{{Short description|Coordinated decentralized manufacturing}} '''Distributed manufacturing''', also known as '''distributed production''', '''cloud producing, distributed digital manufacturing,''' and '''local manufacturing''', is a form of decentralized manufacturing practiced by enterprises using a network of geographically dispersed manufacturing facilities that are coordinated using information technology. It can also refer to local manufacture via the historic cottage industry model, or manufacturing that takes place in the homes of consumers.
==Enterprise== In enterprise environments, the primary attribute of distributed manufacturing is the ability to create value at geographically dispersed locations. For example, shipping costs could be minimized when products are built geographically close to their intended markets.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Durach|first1=Christian F.|last2=Kurpjuweit|first2=Stefan|last3=Wagner|first3=Stephan M.|date=2017-09-25|title=The impact of additive manufacturing on supply chains|journal=International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management|volume=47|issue=10|pages=954–971|doi=10.1108/ijpdlm-11-2016-0332|issn=0960-0035}}</ref> Also, products manufactured in a number of small facilities distributed over a wide area can be customized with details adapted to individual or regional tastes. Manufacturing components in different physical locations and then managing the supply chain to bring them together for final assembly of a product is also considered a form of distributed manufacturing.<ref name=Chrisman>{{cite web|last=Chrisman|first=Ray|title=Enhancement of Distributed Manufacturing using expanded Process Intensification Concepts|url=http://depts.washington.edu/cpac/Activities/Meetings/Satellite/2010/Wednesday/Chrisman_The%20Value%20of%20Distributed%20Manufacturing.pdf|publisher=University of Washington|access-date=7 May 2013}}</ref><ref name="Kühnle2010">{{cite book|author=Hermann Kühnle|title=Distributed Manufacturing: Paradigm, Concepts, Solutions and Examples|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9AnmyB1Gs-0C|access-date=7 May 2013|year=2010|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-84882-707-3}}</ref> Digital networks combined with additive manufacturing allow companies a decentralized and geographically independent distributed production (cloud manufacturing).<ref name="Bopp2010">{{cite book|author=Felix Bopp|title=Future Business Models by Additive Manufacturing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M_SmmUOwsWwC|access-date=4 July 2014|year=2010|publisher=Verlag|isbn=978-3-8366-8508-5}}</ref>
==Consumer== Within the maker movement and DIY culture, small scale production by consumers often using peer-to-peer resources is being referred to as distributed manufacturing. Consumers download digital designs from an open design repository website like Youmagine or Thingiverse and produce a product for low costs through a distributed network of 3D printing services such as 3D Hubs, [https://www.geomiq.com Geomiq]. In the most distributed form of distributed manufacturing the consumer becomes a prosumer and manufacturers products at home<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Petersen |first1=Emily E. |last2=Pearce |first2=Joshua |date=2017 |title=Emergence of Home Manufacturing in the Developed World: Return on Investment for Open-Source 3-D Printers |journal=Technologies |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |page=7 |doi=10.3390/technologies5010007 |issn=2227-7080 |doi-access=free }}</ref> with an open-source 3-D printer such as the RepRap.<ref>Sells, Ed, Zach Smith, Sebastien Bailard, Adrian Bowyer, and Vik Olliver. "Reprap: the replicating rapid prototyper: maximizing customizability by breeding the means of production." HANDBOOK OF RESEARCH IN MASS CUSTOMIZATION AND PERSONALIZATION, (2010).</ref><ref>Jones, R., Haufe, P., Sells, E., Iravani, P., Olliver, V., Palmer, C., & Bowyer, A. (2011). Reprap??? the replicating rapid prototyper. Robotica, 29(1), 177-191.</ref> In 2013 a desktop 3-D printer could be economically justified as a personal product fabricator and the number of free and open hardware designs were growing exponentially.