Africa Budget

Introduction

I have heard many stories of third world aid projects which bring industrial equipment to Africa - but for reasons of supply chains or lack of social assessment - there are thousands of broken machines scattered through Africa because the technology was not appropriated by the local population - or parts were not available and as soon as the machine broke it could not be repaired.

To address the issue of supply chains - it is important that any equipment sent to Africa is sent with an infrastructure for both building the equipment from scratch, and for educating local people of how to do this.

OSE's answer to this is the open source microfactory - where the tools in the open source microfactory are used to build machines and service them. Further, the OSE Microfactory would be staffed by OSE, to assure that locals are trained - to do 4 things:

1. Build and maintain the production machines
2. Build and maintain the machines that are produced
3. Operate the machines
4. Start enterprises (1) producing both production and end-use machines, (2) running enterprises that use the resulting machines, (3) and (3) building replication facilities for training and production in other locations

Use Case

For a facility that produces CEB Machines and other supporting construction equipment necessary for building with CEBs, we propose to build a facility that uses all open source equipment, that is land-based, and that is made from the CEBs themselves.

Facility

Description of facility:

• 4000 square feet, with CEB walls, similar to the existing 4000 sf workshop at Open Source Ecology
• Off-grid - includes 100kW of PV energy and 50kWhr of nickel-iron battery storage. Double this would be useful, adding $50k more to the budget
• Based on 40 acres to include integrated agriculture as part of the operation
• Manufacturing/Construction equipment:

• CNC Torch Table - $3k
• Oxyhydrogen production - $1k
• CNC multimachine - $3k
• 3D Printer, circuit mill, small laser cutter, filament maker, plastic shredder (desktop microfactory) - $3.5k
• Charcoal maker - $2k
• Gasifier + engines - $4k
• Tractor - $10k
• Bulldozer - $30k
• Backhoe - $5k
• Soil Mixer/Conditioner - $5k
• CEB Press - $7k (on trailer)
• Welders - $4k
• Hand tools and power tools - $4k
• Ironworker machine - $3k

Total - about $100k (or $150k with more PV/storage)

Budget:

• PV - $50k
• Batteries - $20k
• Powered by gasifier system - if budget is low, but is not as environmentally sound depending on location
• Roof - $5k
• Windows, doors, lumber - $5k
• Foundation - $5k
• Electrical - $2k
• Walls - $5k
• Labor - $10k

Total: About $100k

Timeline -

• Year 1 - recruiting team; engineering development; training OSE Fellows
• Year 2 - 3 Fellows arrive on site in Year 2 to build facility, and contract local labor
• All equipment delivered on site for Year 2
• Year 3 - Microfactory interior buildout and beginning of training program

Budget Narrative

The idea is to build a factory based on open source equipment, using the simplest possible design - using common, off-the shelf parts, or using parts that can be manufactured readily in the microfactory itself. That capacity includes CNC torching, CNC machining, circuit fabrication, and 3D printing. Local plastic waste can be used to produce 3D printing filament. Circuits can be built from off-shelf components. Replacement parts can be CNC machined. The only local requirements are steel and concrete. A supply of virgin steel must be available.

OSE has done a decade of R&D, with the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) being 33% complete - see GVCS Completion Status. The project is under active development. To produce a robust open source microfactory, the machines involved need to be perfected. To this end, the budget involves 7 full time engineers for the first year, to handle each of the 7 main machine areas:

• Tractor + Power Cube + Backhoe
• Bulldozer
• Brick press + soil conditioner
• Inverter + Welder
• Gasifier + Charcoal production
• CNC Torch Table + Oxyhydrogen Production + Ironworker machine
• Welders + open source 3d printed hand tools - Power Tool Construction Set + cordless drills, saws, etc

Once the technology is perfected, we send 3 trained OSE Fellows to the site of interest. They build the Microfactory in 1 year using the open source equipment (tractor, bulldozer, backhoe, CEB press, Soil Mixer, other tools). In year 2, the facility is populated with the equipment (CNC torch, oxyhydrogen production,

Budget

To replicate a heavy machine production digital microfactory in Africa as of 2018 would require the following over 3 years. Assumptions:

• Ability to source virgin steel
• Autonomy on off-grid equipment, facility, energy.
• Land-based facility integrated with regenerative agriculture.
• OSE Fellows and their tuition are funded for 3 years with financial sustainability in year 3

Year 1

• 7 full time engineers @ $100k/yr - $700k
• OSE Fellows Tuition for training program x3 - $19.5k
• Fellows Stipend x3 @$4k/mo - $150k

Subtotal - $870k

Year 2-3

• Open Source Equipment (tractor, dozer, backhoe, CEB, mixer, gasifier, CNC torch, welder, CNC multimachine, oxyhydrogen production, gasifier, charcoal maker + BOS) - $100k
• Open Source Facility (4000 sf, off grid PV + nickel iron batteries, CEB structure + BOS) - $100k
• Transport - 2 containers - $20k
• Staff + admin, 3 years - $125k
• OSE Fellows Tuition x3 - $19.5k
• Fellows Stipend x3 @$6k/mo - $360k
• Travel x4, 2x per year, $2k a pop - $32k
• Land, 40 acres (donated)

Subtotal - $757k

Total - $1.6M

Discussion

• Equipment and facility costs need to be validated