Imagine that you need to replace a broken doorlatch, or a component from a water pump. You could go to the store and buy it -- or perhaps, in the future, you could make it yourself.
Indians want the conveniences of a modern economy, and yet are leery of tradeoffs in the form of industrial pollution, environmental degradation, not to mention the daunting capital costs. Similarly, established manufacturers are wary of sinking large sums of money into factories that could easily be seized by restive labour activists, or targetted by arbitrary regulations.
Could the answer lie in smallscale, but totally customizable manufacturing? Rapid prototyping machines could enable small workshops to produce an endless variety of parts, products and innovation. Just like the small, nimble PC in comparison to the big, old, bulky mainframe. Could the desktop manufacturing revolution become the successor to the desktop publishing revolution?
2 comments:
As a follow-up post, also consider the rise of one of the most promising cutting-edge rapid-prototyping technologies,
Selective Laser Sintering
which uses a high-powered laser to selectively fuse together fine particles of a given material, resulting in a 3-dimensional finished part of high quality and precise measurements.
As lasers become more cheaply available as solid state diodes, and even more powerful, then opportunities for using them for manufacturing will become ever more feasible.
well, san, my dad used to have this mechanic, a little old wizened guy. the guy worked on my dad's old fiat. whenever he couldn't find a part he needed, the little old guy would actually *just make it*! he machined things in his shop on a little ramshackle lathe that he had.
the ingenuity of the indian mechanic is legendary. they can fix any ambassador with nothing more than sealing wax and twine. no, you can't do this any more with all those fancy-dan fuel injection engines, but i am not kidding about the old days. the mechanics could and did fix anything.
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