Most Star Trek fans are aware of starship replicator machines that “fabricate” food, water, uniforms, and even spare parts by rearranging subatomic particles into the desired end-product. Neil Gershenfel, Director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, believes there is a pretty solid road map for the eventual creation of a Star Trek-like molecular assembler. In the shorter term, he envisages digital, personal manufacturing as the next big thing. In his vision, personal fabricators located within ordinary people’s homes will enable them to produce precisely what they want or need instead of purchasing mass-produced goods.
Although an appealing concept, I doubt personal manufacturing will ever become pervasive. It doesn’t make economic sense for everyone to own personal manufacturing infrastructure, particularly people of limited financial means. Will an ordinary person really design and build enough products to justify the cost of a personal fabricator?
One of the great benefits of mass production is its efficiency. A small percentage of the purchase price of a mass-produced product covers the investment in tooling, assembly lines and human expertise. Well orchestrated mass production results in desirable, high quality and low cost products that enhance the quality of life for all segments of society.
Mass customization makes mass production even more desirable by allowing customers to purchase products more tailored to their individual needs. Products don’t exist until the customers configure them. The Dell mass customization process permits its customers to choose the specific computer feature set they want – RAM size, hard drive capacity, DVD drive type, etc. The customized product is still mass produced but is composed of combinations of standard components and parts that offer the customer a wide range of product variations. In the case of a car, thousands of variations could exist.
Mass customization can also involve the customer in the “hands-on” design of product. Nova Cruz, the company that manufactured the Lunar designed Xootr scooter, had developed the capability to enable customers to design custom plywood decks online. By moving a series of points on two parallel lines, customers could create a digital profile of the scooter deck they wanted. The deck would then have been routed on a computer numerical controlled (CNC) router and assembled to the standard Xootr chassis.
Although the prospect of personal manufacturing is an exciting one, I believe it will appeal primarily to inventors, hobbyists, engineers and designers. Ordinary people will opt for mass production enhanced by unprecedented advances in mass customization.
What do you think about the future of manufacturing?
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