The Columbus Idea Foundry

Link to article: Small Manufacturers Gaining Ground Thanks to Internet, Technology

Trendspotting — By Melanie McIntyre on April 19, 2011 at 8:00 am

For many, the term “manufacturing” is synonymous with noisy factories and assembly lines a dozen workers deep, not to mention faceless corporations headquartered outside the United States. However, a more streamlined form of manufacturing is gaining momentum domestically− at the smaller end of the scale. In fact, small manufacturers, making products as varied as bicycles and baby teethers, are flourishing right here in Central Ohio.

No one knows that better than Alex Bandar. As director of The Columbus Idea Foundry, a grassroots design/prototyping shop and small production run facility that provides design and manufacturing services to small businesses, he views the state of small-scale manufacturing through a unique lens.

Equipment at The Columbus Idea Foundry.

“I see it on the rise, as innovators with new ideas walk in our door and ask us how to help design and manufacture their products,” he says. “I see small businesses needing to expand their production and asking us how we can help them use technology, such as desktop manufacturing resources like laser cutting, computer numerical control machining, 3D printing and more, to boost their volume or reduce their per unit price.”

Bandar regularly collaborates and communicates with other local manufacturing, technology, and retail organizations, such as the Ohio Manufacturing Institute, TechColumbus, and Wonderland, and generally they are optimistic about small-scale manufacturing in Central Ohio, he adds.

That rosy outlook appears to be warranted, as small manufacturers claim they have distinct advantages over their larger counterparts.

One, they can customize a product fairly easily.

“ Most of my clients have been riding for years and have a very specific laundry list that cannot be filled by production bicycles,” says Adam Eldridge, owner/builder at Stanridge Speed Cycles. ”The bikes they want will never be built by The Big 3 [bicycle manufacturers] because they would not be profitable.”

Two, small manufacturers seem “more human than a big giant company sometimes,” says Amy Sharp, who along with her husband Joe owns Little Alouette, a company that makes wooden toys (including the teethers mentioned earlier) from locally sourced and organic materials.

“We share our life via blogging and social media,” she continues. “Our customers know this. People like special. These toys are really made by hand. These toys have love in them, not mass produced. Often Joe is making each as the order comes in!”

Eldridge shares a similar sentiment, saying “We give clients a story. We’re attached spiritually to the bicycle they ride. I made the bike with my hands, they know the me, they know my story.”

Large manufacturers have investments in capital, stock, inventory, and personnel that mean they can lower the margins on their specific products to a very competitive level, Bandar says. However, changes in market demand and technology are difficult to react to quickly.

“Smaller manufacturers can adapt to market and technology changes faster, staying on top of, or ahead of, market trends, employing novel technologies sooner, and pouncing on exciting opportunities rapidly,” he adds.

The primary hurdle small manufacturers face is producing at high volumes.

“We can normally craft one bicycle, not including paint and assembly, in 27 hours,” Eldridge says. “How long do you think it takes XYZ Corp. in Taiwan to make a bike? Thirty minutes? An hour? My client wait list is eight months to 12 months at the moment.”

Work in progress at Little Alouette.

Likewise, Little Alouette never has much inventory on its shelves.

“We don’t have all the law and testing and labs in-house like big companies do,” Sharp explains.

Due to economies of scale, ramping up production means per unit prices drop and per unit profit can increase, Bandar says. However, that requires greater investment in capital, which small manufacturers don’t have.

“This means that there are ceilings to the revenues possible within their markets and thus they must intelligently strategize to leverage their advantages to remain competitive,” he continues. “Furthermore, small manufacturers, with less cash flow, are more susceptible to market downturns, fluctuations in material costs, etc. In many cases their advantages can counterbalance these disadvantages, but, again, it requires being strategically nimble.”

Being technological savvy doesn’t hurt either.

For the Sharps, a CNC machine has been an excellent time saver in terms of production and Business Catalyst has been a useful content management system, as they do quite a bit of business through Little Alouette’s website.

“It is easy to learn and sell from,” Amy says of the latter.

Skype has been particularly useful for communicating with international customers, Eldridge says.

Bike frame under construction at Stanridge Speed.

Thinking of launching a manufacturing startup? The future of small-scale manufacturing looks quite bright to Bandar, thanks to what he calls “a confluence of several exciting revolutions.”

“The availability of increasingly powerful, open-source software and generally available technical knowledge is making the how-to aspect of design and production no longer the bottleneck,” he says. “The prevalence of the Internet makes access to these resources nearly universal. And it’s not a one-way street. There are a lot of technical design and manufacturing forums where professionals and enthusiasts alike help each other to fine tune their processes.”

Plus, desktop manufacturing resources are becoming cheaper and more capable, making it possible to assemble one’s own workshop or small production line easier than ever before, he adds.

Eldridge also expresses confidence in the future of small-scale manufacturing.

“Anyone anywhere can make a product or idea work as long as they’re passionate, have a strong work ethic, and stay mentally strong,” he says.