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wittbrodt |first1=B. T. |last2=Glover |first2=A. G. |last3=Laureto |first3=J. |last4=Anzalone |first4=G. C. |last5=Oppliger |first5=D. |last6=Irwin |first6=J. L. |last7=Pearce |first7=J. M. |date=2013-09-01 |title=Life-cycle economic analysis of distributed manufacturing with open-source 3-D printers |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957415813001153 |journal=Mechatronics |language=en |volume=23 |issue=6 |pages=713–726 |doi=10.1016/j.mechatronics.2013.06.002 |s2cid=1766321 |issn=0957-4158}}</ref> Today there are millions of open hardware product designs at hundreds of repositories<ref>{{Cite web |title=Printable part sources - RepRap |url=https://reprap.org/wiki/Printable_part_sources |access-date=2023-03-02 |website=reprap.org}}</ref> and there is some evidence consumers are 3-D printing to save money. For example, 2017 case studies probed the quality of: (1) six common complex toys; (2) Lego blocks; and (3) the customizability of open source board games and found that all filaments analyzed saved the prosumer over 75% of the cost of commercially available true alternative toys and over 90% for recyclebot filament.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Petersen |first1=Emily E. |last2=Kidd |first2=Romain W. |last3=Pearce |first3=Joshua M. |date=2017 |title=Impact of DIY Home Manufacturing with 3D Printing on the Toy and Game Market |journal=Technologies |language=en |volume=5 |issue=3 |page=45 |doi=10.3390/technologies5030045 |issn=2227-7080 |doi-access=free |url=https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1170&context=materials_fp }}</ref> Overall, these results indicate a single 3D printing repository, MyMiniFactory, is saving consumers well over $60 million/year in offset purchases of only toys.<ref name=":0" /> These 3-D printers can now be used to make sophisticated high-value products like scientific instruments.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Coakley |first1=Meghan |last2=Hurt |first2=Darrell E. |date=2016-08-01 |title=3D Printing in the Laboratory: Maximize Time and Funds with Customized and Open-Source Labware |journal=SLAS Technology |series=Special Issue: Collaborative 3D Printing Technology |language=en |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=489–495 |doi=10.1177/2211068216649578 |pmid=27197798 |pmc=5380887 |issn=2472-6303}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Baden |first1=Tom |last2=Chagas |first2=Andre Maia |last3=Gage |first3=Greg |last4=Marzullo |first4=Timothy |last5=Prieto-Godino |first5=Lucia L. |last6=Euler |first6=Thomas |date=2015-03-20 |title=Open Labware: 3-D Printing Your Own Lab Equipment |journal=PLOS Biology |language=en |volume=13 |issue=3 |article-number=e1002086 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002086 |issn=1545-7885 |pmc=4368627 |pmid=25794301 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Similarly, a study in 2022 found that 81% of open source designs provided economic savings and the total savings for the 3D printing community is more than $35 million from downloading only the top 100 products at YouMagine.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pearce |first1=Joshua |last2=Qian |first2=Jun-Yu |date=2022-07-15 |title=Economic Impact of DIY Home Manufacturing of Consumer Products with Low-cost 3D Printing from Free and Open Source Designs |url=https://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/article/view/6508 |journal=European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy |language=en |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.13135/2704-9906/6508 |issn=2704-9906}}</ref> In general, the savings are largest when compared to conventional products when prosumers use recycled materials in 'distributed recycling and additive manufacturing' (DRAM).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cruz Sanchez |first1=Fabio A. |last2=Boudaoud |first2=Hakim |last3=Hoppe |first3=Sandrine |last4=Camargo |first4=Mauricio |date=2017-10-01 |title=Polymer recycling in an open-source additive manufacturing context: Mechanical issues |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214860416301695 |journal=Additive Manufacturing |language=en |volume=17 |pages=87–105 |doi=10.1016/j.addma.2017.05.013 |bibcode=2017AddM...17...87C |issn=2214-8604}}</ref>
