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In-Depth Information
Although the Internet has made it possible for specialized communities of
people to connect with one another, Ted and Bill are inding is that people
still gravitate to people nearby, if they can. 100KGarages customers do not
choose their maker according to their physical proximity. But, Ted explained,
“if someone has designed something, they like to use a local maker to make
the prototype. And if they end up selling their product, they look for shops
near their customers so they can use local materials.”
Easy payment technologies like PayPal lubricate the online transactions
between site users. Small shops can not afford to buy materials upfront. “Most
of the makers prefer to be paid before they invest in materials and time,”
explained Ted.
Another enabling technology that aids the Internet-based economy is online
user ratings. “We don't have a certiication process,” said Ted. “The best way
for a maker to certify himself or herself is to post a gallery of their work on
the site. That plus online user ratings are a pretty effective system.”
A future economy of printable products
New technologies and business models sweep across the Internet as quickly as
a forest ire sweeps over a rain-starved national park. In contrast, innovation
in manufacturing is is a slow and cautious process. Bruce Kramer is a National
Science Foundation program manager and a long-time evangelist of 3D printing
and personal-scale manufacturing tools. His experience is that in manufactur-
ing, innovation is a high stakes game. Too high. “To innovate, manufacturing
needs new technologies that enable it to become less risk-averse and more like
the internet and software communities in outlook,” he explained.
Today's mass manufacturing industry is the backbone of the world's econ-
omy. Its sheer scale, complexity and physical logistics make innovation risky.
Big manufacturing companies must experiment carefully. The core ethos of
manufacturing is slimming overhead costs, keeping within the boundaries
of environmental and workplace regulations, and eficiently moving physical
goods from one place to another.
3D printing lowers the risk and cost of introducing novel products to the
marketplace. Less investment upfront enables small manufacturers to make a
few products at a time in response to customer demand, and scale up produc-
tion of only those products that sell. For example, producing a small cell phone
cover using traditional injection molding requires investment in a mold that
