One thing I've thought about is manufacturing going back to a piece rate system like it was centuries ago where people produced parts at home or at a facility and employees are only paid by the piece. What if people machined parts in hackerspaces/makerspaces or built furniture pieces like on Etsy and sold online? How feasible would it be for them to compete with larger manufacturers?
Some basic math I did was on building a table for furniture.
I can get the lumber I need to make a small end table from yellow pine for about $5. Let's assume it takes me 20 minutes to cut all the pieces for one table, as well as use the planer to smooth/even them out. Let's also assume I spend 20 minutes gluing the top together. And then let's say it takes me another 20 minutes to do final assembly using screws for legs/supports. I've maybe used 6 or 7 bucks in materials, at most. And it's taken me an hour to build this end table. Look at what end tables sell for - lowest I see is around 60 bucks, many times 100 or more. These comparable sales on Google Shopping and Etsy I'm looking at aren't even painted. Wal-Mart had a small table like this made of fiberboard that was not assembled for 40 dollars. With the proper setup, I believe this run time could be reduced more, maybe to half an hour or even less. I'm using conservative numbers to make the point.
So I have 1 hour of labor per table in production time + let's just say 8 bucks in materials. Now assume I'm selling 20 at a time to a retailer or distributor, and I'm selling them for 40 dollars.
Gross Sales of 20*40 = 800
COGS of 20*8 = 160
Gross Profit of 800 - 160 = 640
640 / 20 hours = 32 dollars per hour I'm getting paid to make these tables.
Of course there's distribution/shipping - I'm not sure exactly what the convention is for retailers to get furniture, i.e. whether they pick-up or I have to handle freight. Even then, surely there's a way around this. People could make products for specific markets - like making things in a city specifically for distribution within that city and nearby areas.
The big issue I see is that the production capacity would be small, but if you spread this out over a large number of people doing this, that would get larger.
What I'm basically asking about is an Uber of manufacturing.
Some basic math I did was on building a table for furniture.
I can get the lumber I need to make a small end table from yellow pine for about $5. Let's assume it takes me 20 minutes to cut all the pieces for one table, as well as use the planer to smooth/even them out. Let's also assume I spend 20 minutes gluing the top together. And then let's say it takes me another 20 minutes to do final assembly using screws for legs/supports. I've maybe used 6 or 7 bucks in materials, at most. And it's taken me an hour to build this end table. Look at what end tables sell for - lowest I see is around 60 bucks, many times 100 or more. These comparable sales on Google Shopping and Etsy I'm looking at aren't even painted. Wal-Mart had a small table like this made of fiberboard that was not assembled for 40 dollars. With the proper setup, I believe this run time could be reduced more, maybe to half an hour or even less. I'm using conservative numbers to make the point.
So I have 1 hour of labor per table in production time + let's just say 8 bucks in materials. Now assume I'm selling 20 at a time to a retailer or distributor, and I'm selling them for 40 dollars.
Gross Sales of 20*40 = 800
COGS of 20*8 = 160
Gross Profit of 800 - 160 = 640
640 / 20 hours = 32 dollars per hour I'm getting paid to make these tables.
Of course there's distribution/shipping - I'm not sure exactly what the convention is for retailers to get furniture, i.e. whether they pick-up or I have to handle freight. Even then, surely there's a way around this. People could make products for specific markets - like making things in a city specifically for distribution within that city and nearby areas.
The big issue I see is that the production capacity would be small, but if you spread this out over a large number of people doing this, that would get larger.
What I'm basically asking about is an Uber of manufacturing.