3 ms·

"There is no AWS-equivalent for hardware." Someone want to make a few billion dollars?

by revx 13y ago

monsterix 13y ago
China is the AWS-equivalent for hardware, guess we didn't realize it. :)
cdixon 13y ago
Agreed. That is a ridiculously hard problem but in my opinion perhaps the most important tech problem of our time.
- dakrisht 13y ago
  China is somewhat the AWS of hardware (I mean we're definitely never making anything in the US again, that's for sure)... But it is a very big problem indeed. And a totally different, human interaction driven issue to say the least. It would be nice to have more transparency during the process. Developing, prototyping, and manufacturing hardware (and generally dealing with China) can be a painful process even if you have great contacts and know what you're doing. Companies like PCH International alleviate quite a few of these problems when dealing with hardware and maybe we need to see more of these sprout up. The middleman is huge in the China issue. The 3D printing "revolution" is still in its infancy, it's tough to print high-res models for prototyping certain items and you end up deferring to styrofoam and other methods of prototyping before you get to the tooling stage. But it will improve. It's so refreshing to read articles like this and to see a hardware renaissance in the Valley and throughout the industry in general. I'm getting so sick and tired of "Hey, check out my new app, it's like Instagram and it's social" Enough of this crap. People need to make things, it's tough, but as someone who's a few months into a hardware start up, I'll say this: it's a great feeling to simply hold something in your hands. Let's make stuff!
  - jacalulu 13y ago
    I've spent the past 3 weeks interviewing with various accelerators across North America and I think my favourite quotes from the entire experience were: "so you guys are like real engineers" [in reference to us making hardware] and "Oh, so you're not just another mobile app" I love reading about hardware startups - I'm really excited about the next generation of things to come!
    - dakrisht 13y ago
      I think it's hilarious how kids these days think they are in the "technology business" because they launched an e-commerce website or paid a company $25k to build them an app. But may the best man win...
  - HeyLaughingBoy 13y ago
    (I mean we're definitely never making anything in the US again, that's for sure ??? What does this mean? The US is making more stuff today that it ever has at any time in its past. We may not make a lot of super-cheap consumer gadgets, but there's more to the manufacturing world than disposable crap.
  - mindcrime 13y ago
    I mean we're definitely never making anything in the US again, that's for sure That may be true, it may not. It's a topic that's actually the subject of intense debate right his minute. Many people contend that the US is in the midst of a "manufacturing renaissance" as manufacturing moves back here from China. Not everybody agrees that it's a meaningful trend, but it's certainly not a given that US manufacturing is dead. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/01/is-u-s-manufacturing-set-for-a-comeback-or-is-it-all-hype/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/01/i... https://mninews.marketnews.com/index.php/us-isms-derry-reshoring-underway-jobs-moving-closer-us?q=content/us-isms-derry-reshoring-underway-jobs-moving-closer-us https://mninews.marketnews.com/index.php/us-isms-derry-resho... http://business.time.com/2013/03/28/is-the-u-s-manufacturing-renaissance-real/ http://business.time.com/2013/03/28/is-the-u-s-manufacturing... http://www.plasticstoday.com/blogs/reshoring-its-lot-hopeful-hype0501201202 http://www.plasticstoday.com/blogs/reshoring-its-lot-hopeful... https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=reshoring https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&#3... https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=manufacturing+renaissance https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&#3...
w1ntermute 13y ago
Isn't that what the 3D printing revolution is (will be?) all about?
akg_67 13y ago
For certain hardware prototypes, Raspberry Pi, Beagleboard and Arduino are good platforms to start with. They are the AWS equivalent for hardware from price point perspective.
siong1987 13y ago
PCH International comes pretty close. They even have an accelerator program[1] to help hardware startups to manufacture their products in China. I usually don't like to comment on rumors. I heard that some people from Amazon are already working on a AWS-equivalent for hardware too based on their experiences from manufacturing the Kindle. If you know anyone from Lab126[2], ask them about it. [1]: http://www.pchintl.com/accelerator/accelerator.aspx http://www.pchintl.com/accelerator/accelerator.aspx [2]: http://www.lab126.com/index.htm http://www.lab126.com/index.htm
- dakrisht 13y ago
  PCH is the global leader for supply chain management and manufacturing (they make some of the most popular products we all use today) and they also have a new accelerator program launching this summer. But accelerators are generally reserved for people with little to no experience in the craft, bare-bones resources and simply just ideas... They help a lot and bring great resources (connections, labs, some get little funding) but I've personally never been a big accelerator supporter... Except YC, which seems to have a 90%+ funding rate once you pass... But this is a subjective position here.
jonemo 13y ago
Funny how OP used that phrase, that's my one sentence summary of FabEngine.com (http://fabengine.com/get-ready-for-manufacturing-as-a-service http://fabengine.com/get-ready-for-manufacturing-as-a-servic...). If anyone is interested, I am still looking for one or two partners to get this off the ground starting this summer.

