RedFerret has a story about Maker Factory, a new free online service which connects factories with people who need stuff made.
The seekers post their needs (e.g. a waterproof pedometer) and the quantities wanted, and companies can respond to the request.
The whole service is very sparsely populated at the moment, but this could be a very interesting way to overcome the slump in global manufacturing which is happening at the moment.
Of course the big question is how hard is it to tool up for small quantities of products, but where there’s a will.
The site is ostensibly set up with a focus on 3D printing and Computer Controlled production, but there’s no reason why it couldn’t be adapted for more wide reaching products and production facilities.
Photo by Maker Factory.