I own a small factory - 15,000 sq ft, and ten employees. We are currently doing mostly 'build on demand' which is another way to say 'Just-in-time'(0). About 50

I own a small factory - 15,000 sq ft, and ten employees. We are currently doing mostly 'build on demand' which is another way to say 'Just-in-time'(0). About 50% of the daily shipments are products built _that day_. We are offering custom colors, personalized engraving, and will even change some of the dimensions for a single piece order. The parts that we sell that are not build on demand have usually been created within two weeks. There is nothing dusty in the warehouse, it just doesn't stay around. This is all possible because of flexible tooling and processes. We get our raw material from all over the country, and a small portion of the parts are sourced internationally. I would bet/hope the future looks somewhat like the path we are on. Many consumers seem to want similar things as everyone else, just a little different and custom. As for depreciation, on a small scale the Section 179 provision works quite well for us. The IRS will let you deduct $500,000 per year in the same year the equipment was put into service(1). As long as I don't spend more than $500,000 that year on equipment, then no depreciation schedule needed, just take it all that year. An operation the size of mine can't spend that much anyway! I own a few 3D printers, and after using them I am not worried about my future. I think the most likely outcome of better machines in the 'push button, make stuff' area will just be more and more complex items that are built on shorter runs. Infrastructure is good enough to get products shipped around easily. So I think in the future will be small operations like mine making semi-custom stuff more complex than you can make yourself. It will be like printing, the desktop printer brought the ability to make nice printouts home but it didn't kill high speed offset printing. Now we get high speed offset printing with each copy able to have each print with a different picture and wording. As domestic tools get better, so do industrial tools. Someone using a tool everyday can afford much better tools than a hobbyist. Also consider time - A 3D printer might take 8 hours to print that Yoda figurine, and Amazon is trying to get you the molded one in a couple of hours. As long as you live in an urban area, you would still be faster with Amazon. 0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_in_time_(business) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_in_time_(business) 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_179_depreciation_deduction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_179_depreciation_deduct...