3 ms·
You're ignoring the rest of the supply chain and localization of talent. If I run out of a chip in the states it might be a week or two of the line being down,
by m-ee 6y ago
You're ignoring the rest of the supply chain and localization of talent. If I run out of a chip in the states it might be a week or two of the line being down, in Shenzen I can have more that day. Similarly if I need to have a test fixture made or modified on short notice where do you think the talent is? Even if a US shop could do it better, which is a big if, can they do it faster? Cheaper? And why wouldn't I want engineers located near my assembly line close to the previously mentioned chips for the install? There's quite a few steps between design and final assembly, and for a lot of products assembly is much more than smacking something with a hammer.
EDIT- I'd add that this isn't just about China or moving manufacturing to the cheapest location. Let's say I need a specialty injection molded part with tough requirements for med device. The best shop might be in the US, or maybe Germany, or maybe Mexicali. Automation isn't going to change that.
- zackees 6y ago3D print it. Yes automation solves it.
- varjag 6y agoVery few useful tools or machines are 3d-printable, due to tolerance and strength constraints.
- ClumsyPilot 6y agoIt is not a universal solution, both because it's slow, and because of various limitations and faults it introduces. There are dozens of manufacturing processes, some of them fairly new and modern, that will never go away.
- m-ee 6y agoNot trying to be rude here, but have you designed a plastic part for production? This isn't remotely practical for many if not most applications that I have seen. Cost, tolerance, surface finish, yield are all major issues. It's also far less automatable than injection molding. Post processing an SLA part for example is very manual, injection molded parts come out of the tool ready for use. What do you think is going to change about that?