Not so fast
Chapter 1: The not-so-fast-prototyping-paradox
This is the story of Vince, a typical millennial and freelance genius on a contract with Leonardo SpA. OK kinda guy, should lose the beard.
He has finished the design of a new type of crane and is now ready to order parts.
This is his Bill of Materials:
All he needs are four B2B websites with an online ordering system, plus one digital manufacturing shop for a special screw. He gets to work.
Prefab steel: Check
Bearings and stuff: Check
Electrical gear: Check
Automation: Hoppa.
Almost done, one part is still missing, a screw he modeled himself but once the answer is in for that, he can update his project timeline and budget and switch to another job while the parts are being produced and delivered.
He had requested a quote from his friend Luca an My 3D Printshop. So now the fun begins:
We've all been there...
Vince is not happy. He has to keep following up on the purchase for two weeks, discussing specs, price, payment, and delivery. Not being able to fully switch to the next job, but being a true engineer, he tracks time spent per each part of his BOM on purchasing activities and finds a certain disproportion:
Chapter 2: Just a bit of missing technology.
Being a savvy CAD user, Vince knows it's not hard to get geometrical data from a CAD drawing, in fact, it’s one of his CAD program’s basic functions. So he wonders: what’s the big difference between:
-the end-user manually entering missing data for a given geometry, like here the length of the beam:
-and an online tool doing establishing the whole geometry, including length, something like this:
And next question: Would he really mind paying a bit more, if that would save him hours and hours of time and focus?
No, he wouldn't, and neither would his client, Leonardo SpA: In exchange for a small increase of the BOM cost by $250, they would get a saving, given that Vince was charging them $250/hour, of 10*$250 - 0.25*$250=$2,437.50. Not to mention the two-week saving on the project timeline, which, at a predicted sales of 5 units per week and a predicted profit of $100,000 per unit, would increase their profit for the current year by a cool million (figures courtesy of Leonardo SpA's Marketing Dept.).
Being a freelance genius, he started developing an online calculation tool as a spin-off from the crane project, but by the time he had a valid set of calculations, he understood that, with benefits so evident, someone must already be offering similar tools or services. He started an online search, veni, vidi, and never looked back. Vae Luca...
?Chapter 3. Tech works and is available, but…
While visiting Formnext Vince is invited by one of his former 3D printing service providers, Luca, to join him at the exhibitors' dinner.
The conversation turns to the advent of the 21st century and the arrival of new technologies. Vince can't control himself and mentions his experience with online ordering of customized parts. The reactions are lively.
"Well", says Vince, ...
"Shopify quotes these figures: B2B is 3 times bigger than B2C in eCommerce."
"OK, say his opponents, but B2C eCommerce only works for services, like SaaS"
"So what about these people? They are selling hardware online"
"Yeah, maybe it works for standardized industrial equipment, but our customers need unique parts!"
"Look around you, at Weerg, Protolabs, and ZiggZagg!"
Long story short: Not everybody at the table was convinced, but Vince knew that at least some had seen the light.
Epilogue
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