Click here for link to article.

SO TO SPEAK
Class opens door to lock-picking
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 03:06 AM

The Columbus Dispatch

COURTNEY HERGESHEIMER | DISPATCH
Ethan Dicks of Columbus tries to pick a lock during a class at the Columbus Idea Foundry.

COURTNEY HERGESHEIMER | DISPATCH
Bill Sempf explains some of the inner workings of locks during a class that teaches how to pick them.

COURTNEY HERGESHEIMER | DISPATCH
Ethan Dicks of Columbus tries to pick a lock during a class at the Columbus Idea Foundry.
I learned how to pick locks the other night, but your belongings are safe.

I wasn’t too good at it.

Bill Sempf, the teacher, is far more accomplished; but he’s no threat, either.

The first rule of “hobby picking” is never to try it on a lock that you don’t have permission to pick.

“We’re not training the next level of burglars here,” said Sempf, 39.

About 20 people participated in his lock-picking at the Columbus Idea Foundry, 1158 Corrugated Way, a community workshop (www.columbusideafoundry.com) that teaches useful skills such as welding, soldering and blacksmithing.

Of what use is lock-picking?

A lot of computer security people learn it so they’ll understand just how vulnerable their equipment might be, even behind locked doors.

Picking is also an interesting intellectual exercise – “like solving a Rubik’s Cube in the dark,” said Sempf, a software developer and an author of programming books.

Many of his students were there because they relished the challenge.

“I enjoy puzzles – and this is just another kind of puzzle,” said Ethan Dicks, 44, of Columbus.

As Sempf explains it, most of our front doors are secured by pin-tumbler locks, which rely on a series (usually five) of tiny metal pins and springs to keep a cylinder from turning. When the key is inserted, it pushes the pins into a position that allows the cylinder to rotate.

Lock-picking is the art of moving those pins with the assistance of two thin metal rods instead of a key. (In the movies, the picker typically uses one rod and opens the lock in seconds; neither scenario is realistic.)

Sempf passed around a set of picks and a series of progressively more secure locks for the class to attack. I managed to pick the first one because it had only one set of pins. Beyond that, I wasn’t too adept.

Lock-picking might be something of a trend right now. YouTube offers a variety of how-to videos, and Locksport International – formed in 2005 to draw hobby pickers together – has several chapters, including the one in Columbus that Sempf organized.

The sport in the name indicates what lock pickers do for fun: They compete against one another in lock-picking games.

But don’t try this at home, or at least on your home. It’s easy to damage a lock while trying to pick it, Sempf said. Hobby pickers work with unmounted locks.

Sempf’s own front door has an exotic lock with 14 sets of pins and a key featuring a double row of teeth. It would be extremely difficult to pick – not that Sempf has any illusions about that protecting his property. A criminal would just break a window, he said.

Lock-picking is too slow for most burglars, said Columbus Police Sgt. Rich Weiner. Criminals prefer forcing a door or window open through cruder, faster means, such as prying with a crowbar.

Sempf’s fancy door hardware springs from a motivation other than security.

“It’s because I’m a lock geek,” he said.

Joe Blundo is a Dispatch columnist.

jblundo@dispatch.com

Link to article here.

“We’re still settling in,” said Columbus Idea Foundry director Alex Bandar while leading a tour of its new, much larger space just off East Fifth Avenue – but the process doesn’t seem to be curbing activity any.

Members were chatting and working on individual projects in what was previously the showroom for an electronics distribution company and is now a gallery. Former office spaces have been repurposed as cubbyholes for computer stations, 3D printing facilities and laser-cutting equipment. Even the kitchen will double as a screen-printing shop.

In the warehouse work area are studios for artists and small businesses like wooden toymaker Little Alouette. One space holds designs and parts for Dieselpunk rockets. Stations for welding, blacksmithing, metal casting and a massive ShopBot router help fill the rest of the space.

Altogether, the place suggests a vibe somewhere between Santa’s workshop and Doc Brown’s lab in “Back to the Future.” The curious can get a taste for themselves at the Idea Foundry’s open house party this Saturday.

Bandar, who writes software for the metal industry, started the Idea Foundry in part to have a physical connection to his work. The big-picture goal is to encourage experimentation, collaboration and a blending of artistic and engineering practices, and also to provide access to machinery and expertise that’s out of most individuals’ reach.

“We’ve helped make more than we’ve made ourselves,” Bandar said. “We act more as a catalyst.”

The open house will include a show of some of the foundry’s creations, including Bandar’s touch-screen music player in a replica of an Edison phonograph and a Chevy tailgate coffee table by member Allison Meade.

Interactive fabrication demos, food from local restaurants and raffle prizes are also on tap. And the event is an unofficial kick-off for a full suite of public classes starting in February, including metal fabrication and a jewelry workshop led by Diamond Cellar goldsmith Margaret Kennedy.