Are Micro-factories the Next Industrial Revolution?

FutureTracker| Apple is known for open sourcing, but how about a car company?

Wired Magazine visits Local Motors in Wareham, Mass, which it calls a ‘mind-blowing example of the power of micro-factories’. In an attempt to reimagine what a car can be, Jay Rogers, CEO of Local Motors created a well-managed team of volunteers that produced a car that will keep him out of court with too much borrowing of design from established car companies.

Wired says that the incredibly cool-looking car — a cross between a Baja racer and a P-51 Mustang — puts Detroit to shame.

Local Motors is just one example of a possible revolution in manufacturing, which is hardly a short-tail concept.

Today, micro-factories make everything from cars to bike components to bespoke furniture in any design you can imagine. The collective potential of a million garage tinkerers is about to be unleashed on the global markets, as ideas go straight into production, no financing or tooling required. “Three guys with laptops” used to describe a Web startup. Now it describes a hardware company, too.