Local manufacturing

I have written in the past (see "What’s Next:  The end of end of traditional toy manufacturing?) that I believe mini manufacturing on the local level is going to be a paradigm shifting phenomenon. Whether it is making products in the bedroom or at a small facility, it is going to happen and when it does concerns about shipping costs, customs and lead times will go out the window.

I have looking for the seeds of this phenomenon and they have been showing up in products like Techno Source’s “Printies” (in which a kid can make a cloth toy in their bedroom) to the falling prices on 3D printers which will allow a child to do the same thing in plastic.

Last Friday I visited the Toys R Us Times Square store and was struck by the “Puzzle Shots Factory.” It in essence allows a consumer to make a puzzle in the store. They choose a background, their picture is taken and, in a short time, a 200 piece puzzle is produced with their picture on it.

What intrigued me was the ability to produce a puzzle in a relatively small space. I have visited several puzzle factories in the past and the machines that stamp out puzzles are huge. It takes a lot of pressure to cut trough cardboard so the machines have to have size to them. How then was this piece of equipment able to produce a puzzle in such a small space?

I studied the puzzle and noted that they material used in making the puzzles is not cardboard or cork but a soft foam; because the foam was so soft it did not require much in the way of cutting power. Wow, how cool is that. 

It would be interesting to see a business model that envisions using this kind of material and some form of the equipment to do mini puzzle manufacturing centers near major customers. A company could manufacture to order and by doing so, cut down on the cost of freight and reduce the cost of carrying finished goods. 

Local manufacturing is going to happen; it’s just a matter of time.