== Emergency Distributed Manufacturing During COVID-19 Pandemic == Distributed manufacturing became far more visible during the COVID-19 pandemic because it offered a practical response to the breakdown of centralized global supply chains.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Moosavi |first1=Javid |last2=Fathollahi-Fard |first2=Amir M. |last3=Dulebenets |first3=Maxim A. |date=2022-06-01 |title=Supply chain disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic: Recognizing potential disruption management strategies |journal=International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction |volume=75 |article-number=102983 |doi=10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.102983 |issn=2212-4209 |pmc=9027543 |pmid=35475018 |bibcode=2022IJDRR..7502983M }}</ref> As lock downs, border restrictions, and factory shutdowns disrupted conventional production, decentralized networks using local facilities such as Open Source Medical Supplies stepped in and manufactured over 48 million products.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Open Source Medical Supplies |url=https://opensourcemedicalsupplies.org/ |access-date=2026-05-04 |website=Open Source Medical Supplies |language=en-US}}</ref> Additive manufacturing /3D printing<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Longhitano |first1=Guilherme Arthur |last2=Nunes |first2=Guilherme Bitencourt |last3=Candido |first3=Geovany |last4=da Silva |first4=Jorge Vicente Lopes |date=2021-02-01 |title=The role of 3D printing during COVID-19 pandemic: a review |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s40964-020-00159-x |journal=Progress in Additive Manufacturing |language=en |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=19–37 |doi=10.1007/s40964-020-00159-x |pmid=38624444 |pmc=7685299 |issn=2363-9520}}</ref> were used to produce urgently needed items such as face shields<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Amin |first1=Dina |last2=Nguyen |first2=Nam |last3=Roser |first3=Steven M. |last4=Abramowicz |first4=Shelly |date=August 2020 |title=3D Printing of Face Shields During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Technical Note |journal=Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery |volume=78 |issue=8 |pages=1275–1278 |doi=10.1016/j.joms.2020.04.040 |issn=0278-2391 |pmc=7194067 |pmid=32404268}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Little |first1=Helen A. |last2=Tanikella |first2=Nagendra G. |last3=J. Reich |first3=Matthew |last4=Fiedler |first4=Matthew J. |last5=Snabes |first5=Samantha L. |last6=Pearce |first6=Joshua M. |date=2020-09-25 |title=Towards Distributed Recycling with Additive Manufacturing of PET Flake Feedstocks |journal=Materials |language=en |volume=13 |issue=19 |pages=4273 |doi=10.3390/ma13194273 |doi-access=free |pmid=32992735 |pmc=7578976 |bibcode=2020Mate...13.4273L |issn=1996-1944}}</ref>, ventilators and their components<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kalkanis |first1=Konstantinos |last2=Kiskira |first2=Kyriaki |last3=Papageorgas |first3=Panagiotis |last4=Kaminaris |first4=Stavros D. |last5=Piromalis |first5=Dimitrios |last6=Banis |first6=George |last7=Mpelesis |first7=Dimitrios |last8=Batagiannis |first8=Athanasios |date=2023-02-04 |title=Advanced Manufacturing Design of an Emergency Mechanical Ventilator via 3D Printing—Effective Crisis Response |journal=Sustainability |language=en |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=2857 |doi=10.3390/su15042857 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2023Sust...15.2857K |issn=2071-1050}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Pearce |first=Joshua M. |title=A review of open source ventilators for COVID-19 and future pandemics |date=2020-04-30 |journal=F1000Research |volume=9 |page=218 |language=en |doi=10.12688/f1000research.22942.2 |doi-access=free |pmid=32411358 |pmc=7195895 }}</ref>, nasopharyngeal swabs<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Manoj |first1=Aluri |last2=Bhuyan |first2=Monami |last3=Raj Banik |first3=Swarup |last4=Ravi Sankar |first4=Mamilla |date=2021-01-01 |title=3D printing of nasopharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 diagnose: Past and current trends |journal=Materials Today: Proceedings |series=International Conference on Materials, Processing & Characterization |volume=44 |pages=1361–1368 |doi=10.1016/j.matpr.2020.11.505 |issn=2214-7853 |pmc=7687488 |pmid=33262931}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gallup |first1=Nicole |last2=Pringle |first2=Adam M. |last3=Oberloier |first3=Shane |last4=Tanikella |first4=Nagendra G. |last5=Pearce |first5=Joshua M. |date=October 2020 |title=Parametric nasopharyngeal swab for sampling COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses: