“The manufacturing industry is focused on big players… this prevents independent buyers, startups and small to medium-sized businesses from participating. We are solving this problem.”
— SyncFab’s CEO Jeremy Goodwin.
SyncFab has been in business since 2013 and since then partnered with the cities of San Francisco, San Leandro, and Oakland as part of their civic innovation Startup program, which is recognized by the Department of Energy and Commerce at the White House.
SyncFab has introduced a blockchain based smart contract and token system into their existing manufacturing and bid platform, which will simplify the entire manufacturing process right from setting up the bid, to selecting the manufacturer based on previous reviews, to final product delivery and payments.
The company’s sale of MFG Utility tokens – which is currently ongoing – will power the SyncFab system that will allow manufacturers to list their machining capabilities straight to the platform and hardware buyers can send part orders directly to the manufacturers. Smart contracts will guarantee production standards, protect intellectual property and secure payments.
The digital marketplace connecting bidders and manufacturers is rapidly growing and is predicted to grow to $15 trillion by 2030, as per a report by Accenture Technology. Goodwin believes that “the world is at the brink of the 4th Industrial revolution and with technological disruption caused by blockchain and the Internet of Things, it only makes sense for a platform like SyncFab to revolutionize a typically slow moving, manual, insecure and paper based process to a more secure, digital, automated and fast-moving network that can be operated globally on a single efficient platform that brings order to chaos in manufacturing procurement process”.
The current system is scattered amongst multiple systems and processes, that rely on manual methods of outreach, procurement, bidding, shipping and tracking. SyncFab enables procurement departments to automate and streamline their processes using a single platform. The biggest problem that SyncFab will solve is that, in the status quo of manufacturing procurement, manufacturers have little time or incentive to quote for a vast number of orders. They are not compensated for it but must do it anyway; as a result, the entire process can be slow and face long delays, if an order is quoted at all.
Manufacturers do not bother with smaller orders as there is too much work involved and little reward. With SyncFab, the process is quick and efficient, and manufacturers are compensated for participation, whether they win the bid or not. Bidders can move quickly, selecting manufacturers, placing orders. On the manufacturer’s side they make better use of their idle capacity and get rewarded for their time taking care of smaller orders. SyncFab hence delivers a win-win solution for both parties.
With the use of MFG Tokens, SyncFab will be able to save their customers even more time by rewarding blue-collar workers for their time quoting orders, encouraging faster quotes from reputable manufacturers for buyers to choose from, in-turn speeding up the procurement process. On the manufacturer’s side SyncFab’s all-in-one platform will allow manufacturers to reduce wasted time and take on a higher volume of orders to maximize idle capacity and increase revenue.
At first, the MFG tokens will be utilized on the existing web 2.0 platform to incentivize manufacturers for traditionally uncompensated time of putting together quotes and make manufacturers more responsive to time-sensitive production deadlines. Enticed by a reward for timely quotes, manufacturers are expected to respond more quickly. The token incentives will increase and diversify a large pool of manufacturers, from whom a purchaser can make a choice. Manufacturers will be able to provide bidders with promos and marketing incentives in order to retain their customers.
On the Web 3.0 blockchain platform the company sees the potential for the MFG Token to replace traditional forms of payment for manufacturing orders in the system, in an instant secure transaction. There is also potential for payments to be made to designers, engineers and consultants who help the ecosystem and its partner blockchain networks flourish. A national government blockchain would likely be closed off, centralized and less likely to be adopted by other countries.
SyncFab is a global decentralized peer-to-peer network that can be used across borders allowing anyone to get hardware manufactured anywhere in the world securely, quickly and easily. As IP is secured on a decentralized blockchain, one does not have to worry about a single government having access to and profiting off ones’ intellectual property. There’s no reason these private and singular government initiatives can’t tap into and utilize the strength and capacity of the SyncFab network of manufacturers and buyers in the future.
Note: This article is written by Abhibroto Roy on behalf of SyncFab