Manufacturing has been around for centuries, of course. In modern times, the development of industry that began in Great Britain in the late 18th century and rapidly spread worldwide transformed an agrarian society into an industrial one. What resulted was the mechanization of agriculture, the acceleration of the textile industry, and a harnessing of mechanized power in the form of steamships and railroads. The revolution that ensued — the Industrial Revolution’s first wave — was characterized by the use of steam power, the proliferation of factories and the mass production of manufactured goods.
The Industrial Revolution in the United States is credited for giving birth to today’s modern cities. During this, arguably the Industrial Revolution’s second wave, workers came to cities in droves to look for employment in the factories. Henry Ford’s successful commercialization of the assembly line increased manufacturing output to levels only previously dreamed about. Housing was needed to shelter factory workers and their families; workers required food, transportation and security. Employment was abundant and technological advancement soon followed, increasing productivity and commercial output. These advances had a large transformative impact on the United States’ — and the world’s — social, cultural, educational and economic systems.
Today, a new Industrial Revolution takes place on a global scale and accelerates at an unprecedented pace. In the revolution’s third wave, technologydriven innovation converges in the form of predictive software, space-age materials, dexterous robots, 3-D printers and “cloud” computing. While the factories of the Industrial Revolution’s first and second waves were known for producing billions of identical products, the factory of the revolution’s third wave produces products tailored precisely to customers’ specific designs and individual desires. Today’s factories produce output based on a mass customization model in which standardization is no longer the norm. To reflect this de-standardization approach, today’s factories resemble small workshops instead of football field sized, assembly line-driven mega-factories producing homogeneous units.
This is a transformative shift, but those small workshops need to be located somewhere. Fulfilling this need gave way to a concept that is as old as manufacturing itself but also as new as laser printing. Makerspaces — sometimes called “fab labs” — allow for like-minded individuals to congregate, tinker and experiment. By housing the efforts of individuals or groups, makerspaces allow for the sharing of space, tools and equipment. These spaces are found on university campuses, in downtown centers, scattered about industrial parks, and more and more, found in close proximity to 3-D printers. Simply, makerspaces are where magic happens.
Makerspaces are frequented by individuals who build things. The maker facilities — micro-factories, if you will — are learning places where community members design, prototype and create manufactured works that wouldn’t be possible to create with the limited resources of individuals working alone. The community aspect underscores a deep culture of building things, a culture that was born centuries ago and is practiced worldwide.
The maker movement extends beyond individuals to include for-profit companies, nonprofit corporations, and organizations affiliated with or hosted within schools, universities and/or libraries. Individuals and institutions are united in the purpose of providing access to equipment, community and education. All can be uniquely arranged to contribute to fulfilling the goals of the community where makerspaces are located and operated.
The maker movement is surging, as evident by makerspaces located far and wide. It reflects the democratization of design, engineering, fabrication, education and commercialization; although it is a global movement, it represents a return of America to relevance — and in many cases, superiority — when it comes to manufacturing. Wherever they are located, makerspaces produce outcomes and outputs that have significant national and worldwide impact. Even though the concept of makerspaces has been around for centuries (workshops are as American as apple pie), the maker movement’s strength is rooted in its centuries-old embrace by hobbyists, do-it-yourselfers, craftsmen and “tinkerers.”
Many “maker” activities are a technology-based extension of a do-ityourself culture. Unlike hacker culture, which is less concerned with physical objects and creating prototypes, maker culture emphasizes both. This culture is a global phenomenon with roots firmly established in local communities, where the maker community is comprised of individuals who have varied interests and skill levels. Makers are all around us; they range from industry experts to garage tinkerers. For some, maker culture is a full-time job, while for others, it’s a vocation they pursue in their spare time. Today’s maker engages in engineeringoriented activities such as electronics, robotics, 3-D printing, and the use of tools and equipment to produce objects, devices and products. Yesteryear’s maker performed more traditional activities such as metalworking, woodworking, and yes, arts and crafts. Regardless of its era, the maker culture stresses problem-solving and incrementally achieved innovations; practitioners apply a cut-and-paste approach to advance standardized hobbyist technologies. Makers around the world re-use designs published on websites and maker-oriented (do-ityourself) publications — following a semi “open source” method that focuses on using and learning practical skills — and apply them to conceive, build and commercialize innovations.