Future manufacturing
From Future of Local Services to the Public
From Clayton, S. and Schultz, W. (April 2008) 'Local Government Horizon Scan 2015-30'
Summary
- People are increasingly demanding products built to individual specification - ‘mass customization.’ This may transform manufacturing models: from centralized factory to small assembly lines close to customers that tailor products to individual tastes.
- The line between consumer and creator is blurring: people harnessing new technologies and media to create content and products which they share with like-minded communities via social network sites like YouTube, Flickr, and Livejournal.
- Consumers will control more manufacturing when ‘3D fabricators’, offshoots of today’s rapid proto-typers, are available for home use. One day every home will have a 3D fabricator, a machine that replicates objects from plans supplied by a computer.
- Electroactive polymers, flexonics, will enable electronic circuits to be embedded in fabricated objects.
