone else may have come up with the phrase).
His basic point is that the rise of low-cost batch manufacturing in countries such as China, together with the advent of digital communications, means that anyone can now get things they have designed made cheaply and shipped directly to customers.
At the same time, 3-D printers such as the Maker Bot have fallen in price to the point where anyone can buy one and construct three dimensional designs.
Mr Anderson cited the example of a couple in New Zealand who thought up the idea of a box which sorts out Lego pieces after children play with them. The Box 4 Blox is now being made at a factory in Los Angeles and distributed globally.
As he said:
“You can now prototype a physical object in your garage and get it drop-shipped from factory to consumer so you do not need to take inventory.”
He also cited Local Motors, an “open source” car design and manufacturing company that allows people to built their own cars, and DIY Drones, a company/community that helps people construct unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), in which Mr Anderson is involved.
I thought the presentation, apart from being fun, was right in pointing out that contract manufacturing in Asia countries allows anyone, not just large companies, to outsource production.
On the other hand, inventors face other hurdles apart from simply being able to make and distribute their products, from marketing and branding to regulations.
These trends put more power in the hands of hackers and hobbyists than before, but whether it will change the face of consumer goods industries remains to be seen.
A video of Mr Anderson’s presentation at Supernova is here.
