Opportunities and challenges of distributed manufacturing for humanitarian response

Abstract

Distributed manufacturing, where decentralized small, local sites are engaged in production, often supported by digital systems and networks, can be a powerful tool in humanitarian aid. Field Ready uses distributed manufacturing to produce essential non-food items locally where they are needed during humanitarian responses. Such supplies can be available to communities in need and to relief workers more quickly, more cheaply than alternatives, and provide appropriate solutions to problems, often engaging local people in designing and making necessary items, and supporting economic development. Scaling up this requires local production capabilities (skills, tools, and information such as designs), which can be boosted by adoption of these methods by aid agencies, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and others. Local manufacturing offers the potential for disaster affected communities to be engaged in recovery, and long term to become more resilient, with access to all the equipment and information required to make the supplies they need. However, there are challenges: appropriate quality control for distributed manufacture, unlocking the potential for in-region manufacturers to engage in humanitarian response, and uptake of digital knowledge sharing and collaboration to the humanitarian sector. In this paper, we share experiences of human-centred design and global collaboration to solve local problems, of manufacturing in remote and challenging locations, community building and bridging sectors through the Humanitarian Makers network, and new ideas for distributed manufacturing standards and quality.