Extreme Manufacturing Workshop
Introduction
A model of localized production proposed by Open Source Ecology. This model is based on social production, swarm builds where a large groups of people builds one or multiple products in a single day. This model includes education and production in one, where people are exposed to immersion learning of build skills. This model does not assume prior skills of manufacturing on the part of the participants. Participants can be novices, and they are guided by experienced guides. Further, looping videos provide added instructions. This model can be applied to production in local microfactories, and also for team building and skills training - or any combination of these. This model is marked by:
- Extreme efficiency- allows for buildingn of complex or heavy machines in a single day. And this is not just assembly - it is also actual manufacturing steps of parts.
- Modular design - modular product design allows for many teams to work in parallel on independent modules, which are then assembled rapidly into the final product
- Automation - digital design and fabrication tools (3D printing, CNC torch table, CNC machining, etc) are key to augmenting human efficiency
- Excellent documentation - workflows are optimized and language agnostic instructionals are available to facilitate the build process
- Scalability - if the instructions are clear, sourcing is one-click automated, and a large enough facility is provided with audio-visual equipment - this process can scale from 12 to possibly as high as 1000 people. OSE has already demostrated a build of a single heavy machine in one day (CEB Press), 12 3D printers in one day - and one 1250 square foot house in 5 days with 60 people. We are continuing to scale our experiments to more people.
Links
See our economic model for Extreme Manufacturing - and see our current workshop offerings at http://opensourceecology.org/workshops-and-programs/