Distributed manufacturing

Distributed manufacturing (or Distributed production or local manufacturing) is about being able to produce what you need close to where you are

Enabled by:

• Peer-to-peer (P2P) features that are developing in today's society
• Technology enabling automation of production from designs encoded on computer and production at home with an open-source 3-D printer such as the RepRap.

This form of production is ocuring now with 3-D printers and with Fablab, which are already prototyped and in use throughout the world. Initial life cycle analysis indicates that distributed production can have a smaller impact on the environment than conventional manufacturing and shipping because of reductions in transportation embodied energy.^[1]

Examples:

• Fablab

• Open-source, self-replicating 3-D printer factory for small-business manufacturing
• Multi-material additive and subtractive prosumer digital fabrication with a free and open-source convertible delta RepRap 3-D printer
• Mobile Open-Source Solar-Powered 3-D Printers for Distributed Manufacturing in Off-Grid Communities
• Evaluation of Potential Fair Trade Standards for an Ethical 3-D Printing Filament
• Reversing the Trend of Large Scale and Centralization in Manufacturing: The Case of Distributed Manufacturing of Customizable 3-D-Printable Self-Adjustable Glasses
• Life-cycle economic analysis of distributed manufacturing with open-source 3-D printers
• Open source 3-D printing of OSAT
• Green manufacturing
• Local food
• Environmental impacts of distributed manufacturing from 3-D printing of polymer components and products
• RepRap