
Ask HN: Anyone doing Small scale manufacturing - ashnyc
Hi Hacker News, anyone here that is doing small scale manufacturing. I think this is the future of manufacturing in USA. It is the one area where the small guy still has a good chance of succeeding and competing against large manufactures . I know there is a lot of people making and selling on ETSY, but most of the sellers there are low volume. I would love to start a conversation with people in the filed. Especially with people that have created a software to help them manage the entire process. I have looked all over the net for a mordern erp system. One that connects your shopping cart and your raw material and helps you manage the entire process.
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HeyLaughingBoy
You need to be more specific.

What counts as "small scale manufacturing?" I build sensor products and
controllers in my basement and sell them direct. Is that small scale enough?

There are thousands of 2-5 person machine shops turning out thousands of small
parts per day. Is that what you mean?

Fine-furniture makers, small boat builders, custom farm equipment fabricators
may build 5 - 500 pieces per year, is that closer?

You're asking an open-ended question. Manufacturing has always interested me
and I'd love to get involved in a conversation, but right now I don't really
understand your motivation.

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ashnyc
What are your biggest challenges. Are you doing everything by your self ? or
do you have a few employees. How many controllers do you build a day or week

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HeyLaughingBoy
My biggest challenge is lack of customers.

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ashnyc
then you have to adapt your product. I tried to see your site but i did not
see any of your products

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endswapper
I work with a full range of manufacturers, large and small, globally.
EndSwapper is focused on raw materials. I'm not sure you will ever see a
single system that does it all. You may see an Amazon-like aggregator that
gives a top view and manages connecting all of the various pieces behind the
scenes.

I think manufacturing is poised for tremendous growth in the US as incumbents
and new players leverage new technology for manufacturing and environmental
health & safety. I haven't seen Tesla's manufacturing processes which are
claimed to far advanced of current methods. If they are what they claim, they
may be leading industry 4.0 in the automotive sector.

Traditionally, to manufacture on a large scale there are geographic
limitations. When you apply affordable, renewable energy and some other
available technologies those limitations are eliminated and the approach and
strategy can be completely shaken up.

Going back to Tesla, if you have autonomous solar trucks to deliver cars and
handle inbound logistics for materials and parts you can scale like crazy on
cheap land in the desert and supply the entire country, and the world. When
overseas shipping is solar, or hydrogen driven, Tesla can supply the world
from Fontana, while having a minimal carbon footprint.

Is there a particular industry or product you are interested in?

Happy to discuss further offline as well. chris at endswapper dot com

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ashnyc
Yes sorry i should better explain. What i am interested about is small
manufactures that have employees. Right now we employ 3 to 4 people full time.
Doing production is challenging, not because it is hard work but because there
is a lot of moving parts. You have to keep track of a many components. That
complexity only grows as you add more product. 1 product = 5 components 10
product = 50 components . Then if you included, marketing, customer service ,
it is a lot to handle. I think making something locally and selling it
directly to customers online is the wave of the future for the developed
world. Running such an organization is really challenging. But i think it can
all be automated, not by using robots but with software. A software should
tell you what to make, when to make it, how much to make of it, and also
manage your raw material. This is what we are working on and would love to
talk to others that are faced with the same issue.

~~~
Axsuul
Hey how can I reach out? My email is in my profile

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Mz
It is nearly a decade old, but I enjoyed this book:

Fab: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop--from Personal Computers to
Personal Fabrication Paperback – February 6, 2007

[https://www.amazon.com/Fab-Revolution-Desktop-Computers-
Fabr...](https://www.amazon.com/Fab-Revolution-Desktop-Computers-
Fabrication/dp/0465027466/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1478118393&sr=1-3&keywords=Fab)

~~~
ashnyc
3 d printers etc will be a big industry but that is not what i am referring
to. I am thinking more about candle makers, Leather garment makers, perfume
makers, bitter makers etc. Small scale manufactures can now sell directly to
customers via the internet which has leveled the playing filed against big
brands but there is a lot of complexity in the back end that needs to be
automated

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theveloped
Not in the US myself but totally agree with you on the future of
manufacturing.

Personally I'm very interested in developing software/interfaces to digital
manufacturing processes as to allow mass production of customized/personalized
products.

Would be great to talk to likely minded people and people from industry that
could use these kind of tools.

~~~
ashnyc
Lets talk, how about google hangout

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shanecleveland
ERP software like you describe:
[http://acctvantage.com](http://acctvantage.com)

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ashnyc
I look at the erp software and it does not seem to fit the bill. We are
looking for something that makes it easy to train employees and web based. We
want our business to run like a restaurant. if you have a phone i can call you
to talk more

