I’m trying to find ideas for what each reader of this question could do given a small loan that could re-“factory” there local economy.
I don’t have capital, but I think that some production canning equipment could be used in our local farms. I wonder if I can invest in that instead of an index fund.
And I have always wondered where all the little various size rubber grommets and stuff come from … like perhaps it would be interesting to start micro-factories with each just making one thing. Like drawing back manufacturing locally instead of waiting for mega-corps to do it.
I think asking this question is getting a list of stuff like that could be helpful to our various locales.
CNC machine+ skills+ network
Tons of companies outsource some if not all of their mechanical parts productions, either because it’s not their core business ( but they still need some custom parts made every so and on) or to manage production peaks without paying equipment/workers used 3 months a year
I really appreciate all the answers.
I know that none of it makes perfect financial rational sense to try to create a new industrialization on a local scale at first. But I believe that as global systems rewire themselves with this new world that we can become more resilient by doing things that might not be 100% rational.
If I may quote poet Marge Piercy
The will to be totally rational
is the will to be made out of glass and steel:
and to use others as if they were glass and steel.sometimes irrational is better; better to not treat each other as resources; we can build us.
In my local area? Literally anything with an american flag, a thin blue line flag, or Donald Trump’s fat fucking face. The business owners and operators around here wouldn’t buy something that actually would help their business, so having a smart idea would go to waste.
Organic produce. High-fat soap.
Tyler sold his soap to department stores for $20 a bar. Lord knows what they charged. It was beautiful. We were selling rich women their own fat asses back to them
With the right organic produce, that won’t be necessary. 😅
The company I work for has a massive revenue footprint by attaching fittings into hoses. Different size houses need different size and angle fittings and buying bulk hose and fitting then custom making the parts is very lucrative.
How big is the facility if you don’t mind me asking ?
It’s varies. Some are single store operations and some are large enough to be their own company
Years ago a retired friend of my dad made widgets.
He’d get a like two boxes of parts that needed to be fit together. Sometimes it required simple tools. He never knew what the parts were for.
He’d assemble it and ship it back.
Self-sealing stem bolts?
It was very unique stuff. Could never figure out what would be used for. One batch looked like soft close cabinet door hinges sort of.
I like the thought, and if people come back with ideas then that’s great.
For me, I know that in my area if you just get a set of cleaning supplies, a car and a laundry machine, you can pretty much immediately get a job cleaning airbnbs. Similarly, heavy equipment like backhoes or skidsteers or jackhammers can be used for any number of profitable tasks, or else can be rented out when not in use. I personally have considered buying a mechanical tamper (used, about $1000), renting it on marketplace for $50 per day until get my money back, and then just owning it for my own personal projects.
But in general, your idea of micro-factories to produce generic goods won’t pan out great. The problem is that no one really cares where rubber grommets come from when buying rubber grommets - they just want them. Now, and cheap. Supposing you were able to even get up and running and work your way onto some stores’ shelves, you would still need to compete on price with identical grommets made in china by megacorps. Which you can’t do, because you are paying western wages to your workers and do not have their economies of scale, and global commodity markets are in fact competitive, and the margins are already razor thin.
Modern manufacturing in developed nations tends to start with niches or novel ideas. If you see a problem in your community, or something in life is pissing you off - that might be an opportunity to make something useful that other people would like to buy for a price you would sell it for.
Cleaning products. The hank green business is good. Although that is country wide so I’m not talking about the business plan but the concept.
They are all basically the same product and you’re transporting so much water its wasteful. Meanwhile the product is incredibly simple.
Abstract terms.
The marketing and philosophy industry is producing so many of them. If I would invest my time in abstract terms, then I surely could convince local customers quite a lot, thus developing the local economy. After a few years, maybe I could find out what the hell we are even talking about.
The retro encapulator
