Industrial revolution?

I realize this post is at almost 4 years old. Two questions - a) What is the "it" we are talking about? What is industrial revolution in more concrete terms?? and b) Now, 4 years later, is "it" still real/unreal?

I also believe it is real. I think it is worth considering why current factory production was created - it was efficient compared to hand-created items. With expensive machines and assembly lines, products could be created faster then in a small shop. But this process gave up customization - people's clothes & shoes don't fit as well. Products are designed for a generic rather then specific user so don't work quite as well as possible. With the new 'custom manufacturing', much of the previous efficiencies can be maintained with an added high value of better fitting the end consumer. I believe there is a pent-up interest that consumers have to have products work better for them & if they could get this at a reasonable cost, most people would go for the 'custom-designed' product.

I believe that it is real. I recently listened to the audio version of Chris Anderson's "Makers: The New Industrial Revolution." He makes a convincing case by drawing comparisons with Web2.0 and the development of . He provides illustrative examples of how "Crowd Sourcing" designs is faster than an industry giant- e.g. Pebble vs Sony's smart watches. Portland, where I live, is a city of makers and coders. My observation is that Millennials as a generation appreciate well manufactured items and if its local so much the better. Will be exciting to watch the developments.