Description
Repeat manufacturing of products that are sold under your own name or brand
Major variations
Making open source design products versus proprietary ones. Consumer products versus industrial. Producing to order versus to stock.
Potential impacts
- Making products that meet a local need or are not readily available
- Designing and making machines at a lower cost than importing them can introduce new capabilities and thus increase local production
- Making any products locally saves on transport and supports the local economy
- By making products close to the end user you may be able to offer customization options
Advantages
- If you are good at making products for which there is consistent demand, this can be a fairly stable source of revenue
Challenges
- Unlike when manufacturing is offered as a service, under this model you carry the financial risk if the products do not sell – so you need to make sure you are making products that the market wants.
- Standardised processes and quality control tend to be very important for product manufacturing, and these may not come easily to makerspaces which are typically more used to operating as prototyping and experimentation spaces.
Business model canvas
Key partners
- Suppliers of materials & components
- Open source hardware communities
- Government or NGOs who want to support local industry
- Installation or maintenance services
- Suppliers of complementary products
Key activities
- Product design
- Manufacturing
- Marketing
Key resources
- Market knowledge
- Technical expertise
- Machines & equipment for manufacturing
Value propositions
- Products not available locally
- Products tailored to local tastes or conditions
- Made to order/ customized products
- Cheaper or better versions of imported products
- Products with local maintenance or support options
Customer relationships
- Long term relationships with resellers and repeat buyers
- Transactional relationships with one-off buyers
Channels
- Independent Resellers
- Online sales
- In person, relationshipbased sales
- Marketplaces (online or offline)
Customer segments
Depending on the actual product, customers can be of almost any type:
- Individual consumers
- Institutional consumers
- Resellers
Cost structure
- Materials & components
- Machine usage and other direct production costs (labour, electricity, etc)
- Inventory carrying costs
- Market research
- Product design & development
- Marketing & costs of sales channels
Revenue streams
- Per unit sales price of the product
- In some cases, the product may be sold as part of a package
- For durable products, there may be ongoing revenue from spare parts or consumable items
Complementary models
Sharing knowledge and supporting others to develop skills, ranging from hands-on machine usage to soft skills like CV writing.
