Desktop Manufacturing Affects Supply Chain

This article from The Economist was of interest to me The Third Industrial Revolution despite missing early US history when the Industrial Revolution was lead by Eli Whitney and his Cotton Gin.  In short, the article is alluding to a reindustrialization that not only shortens the supply chain but also reduces lead time. Expanding on the article, I suggest that desktop manufacturing systems such as Rhinocerous CAD/CAM and other systems are more apt to change small part manufacturing with local shops obtaining manufacturer designs for repair components then fabricating from stock materials the components necessary for repair. This may form a second hand market for remanufactured appliances; could lead to mobile maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) services; or change the nature of DIY retail outlets. Manufacturing may be looking at the next revolution as an outcome of the cycling capital economy.

Manufacturing is the conversion of labor and raw materials through fabrication into finished goods. This general theory has remained consistent over time while efficiences were sought for the different kinds of manufacturing. Efficiencies have lead to a variety of major advances as well as practice specific improvements.  The major advances came with disruptive technologies such as with the logistical and rail systems that lead to dispersion of the elemental manufacturing sites or computerization that lead to Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM).  Practice specific improvements were usually driven by methodologies such as Just-In-time, Six Sigma, ISO, or technologies like cationic bonding. Perhaps the next major advance as well as practice specific improvements will be an outcome of Desktop Manufacturing. 

What is Desktop Manufacturing? 

Desktop manufacturing is the 'minaturization' of large scale manufacturing processes. For example, instead of a 6 ton milling machine with a footprint of 400 square feet anchored to a concrete pad in a 10 acre building, a desktop milling machine may have a footprint of 6 square feet and weigh about 40 to 50 pounds. Both the industrial and desktop machines use Computer Numerical Control, CNC, codes and Computer Aided Design, CAD, drawings, as well as pattern making and Computer Aided Process Planning, CAPP, software. The scale of the computational equipment may be affected too. The industrial equipment may operate from IBM AS400's meanwhile the desktop machines operate from the common PC or notebook computers. The advantage of desktop manufacturing is lower capital investments and less space requirements to achieve nearly the same quality and process. Obviously, the loading and throughput capabilities are different. Another advantage is safety factors. Machine failures on the industrial equipment can be deadly and very costly. Thus, maintenance cost are high on the industrial version. Machine failures of desktop varieties remain dangerous but the scope of the safety concerns are dramatically reduced. For example, the scope of the safety difference may be a thrown part causing impalement versus a puncture wound.

The skill sets required to operate Desktop Manufacturing environment remain the same. Although, the desktop systems can be structured to be turnkey meaning the fabrication of a part can be reduced to the common operator.  For example, returning to key cutting fabrication. The process required some skill originally as the maker cut the key following the original key pattern manually. Today that process is fully automated where the key is digitally mapped and the blank then is cut to the digital pattern automatically. Likewise, the CAPP system can be fully automated from the download of a CAD design to the correct process at the right time. Using standard processes and transfer mechanisms, a component can be fabricated without human intervention. 

How can Desktop Manufacturing Become Do It Yourself?

Do it yourself, DIY, has become an enormous industry. To some extent the industry is already postured for successful employment of desktop manufacturing. Economies of scale, inventory carrying cost, and the need for maintainability have lead to industry standards for screws, nuts, bolts, washers, grommets, etc... even more complex devices such as in electrical and plumbing have become standard. Thus, the subcomponents to these more complex devices are standardized as well in most cases. Therefore a ready base of CAD drawings exist for components and subcomponents as well as the standard processes for fabrication. This means numerical control code libraries are built too. What is missing is the raw stock material prepared in a way to facilitate standard transfer mechanisms and from which any number of finished goods could be fabricated.  The other component needed is developing a desktop flow pattern supportive of multiple fabrication processes and flows. To the casual observer the desktop system may have the ambiance of a Star Trek replicator if correctly designed.  In fact, there are desktop elemental fabrication processes that build a finished good particle-by-particle having the appearance of a component materializing before the observer. In this case soft metals and plactics are usually melted, formed into droplets, charged, accelerated, and steered for placement onto a cooling plate much like the old CRT technology steered electrons to the screen. While this is not exactly from thin air it can have the appearance as such.

Anyhow, a DIY retail outlet could technically obtain building blueprints from the county recorder office adding it to a customer's account. Therefore, the need for a new component can be assesed against the technical design of the structure. Thus, creating improved services from DIY retail outlets who service both contractors and consumers. It also gives the retailer valuable market information about the need for parts based on the drawings in a specific market.

In the end, the DIY retail outlet could efficiently and effectively reduce inventory carrying cost as well as increase turn rates substantially while providing a flexible and broader product and service base in a digital-to-brick-to-finished form model. I would hestitate to think that a DIY retail would manufacture large volumes of products. Instead, I see the desktop manufacturing model supporting the customer base with specialty and low volume needs. Nonetheless, there are many opportunities for business to leverage desktop manufacturing in sage and profitable ways. The projects to put this strategy-to-task would be exciting and fascinating.