BOOMER
spring 2017
news with a competitive edge
GENERATIONS IN THE WORKPLACE
30
Nine people from three generations offer their perspective on work, tech and what drives them.
GEN X millennial
business backgrounder | education & workforce
A High-tech Tinkering Paradise From 3-D printers to laser cutters, a makerspace in Edmonds called The Facility opens up a world of high-tech tools to budding entrepreneurs. Brian Mittge The notion of manufacturing empires born in a garage is a classic American success story — but what if every tinkerer had access to nearly $1.5 million of machines to make their ideas come to life? Enterprising builders in Edmonds now have access to these kinds of expensive, precision tools thanks to an innovative program at Edmonds Community College known as The Facility. In a digital world that seems to be fixated on the next big app, a hands-on makerspace full of high-tech tools in Edmonds is dedicated to the idea that it’s cool to build physical, tangible things. “I think we’re at a tipping point where we as a society are going to realize again that it’s the people who make things who build the world,” said David Voetmann, the makerspace project designer and lead evangelist for The Facility. This new and still-under-development program at Edmonds Community College (ECC) is designed to put expensive, high-tech tools in the hands of folks who would never otherwise have access to them. The Facility offers $1.5 million worth of cutting-edge tools — from 3-D printers to a laser cutter and plastic injection molders — to community members in the same way that someone might join a health club and pay a monthly fee to access expensive exercise machines.
at a glance The Facility is aimed at do-it-yourself types who want access to advanced tools for prototyping and fabrication. The Facility does not mass-produce goods. (There are, however, tips offered to connect users with industrial production facilities that can mass-produce or on-demand build the finished prototypes for sale.) Members must take a quick training class or certification test to ensure that they won’t hurt themselves or the equipment. Once approved, they can use the high-tech tools for any project they’d like. The Facility has about 500 pieces of equipment worth about $1.5 million at its 11,000-square-foot shop on the campus of Edmonds Community College. The program is still in the midst of a soft opening, which began quietly last summer. They have about 50 members who have been vetted to work on site. They anticipate the numbers to climb quickly once marketing begins.
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Bob McChesney, designer of the bGroovin desktop speaker system, discusses his work at The Facility as part of a panel discussion at the 2016 AWB Institute Manufacturing Summit. David Voetmann (center), project designer at The Facility, looks on.
business backgrounder | education & workforce
“If you’re looking to gain cutting-edge skills for your first career, re-tool for a second or third career, or just have that burning idea that needs to be made a reality, this is the place for you.” — Jean Hernandez, president of Edmonds Community College “It’s like Tony Stark’s garage,” Voetmann said, referring to the eyepopping workspace of Iron Man, the billionaire’s alter ego. ECC President Jean Hernandez said the idea is to invite the college’s neighbors in during the evenings to use the equipment that engineering technology students use during the day. That will allow ordinary people with extraordinary ideas to “turn their thoughts into things,” she said. “If you’re looking to gain cutting-edge skills for your first career, re-tool for a second or third career, or just have that burning idea that needs to be made a reality, this is the place for you,” Hernandez said during the launch of The Facility last August. There’s a quick but comprehensive training and vetting process for prospective users of the equipment. The goal is not to teach them everything — just what they need to get started safely. Whereas a college vocational program would, for example, teach a comprehensive welding program over two years and prepare a student for a good, high-paying career, The Facility can teach the basics of welding in a two-hour orientation. “At the end of that first two hours my only concern running the makerspace is that we trained you not to hurt the equipment and not to hurt yourself. This strategy significantly reduces your barrier to entry. Now, in just two hours, you’re on your way,” Voetmann said. In addition to the paid membership model, common to most makerspaces, The Facility also offers a rapid prototype lab. It’s organized like a copy-mart, where members can pay for time on a piece of popular, high-end equipment: a 3-D printer or scanner, a CNC (computernumeric control) router, or a laser cutter.
(almost) every tool under the sun
The shop caters both to hobbyists and to tinkerers whose products just might end up being sold to the world. One of those entrepreneurs is Bob McChesney. He has a great day job, but for 15 years he has made high-fidelity loudspeakers as a hobby. When he needed a specific mounting ring for his unique spherical speakers, he couldn’t buy it off the shelf, didn’t have the tools in his shop to make it, and traditional fabrication costs were prohibitive. Finally, he went to The Facility and used acrylic on the laser cutter to complete this key piece of his prototype. He went from design to production in less than an hour. — Bob McChesney, who has used The Facility to design parts for his bGroovin desktop speaker system He has gone on to work closely with Voetmann on other parts of the project, and McChesney has now begun low-volume production of the bGroovin speaker. “Not every hobbyist has every tool you can imagine in their garage. Sometimes you come up with a design or fabrication problem and you need to have a place to go to in order to perfect the concept and come up with a specialty fabrication,” McChesney said. When that happens, The Facility has what he needs. “It’s a wonderful place with great stuff,” McChesney said. “The thing I really like is they have just about every tool under the sun.” Another client used The Facility’s 3-D scanners and printers to replicate elaborate lighting fixtures from a 1920s-era building in Seattle as part of a renovation. Another is doing high-definition scans of hydroplane blades to study why one model works perfectly and the other, supposedly identical, failed spectacularly. While The Facility isn’t set up for production scale, it plans to offer classes and connections with businesses that specialize in helping bring products to market.
“Not every hobbyist has every tool you can imagine in their garage. Sometimes you come up with a design or fabrication problem and you need to have a place to go to in order to perfect the concept and come up with a specialty fabrication.”
fix it yourself Voetmann comes to The Facility from a unique background. He was born and raised in Africa, the son of
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business backgrounder | education & workforce
a bush pilot who knew not just how to fly the plane, but how to repair it. In those remote environments, if you couldn’t fix something yourself, it wouldn’t get fixed at all. While the modern mentality is to throw something away rather than repair it, Voetmann thinks that the human drive to tinker, design and build is built into our DNA. “It’s the reason we have thumbs,” he said. “We pick up tools and solve problems. That’s what makes us human.” He brings that philosophy to The Facility, where he’s using ECC’s cutting-edge machines to work up a few of his own innovations, like a better lid for insulated bottles that won’t spill hot coffee on you during your morning commute. “So many well-known businesses were started in garages. One of the things we’re excited about is that, for local people with great ideas, we can be that garage,” Voetmann said. “Only we have equipment that would never fit in your garage, equipment you could probably never afford or even want to buy.” The Facility is still in a soft opening phase. Like the customers it serves, the business plan is completely DIY. — David Voetmann, makerspace project designer for The Facility Voetmann said he’s excited to see how ECC is opening its resources and space to the public in an innovative way — leveraging the state’s investment in ways that create new value and opportunity far beyond matriculated college students. “One of the things we’re toying with is the notion that solutions don’t fall by the wayside because people are stupid, it’s because smart people don’t have access to the equipment they need to develop the solution,” Voetmann said. “There is this democratizing effect which enables ordinary people with extraordinary ideas to push those ideas forward.”
“So many well-known businesses were started in garages. One of the things we’re excited about is that, for local people with great ideas, we can be that garage. Only we have equipment that would never fit in your garage, equipment you could probably never afford or even want to buy.”
The Facility: www.edcc.edu/workforce/entrepreneurship/makerspace
additional information The makerspace is located on the campus of Edmonds Community College in Monroe Hall at 6606 196th Street Southwest, Lynnwood, WA 98036. Contact David Voetmann, the makerspace project designer, at
[email protected], to learn more.
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