Long Tail of Manufacturing
= As the long tail lashes through manufacturing technology, personal fabrication technologies will push product design and manufacturing methods onto the same path already traversed by the music and film industries, the mass media and ecommerce retailers. [1]
Description
Hod Lipson & Melba Kurman:
1.
"The long tail effect forever changes an industry when the following conditions are met: there’s a large selection of products or items to choose from, sufficient availability of these products, a large number of potential consumers, and low inventory and distribution costs. All of these forces are already in play in the emerging world of personal manufacturing technologies.
- First, thanks to ever-improving design software and creative designers, the
number of available electronic blueprints is increasing daily.
- Second, electronic blueprints can be endlessly replicated quickly and easily.
- Third, there’s a quickly growing population of people who own their own
personal fabrication machines and those who prefer to shop for designs and let someone else handle the manufacturing.
- Finally, since objects are made in small batches as demand dictates, no inventory
is necessary for a retailer who sells custom-manufactured, custom-designed products." (http://web.mae.cornell.edu/lipson/FactoryAtHome.pdf)
Example
Thingiverse
Hod Lipson & Melba Kurman:
"the long tail of manufacturing is gradually taking shape on web sites such as thingiverse.com which describes itself as “a place for friends to share digital designs for physical objects” (reminiscent of Napster). A quick browse of thingiverse.com reveals an online flea market of electronic blueprints for objects anyone can make if they have access to a personal fabricator.
For example, in the
online catalog, a plastic model of the Notre Dame cathedral (“Cathedral Play Set”) is
offered alongside a Filament Guide Bracket (a part for a 3D printer) and a pair of
black plastic nerd glasses."
(http://web.mae.cornell.edu/lipson/FactoryAtHome.pdf)