"There is no AWS-equivalent for hardware." Someone want to make a few billion dollars?

by revx 13y ago

"There is no AWS-equivalent for hardware." Someone want to make a few billion dollars?

monsterix 13y ago

China is the AWS-equivalent for hardware, guess we didn't realize it. :)

cdixon 13y ago

Agreed. That is a ridiculously hard problem but in my opinion perhaps the most important tech problem of our time.

dakrisht 13y ago
China is somewhat the AWS of hardware (I mean we're definitely never making anything in the US again, that's for sure)... But it is a very big problem indeed. And a totally different, human interaction driven issue to say the least. It would be nice to have more transparency during the process. Developing, prototyping, and manufacturing hardware (and generally dealing with China) can be a painful process even if you have great contacts and know what you're doing. Companies like PCH International alleviate quite a few of these problems when dealing with hardware and maybe we need to see more of these sprout up. The middleman is huge in the China issue. The 3D printing "revolution" is still in its infancy, it's tough to print high-res models for prototyping certain items and you end up deferring to styrofoam and other methods of prototyping before you get to the tooling stage. But it will improve. It's so refreshing to read articles like this and to see a hardware renaissance in the Valley and throughout the industry in general. I'm getting so sick and tired of "Hey, check out my new app, it's like Instagram and it's social" Enough of this crap. People need to make things, it's tough, but as someone who's a few months into a hardware start up, I'll say this: it's a great feeling to simply hold something in your hands. Let's make stuff!
- jacalulu 13y ago
  I've spent the past 3 weeks interviewing with various accelerators across North America and I think my favourite quotes from the entire experience were: "so you guys are like real engineers" [in reference to us making hardware] and "Oh, so you're not just another mobile app" I love reading about hardware startups - I'm really excited about the next generation of things to come!
  - dakrisht 13y ago
    I think it's hilarious how kids these days think they are in the "technology business" because they launched an e-commerce website or paid a company $25k to build them an app. But may the best man win...
- HeyLaughingBoy 13y ago
  (I mean we're definitely never making anything in the US again, that's for sure ??? What does this mean? The US is making more stuff today that it ever has at any time in its past. We may not make a lot of super-cheap consumer gadgets, but there's more to the manufacturing world than disposable crap.
- mindcrime 13y ago
  I mean we're definitely never making anything in the US again, that's for sure That may be true, it may not. It's a topic that's actually the subject of intense debate right his minute. Many people contend that the US is in the midst of a "manufacturing renaissance" as manufacturing moves back here from China. Not everybody agrees that it's a meaningful trend, but it's certainly not a given that US manufacturing is dead. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/01/is-u-s-manufacturing-set-for-a-comeback-or-is-it-all-hype/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/01/i... https://mninews.marketnews.com/index.php/us-isms-derry-reshoring-underway-jobs-moving-closer-us?q=content/us-isms-derry-reshoring-underway-jobs-moving-closer-us https://mninews.marketnews.com/index.php/us-isms-derry-resho... http://business.time.com/2013/03/28/is-the-u-s-manufacturing-renaissance-real/ http://business.time.com/2013/03/28/is-the-u-s-manufacturing... http://www.plasticstoday.com/blogs/reshoring-its-lot-hopeful-hype0501201202 http://www.plasticstoday.com/blogs/reshoring-its-lot-hopeful... https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=reshoring https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&#3... https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=manufacturing+renaissance https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&#3...

w1ntermute 13y ago

Isn't that what the 3D printing revolution is (will be?) all about?

akg_67 13y ago

For certain hardware prototypes, Raspberry Pi, Beagleboard and Arduino are good platforms to start with. They are the AWS equivalent for hardware from price point perspective.

siong1987 13y ago

PCH International comes pretty close. They even have an accelerator program[1] to help hardware startups to manufacture their products in China. I usually don't like to comment on rumors. I heard that some people from Amazon are already working on a AWS-equivalent for hardware too based on their experiences from manufacturing the Kindle. If you know anyone from Lab126[2], ask them about it. [1]: http://www.pchintl.com/accelerator/accelerator.aspx http://www.pchintl.com/accelerator/accelerator.aspx [2]: http://www.lab126.com/index.htm http://www.lab126.com/index.htm

dakrisht 13y ago
PCH is the global leader for supply chain management and manufacturing (they make some of the most popular products we all use today) and they also have a new accelerator program launching this summer. But accelerators are generally reserved for people with little to no experience in the craft, bare-bones resources and simply just ideas... They help a lot and bring great resources (connections, labs, some get little funding) but I've personally never been a big accelerator supporter... Except YC, which seems to have a 90%+ funding rate once you pass... But this is a subjective position here.

jonemo 13y ago

Funny how OP used that phrase, that's my one sentence summary of FabEngine.com (http://fabengine.com/get-ready-for-manufacturing-as-a-service http://fabengine.com/get-ready-for-manufacturing-as-a-servic...). If anyone is interested, I am still looking for one or two partners to get this off the ground starting this summer.