[p2p-research] mobile hospitals manufacturing

[Michel Bauwens]

super Eric, thanks a lot!

On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 10:20 PM, Eric Hunting <erichunting at gmail.com> wrote:

> Military goes MOD
>
> http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08/us-army-does-3d-printing-shipping-container.php
>
> This recent article from Treehugger details the US military's recent
> deployment of containerized manufacture-on-demand facilities they call
> Mobile Parts Hospitals in Afghanistan. Though article erroneously notes that
> "there are not a lot of computerized machine tools and 3D printers in
> Afghanistan" when in fact, and thanks to our colleagues with FabFolk, there
> are actually fab labs in Afghanistan helping the next generation synch-up
> with the digital industrial tools of this new century, the article does
> point out the sort of mini-industrial revolution this technology is
> realizing in the context of military logistics. Through these MPH facilities
> they are realizing the tremendous advantages in time and flexibility gained
> from local parts production, which means optimizing utility in the field by
> minimizing the time hardware is left idle waiting on replacement parts from
> thousands of miles away and allowing engineers to implement adaptations and
> improvement to equipment on site and on demand. Military and commercial
> industrial logistics often parallel. The idea of supply chain logistics in
> industry is a direct product of military logistics theory. That this concept
> of 'hyperlocal' production is proving practical in this context is a strong
> indicator of its potential and likely adoption (by the more ambitious of
> entrepreneurs -today established companies never 'get it' until after the
> fact, if ever) in the commercial sector.
>
> The million dollar cost of these MPH systems at present might seem to
> suggest that there is a large gap in potential commercial practicality of
> this technology and production concept. But it's important to bear in mind
> that military hardware procurement does not function in any way remotely
> resembling the competitive open market. The contemporary defense industry
> does not, in fact, produce hardware to win wars as was the case during wars
> that actually presented a plausible existential threat to those nations
> propagating them. There is no compulsion to cost-efficiency as found in the
> marketplace -or as seen when the homeland is really under threat. There is
> no real competition between military products. Only competition in gaming
> the bureaucracy when there isn't a complete vacuum for a solitary company to
> fill. And so the high costs of these military systems may relate less to any
> inherent costs of the 'new' technology than to the underlying
> political/bureaucratic nature of the military procurement process. That even
> at this inflated cost this technology is proving logistically advantageous
> for the military would suggest even greater potential as equivalent civilian
> products and turn-key system produced in the context of the real world
> marketplace finally emerge.
>
> Clearly, the basic hardware making up the MPH is by no means novel or
> exclusive. In fact, it's a little behind the curve. But the situation of the
> military application of this digital fabrication technology has compelled it
> to integrate in a form and manner it has not quite yet achieved in the Fab
> Lab or conventional light industry. In terms of the mobility (fluidity?) and
> adaptability of parts data, the MPH is well ahead of the amateur civilian
> attempts at the same thing among the Maker/Fab Lab community. And this may
> be largely due to the -ironically- open and utilitarian nature of military
> hardware. Within the military, the entire 'content' of hardware and goods
> must be an open book for maintenance crews, technicians, and engineers. The
> military built habitat is thus very open compared to the civilian built
> habitat composed of a great many products whose entire make-up are company
> secrets or simply nowhere documented, let alone in any standardized ways.
> And so the information that the MPH requires to be digitally consolidated
> for its use mostly already exists in various forms. For the civilian Maker
> this must be accomplished through a haphazard and ad hoc process of
> reverse-engineering ones own artifacts and habitat! (and always with the
> implied threat of some kind of corporate retaliation) THIS point is what
> makes the MPH such a significant feat. It's real demonstrated potential
> rests not in the simple ability of its tools to fabricate parts on demand in
> remote locations. It's the demonstration of what you can accomplish when
> your industrial knowledge is comprehensive, since the MPH would be a useless
> metal box were it not for the openness of the military industrial
> knowledgebase and the comprehensiveness of its documentation. THIS is the
> MPH's very important lesson.
>
> Eric Hunting
> erichunting at gmail.com
>
>
>
> On Aug 27, 2010, at 11:59 PM, Michel Bauwens wrote:
>
> > Hi Eric,
> >
> > this is quite important and should be discussed on our blog,
> >
> > can you help?
> >
> > Michel
> >
> > see
> http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08/us-army-does-3d-printing-shipping-container.php
> >
> > --
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> >
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> >
> > Think tank: http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>


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