LowTech Manufacturing for HighTech Industries. Why Obama and Merkel love it.
Can artisan production sucessfully scale up in industrially interesting amounts? And how do small-scale farmers in rural areas benefit from it?
This article shows great examples of decentralized, ‘de-materialized’, minor capitalized manufacturing of semi-finished products for use in construction, interior design, automotive, fashion and lifestyle goods. Catchwords are postindustrial production, intelligent LowTech, Urban Manufacturing, individuality and authenticity and ‘back to the roots’.
Small scale farmers in developing countries and other regions with low density of general infrastructure may no longer only supply pure raw fibers, latex or raw auxiliary ingredients such as binders or resins to the industries. The more the raw material has been transformed into semi-finished products for different industrial sectors, the higher the grade of value-adding is at or near the place of the raw materials extraction. Especially regions with a rudimentary grade of general infrastructure offer usually few opportunities for economic development and income generation. On the other hand, these regions often bear great, highly motivated and thankful human resources as well as huge natural resources which need to be preserved — e.g. in/close to nature conservation areas, rainforests etc.
But is it possible to successfully manufacture semi-finished biomaterials such as fibre or rubber goods under rather difficult, not really industry-conform conditions and does it make sense for all stakeholders involved? Yes, it is:
BASE Ecta, a Paraguay based NGO produces lightweight panels from loofah pumpkin fibers and recycled plastic waste by using old calenders or printing machine equipment. They are used for furniture, insulation purposes, house and yacht construction, but also shoe insoles. Very important in a country with almost no forests, but lots of plastic waste. COOMFLONA at the shores of Rio Tapajós in the National Park of the same name within the Western Amazon is by history a cooperative of rubber tappers. Due to the dependence on industrial rubber buyers, they decided to go into the manufacturing of latex coated textiles for consumer goods such as bags, rucksacks, or children´s trousers for playing in rain and mud. And since they depend on what the forest gives them, there is no one in sight, who would protect the rainforest better, than these fellows. Fibra Design Sustentável and Kaapora Design in the State of Rio de Janeiro/Brazil are producing fast growing fibre-resin composites for replacing slow growing veneers and block wood products. They are based on waste fibre from food production (e.g. palmhearts and banana) and castor oil based polyurethane. Indian Woods Won Helpka in the Honduran Reserva Biósphera Rio Plátano, part of the worlds largest tropical rainforest area north of the Amazon rainforest, BARK CLOTH_uganda Ltd. and BARK CLOTH_europe stake on textiles and composites from permanently renewable tree bark for rather ordinary surface applications on walls or furniture, but also the use in tech products such as automotive parts, laptop cases, as joints in organic bamboo bicycles or for 100% biobased and waterproofed lavatorys made from tree bark fleece and linseedoil based expoxy resins.
The listed production units are different by their background and organizational structure. They are either classical management-owned companies, co-operatives, university spin-offs, loose manufacturing associations, community based companies or NGO’s, or a mixture of these. They are however characterized by the following conditions and principles:
1) De-centralized sourcing of raw fibers and agents
2) De-centralized further processing to semi-finished goods at or close to the place of the fibre source.
3) ‘De-materialized” manufacturing by using smart lowtech facilities, mainly use of muscle-driven machinery and/or hand-processing.
4) Production under conditions of rather unreliable infrastructure (power supply, means of communication and transport).
5) Low carbon or zero carbon emitting production.
6) Struggle for meeting homogeneous qualities and industrial (ISO) standards.
7) Since the fibres are from wild cultivation or mixed small scale farmers produce, they are usually not in competition but complementary to other land uses such as food production. Very important!
8) Following the manufacturing principles of cradle-to-cradle, these innovative biomaterials are often based on ancient traditions and technologies — thus fitting to the cultural system where they have been implemented — but have been further developed to fit to nowadays demand in the industries. From the marketing point of view, these materials offer a story. “Innovative finishes meet ancient traditions”.
As the listed examples show, the handmade does not mean to produce against industries but means manufacturing complementary to them because it offers new sources of supply and innovative fibre products for construction, automotive and consumer goods for these industries and a new — sometimes the only — source of income for inhabitants of remote, non-industrialized regions. This should be reason enough, if we want to change the world for the better and keep people from underdeveloped remote areas from migrating to multimillion cities or even further north to Europe or North America. If inhabitants have a fair perspective on income generating activities, they will stay.
Post-industrial production does not only mean the progress of 3D-printing technology. “Back to manufactory” or “Manufacturing against the tide” is another important, counter-rotating facet of the coming post-industrial manufacturing revolution.
From some points of view, hand-processed fibre- and biomaterials for standardized construction and industrial products might still be a vision. But this vision is already knocking the doors.
And Mr. President Obama? He loves it. Just check the first photo above: in the background discover beautiful sound absorbing wallcoverings from entirely handmade, yet standardized BARKTEX® tree bark fleece.
Read about BARK CLOTH_uganda Ltd. in The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/07/does-the-worlds-oldest-fabric-have-a-future-in-high-fashion/278137/
or at Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-exhibition-cloth-idUSN1226349420070113?sp=true&view=sphere
or Ecosalon: http://ecosalon.com/threaded-wearable-woods-from-forests-into-fashionable-fabrics/
or Interview Magazine New York: http://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/mats-rombaut-ss-2014#_
Credits: dpa/picture alliance, Michael Kappeler. Courtesy of BARK CLOTH_europe/ BARK CLOTH_uganda Ltd.