Open source design, SLA 3-D printing and UV curing system |journal=HardwareX |volume=8 |article-number=e00135 |doi=10.1016/j.ohx.2020.e00135 |issn=2468-0672 |pmc=7455530 |pmid=32904317}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Callahan |first1=Cody J. |last2=Lee |first2=Rose |last3=Zulauf |first3=Katelyn E. |last4=Tamburello |first4=Lauren |last5=Smith |first5=Kenneth P. |last6=Previtera |first6=Joe |last7=Cheng |first7=Annie |last8=Green |first8=Alex |last9=Abdul Azim |first9=Ahmed |last10=Yano |first10=Amanda |last11=Doraiswami |first11=Nancy |last12=Kirby |first12=James E. |last13=Arnaout |first13=Ramy A. |title=Open Development and Clinical Validation of Multiple 3D-Printed Nasopharyngeal Collection Swabs: Rapid Resolution of a Critical COVID-19 Testing Bottleneck |journal=Journal of Clinical Microbiology |date=2020 |volume=58 |issue=8 |article-number=e00876-20 |doi=10.1128/jcm.00876-20 |pmid=32393482 |pmc=7383530 }}</ref>, and other personal protective equipment.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Agarwal |first=Raj |date=2022-03-01 |title=The personal protective equipment fabricated via 3D printing technology during COVID-19 |journal=Annals of 3D Printed Medicine |volume=5 |article-number=100042 |doi=10.1016/j.stlm.2021.100042 |issn=2666-9641 |pmc=8667480 |pmid=38620978}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tarfaoui |first1=Mostapha |last2=Nachtane |first2=Mourad |last3=Goda |first3=Ibrahim |last4=Qureshi |first4=Yumna |last5=Benyahia |first5=Hamza |date=2020-07-27 |title=3D Printing to Support the Shortage in Personal Protective Equipment Caused by COVID-19 Pandemic |journal=Materials |language=en |volume=13 |issue=15 |pages=3339 |doi=10.3390/ma13153339 |doi-access=free |issn=1996-1944 |pmc=7436187 |pmid=32727050 |bibcode=2020Mate...13.3339T }}</ref> This demonstrated that distributed manufacturing could reduce lead times, improve responsiveness, and lessen dependence on distant suppliers during crisis conditions for a wide range of products.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Srai |first1=Jagjit Singh |last2=Kumar |first2=Mukesh |last3=Graham |first3=Gary |last4=Phillips |first4=Wendy |last5=Tooze |first5=James |last6=Ford |first6=Simon |last7=Beecher |first7=Paul |last8=Raj |first8=Baldev |last9=Gregory |first9=Mike |last10=Tiwari |first10=Manoj Kumar |last11=Ravi |first11=B. |last12=Neely |first12=Andy |last13=Shankar |first13=Ravi |last14=Charnley |first14=Fiona |last15=Tiwari |first15=Ashutosh |title=Distributed manufacturing: Scope, challenges and opportunities |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/action/cookieAbsent |access-date=2026-05-04 |journal=International Journal of Production Research |date=2016 |volume=54 |issue=23 |pages=6917–6935 |doi=10.1080/00207543.2016.1192302 |bibcode=2016IJPR...54.6917S }}</ref> Peer-reviewed studies on pandemic-era manufacturing note that additive manufacturing was especially valuable because digital design files could be shared rapidly and produced close to the point of need, enabling hospitals, universities, small firms, and maker communities to supplement strained medical supply chains.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pearce |first=Joshua M. |date=2020-05-20 |title=Distributed Manufacturing of Open Source Medical Hardware for Pandemics |journal=Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing |language=en |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=49 |doi=10.3390/jmmp4020049 |doi-access=free |issn=2504-4494}}</ref> The pandemic also helped shift distributed manufacturing from being seen as a niche or experimental model to a credible strategy for resilience, flexibility, and emergency response.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Vieweg |first=Stefan |title=Distributed manufacturing under pandemic conditions |date=2021 |degree=Thesis |publisher=Technische Universität Wien |url=https://repositum.tuwien.at/handle/20.500.12708/17562 |doi=10.34726/hss.2021.81428 |language=en}}</ref> At the same time, scholars caution that its wider adoption depends on solving issues related to quality assurance, regulation, material consistency, and coordination across distributed production sites<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Srai |first1=Jagjit Singh |last2=Kumar |first2=Mukesh |last3=Graham |first3=Gary |last4=Phillips |first4=Wendy |last5=Tooze |first5=James |last6=Ford |first6=Simon |last7=Beecher |first7=Paul |last8=Raj |first8=Baldev |last9=Gregory |first9=Mike |last10=Tiwari |first10=Manoj Kumar |last11=Ravi |first11=B. |last12=Neely |first12=Andy |last13=Shankar |first13=Ravi |last14=Charnley |first14=Fiona |last15=Tiwari |first15=Ashutosh |title=Distributed manufacturing: Scope, challenges and opportunities |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/action/cookieAbsent |access-date=2026-05-04 |journal=International Journal of Production Research |date=2016 |volume=54 |issue=23 |pages=6917–6935 |doi=10.1080/00207543.2016.1192302 |bibcode=2016IJPR...54.6917S }}</ref>. Overall, COVID-19 popularized distributed manufacturing by showing that localized, digitally enabled production could complement traditional manufacturing systems when speed, adaptability, and supply-chain resilience were critical<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ardolino |first1=Marco |last2=Bacchetti |first2=Andrea |last3=Dolgui |first3=Alexandre |last4=Franchini |first4=Guglielmo |last5=Ivanov |first5=Dmitry |last6=Nair |first6=Anand |title=The impacts of digital technologies on coping with the COVID-19 pandemic in the manufacturing industry: A systematic literature review |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/action/cookieAbsent |access-date=2026-05-04 |journal=International Journal of Production Research |date=2024 |volume=62 |issue=5 |pages=1953–1976 |doi=10.1080/00207543.2022.2127960}}</ref>.
==Social change== Some<ref name="triple-c.at">Kostakis, V.; Bauwens, M. (2014): ''[https://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/network-society-and-future-scenarios-for-a-collaborative-economy-vasilis-kostakis/?k=9781137415066 Network Society and Future Scenarios for a Collaborative Economy]''. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. ([https://p2pfoundation.net/Network_Society_and_Future_Scenarios_for_a_Collaborative_Economy wiki])</ref><ref>Kostakis, V.; Papachristou, M. (2014): ''[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0736585313000609 Commons-based peer production and digital fabrication: The case of a RepRap-based, Lego-built 3D printing-milling machine]''. In: Telematics and Informatics, 31(3), 434 - 443</ref><ref>Kostakis, V; Fountouklis, M; Drechsler, W. (2013): ''[http://sth.sagepub.com/content/38/6/773 Peer Production and Desktop Manufacturing: The Case of the Helix-T Wind Turbine Project. ]''. In: Science, Technology, & Human Values, 38(6), 773 - 800.</ref> call attention to the conjunction of commons-based peer production with distributed manufacturing techniques. The self-reinforced fantasy of a system of eternal growth can be overcome with the development of economies of scope, and here, the civil society can play an important role contributing to the raising of the whole productive structure to a higher plateau of more sustainable and customised productivity.<ref name="triple-c.at"/> Further, it is true that many issues, problems and threats rise due to the large democratization of the means of production, and especially regarding the physical ones.<ref name="triple-c.at"/> For instance, the recyclability of advanced nanomaterials is still questioned; weapons manufacturing could become easier; not to mention the implications on counterfeiting<ref>Campbell, Thomas, Christopher Williams, Olga Ivanova, and Banning Garrett. (2011): ''[http://www.acus.org/publication/could-3d-printing-change-world Could 3D Printing Change the World? Technologies, Potential, and Implications of Additive Manufacturing] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815061811/http://www.acus.org/publication/could-3d-printing-change-world |date=August 15, 2013 }}''. Washington: Atlantic Council of the United States</ref> and on "intellectual property".<ref>Bradshaw, Simon, Adrian Bowyer, and Patrick Haufe (2010): ''[https://opus.bath.ac.uk/18661/ The Intellectual Property Implications of Low-Cost 3D Printing]''. In: SCRIPTed 7</ref> It might be maintained that in contrast to the industrial paradigm whose competitive dynamics were about economies of scale, commons-based peer production and distributed manufacturing could develop economies of scope. While the advantages of scale rest on cheap global transportation, the economies of scope share infrastructure costs (intangible and tangible productive resources), taking advantage of the capabilities of the fabrication tools.