Mass customization vs. personal fabrication
by
Charlie Bess
For over a decade, we have heard about the inevitability of mass customization. It's been said that everyone wants everything their own way and companies need to align to this perspective if they want to survive.
Now we've begun to see discussions and demonstration of personal fabrication with companies like eMachineShop springing up. They're taking the flexible manufacturing techniques that companies like GM have been looking at for years and opening them up to the public.
Is this an example of a concept (mass customization) moving along the hype cycle so slowly that it has been overcome by a faster moving solution? Or is personal fabrication just an extention of this concept. It looks like a totally different appraoch to me.
