I was asked to clarify my understanding of the value chain of the new way of producing physical goods as outlined here. Value chain? As engineer, craftsman and small farmer I am not very familiar with business terms like this. In this context I associate value-add with money therefore I would rather prefer to look at benefit-add. A benefit may be profit but I think it is necessary to widen our comprehension of what the main duty of economy is: need satisfaction. And to create livelihoods. Not inevitably - or rather better not - only for humans.

Where are the benefits of an open manufacturing economy? What needs are met? What kind of livelihoods are created?

Many loosers in todays economy

First I would like to look at some of the participants involved the current economic model:

• consumer: depends on the offerings of "the market". Can choose between different products (if existing) but has no influence on materials, features or production conditions. He finds himself most often confronted with impersonal interfaces to retailers. Usually he is forced to buy the newest version of the product if it gets broken.
• employee: does the work. Is forced to become ever more efficient but is still threatened by automated systems based on cheap energy. Most often highly specialized and only responsible for small parts of the production process. Has marginal influence in hierarchical organisations. Highly dependent on the market (wages, demand of work force) and decisions of top management.
• owner / share holder: Seldom entrepreneurs but often seeking short-term profits.

It is my believe that we need to develop post-cheap energy, sustainable und resilient models of how we produce things on a human scale. Less and less we can afford to ignore that we are

• overusing the primary economy
• pushing out work forces on one end of the planetary working machine who are finally missed at the other end
• more and more dependent on multinational corporations beyond our control and the control of our institutions
• not able anymore to produce locally the things we need for our daily lives

Benefits of open manufacturing

This is where industrial subsistence based on open manufacturing comes into play. I roughly outlined the participants and their connections in this kind of economy.

• user: chooses from offerings from local producers like SMBs or fab labs. If a product does not fit his needs, he may suggest improvements. Or he finds an appropriate open design and gets it produced from a local manufacturer. He is connected with the manufacturer on equal footing.

• diy'er: gets an open design and produces the product for his own need. Gets semi-produced products from local manufacturers (like boards, glas plates, metal profiles, sheets or tubes, screws, nails, ...). May do it in workshops and may also be a tinkerer or be part of a developer community.
• SMB: small collectives produces (semi-finished) products based on the needs of the region. May use fab labs or open workshops. May loosely couple with other manufacturers to offer products they could not produce on their own. E.g. a plumber and a carpenter build solar collectors.
• fab labs / open workshops: open production facilities equipped with a wide range of production means. May be used from diy'er, SMB or production communities. May have designers "in residence" which offer design services for users.
• production communities: intentional or temporary communities producing for their own need or demand of their region. May also refine existing or develop new designs. For instance OSE.
• tinkerer: develops on his own innovative solutions for specific problems. May publish his designs to get appreciation (rather than trying to make money by patenting it what most often fails).
• designer / engineer: open design will be be free as FOSS. This is not bad news for designers when you look at software (kind of design of virtual products): nearly no open source software developer makes directly money from his contributions but the motivation is based on benefits in a wider sense. And more and more crowd-funded projects emerge (for instance see Kickstarter and similar platforms).
• design communities: For instance dasWindrad.de (interview with Carl von Canstein here, unfortunately German only).

The initial question was: what are the benefits for whom in this kind of model?

• prosumer: less dependencies because of the open and free product design:
  • chooses a product which best fits his needs. May improve the design himself or get it improved.
  • may choose the manufacturer fitting his requirements concerning productions conditions, materials and so on.
• manufacturer: any company may produce any product:
  • not limited to own developments but has access to the global base of open designs
  • may offer any product needed in his region as part of loosely coupled companies
  • no costly and useless patents
  • no costly and useless marketing (needs of prosumers drive demand)
  • cooperation is more important than competition

• developer / designer: as open design of physical products is like software of virtual products similar ways of benefiting apply: 
  • experience and expertise (which may contribute to his livelihood)
  • reputation and appreciation
  • being creative
  • invent and improve products needed for him or herself

Of course this is only a rough model of future manufacturing. But we can already see first movements in this direction (open design projects and repositories, maker communities, fab labs, hacker spaces). For more resources concerning open design and open manufacturing have a look at the wiki of the P2P Foundation (category design, manufacturing).

Comments, suggestions and critiques welcome!