<ref name="triple-c.at"/> And following Neil Gershenfeld<ref>Gershenfeld, Neil (2007): ''FAB: The Coming Revolution on your Desktop: From Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication''. Cambridge: Basic Books, p. 13-14</ref> in that "some of the least developed parts of the world need some of the most advanced technologies", commons-based peer production and distributed manufacturing may offer the necessary tools for thinking globally but act locally in response to certain problems and needs. As well as supporting individual personal manufacturing <ref>Mota, C., 2011, November. The rise of personal fabrication. In Proceedings of the 8th ACM conference on Creativity and cognition (pp. 279-288). ACM.</ref> social and economic benefits are expected to result from the development of local production economies. In particular, the humanitarian and development sector are becoming increasingly interested in how distributed manufacturing can overcome the supply chain challenges of last mile distribution.<ref>Corsini, L., Aranda-Jan, C. B., & Moultrie, J. (2019). Using digital fabrication tools to provide humanitarian and development aid in low-resource settings. Technology in Society. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2019.02.003</ref> Further, distributed manufacturing has been proposed as a key element in the Cosmopolitan localism or cosmolocalism framework to reconfigure production by prioritizing socio-ecological well-being over corporate profits, over-production and excess consumption.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kostakis|first1=Vasilis|last2=Niaros|first2=Vasilis|last3=Giotitsas|first3=Chris|date=2023-06-30|title=Beyond global versus local: illuminating a cosmolocal framework for convivial technology development|journal=Sustainability Science|volume=18 |issue=5 |pages=2309–2322 |doi=10.1007/s11625-023-01378-1 |language=en|issn=1937-0709|doi-access=free|bibcode=2023SuSc...18.2309K }}</ref>
==Technology== By localizing manufacturing, distributed manufacturing may enable a balance between two opposite extreme qualities in technology development: Low technology and High tech.<ref name="auto">{{Cite journal|last1=Kostakis|first1=Vasilis|last2=Pazaitis|first2=Alex|last3=Liarokapis|first3=Minas|date=2023-06-20|title=Beyond high-tech versus low-tech: A tentative framework for sustainable urban data governance|journal=BigData&Society|volume=10 |article-number=20539517231180583 |language=en|doi=10.1177/20539517231180583 |issn=2053-9517 |doi-access=free}}{{Creative Commons text attribution notice|cc=by4|from this source=yes}}</ref> This balance is understood as an inclusive middle, a "mid-tech", that may go beyond the two polarities, incorporating them into a higher synthesis. Thus, in such an approach, low-tech and high-tech stop being mutually exclusive. They instead become a dialectic totality. Mid-tech may be abbreviated to "both…and…" instead of "neither…nor…". Mid-tech combines the efficiency and versatility of digital/automated technology with low-tech's potential for autonomy and resilience.<ref name="auto"/>
==Contracting in Distributed Manufacturing== Research into contracting and order processing models tailored for distributed manufacturing has highlighted the need for flexible, role-based frameworks and advanced digital tools.<ref> Wardeh, M.; Nguema, J. (2024). [https://zenodo.org/records/14422458 "Contracting for Distributed Manufacturing"] DOI [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14422458 10.5281/zenodo.14422458] </ref> These tools and frameworks are essential for addressing issues related to quality assurance, payment structures, legal compliance, and coordination among multiple actors. By addressing these challenges, contracting models for distributed manufacturing can unlock its potential for more localized, efficient, and sustainable production systems. A [https://distributed-orders.fly.dev/ system prototype] has been developed to simplify contracting for distributed manufacturing. This tool allows buyers to manage orders across multiple manufacturers using a single interface, automating workflows to ensure clarity and accountability for everyone involved. This research was led by the [https://www.internetofproduction.org/ Internet of Production], as part of the [https://makeafricaeu.org/ mAkE] project (African European Maker Innovation Ecosystem), funded by the European Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Manufactured goods Category:Digital manufacturing Category:3D printing Category:Cloud computing