On-demand digital manufacturing ecosystems look to become the future of manufacturing. By transitioning away from traditional supply chains, stockpiles of inventory, and excess materials, on-demand manufacturing can offer companies robust and flexible supply chains, reducing inventory and raw material costs. On-demand manufacturing also looks to reduce the effects of supply disruption by allowing companies to shift manufacturing sites at a moment’s notice.

Todd Taylor is the vice president of application engineering at Fictiv, a digital manufacturing ecosystem that rapidly delivers custom mechanical parts through its quote-to-order platform and distributed network of global partners. He discusses how on-demand manufacturing will benefit not just startups and smaller firms but also how larger manufacturing firms do business.