Local Motors Looks To Disrupt the Auto Industry With 3D-Printed Car Bodies 128
An anonymous reader writes: Local Motors solicits design ideas through crowdsourcing, allows anyone to use open source software to contribute ideas, and then 3D prints car bodies according to the chosen specs in a matter of days. To prove they mean business, Local Motors 3D-printed a car on the floor of the Detroit Auto Show last week. "It took 44 hours to print the Strati’s 212 layers. Once 3D printing is complete, the Strati moves to a Thermwood CNC router—a computer-controlled cutting machine that mills the finer details—before undergoing the final assembly process, which adds the drivetrain, electrical components, wiring, tires, gauges, and a showroom-ready paint job."
Here's another big difference from the current auto industry: "Customers can also bring their vehicles in at any time for hardware and software upgrades, or they can choose to melt their vehicle down and, for instance, add a seat. Because Local Motors uses a distributed manufacturing system to make only what is purchased, it doesn't stock inventory. Anyone can come into a Local Motors microfactory, use its design lab, and work on a vehicle project free of charge."
Here's another big difference from the current auto industry: "Customers can also bring their vehicles in at any time for hardware and software upgrades, or they can choose to melt their vehicle down and, for instance, add a seat. Because Local Motors uses a distributed manufacturing system to make only what is purchased, it doesn't stock inventory. Anyone can come into a Local Motors microfactory, use its design lab, and work on a vehicle project free of charge."
Say... (Score:3)
If the car is really dirty, the heck with washing it. Just turn it in and have it reprinted. :) Ok, maybe not. But:
Reprint if you have a fender-bender. Hailstorm. Cat climbed in an open window and sprayed your seats.
Just reprint the car. Love the idea of having it melted down and re-using the material(s.)
I suspect the feds will have something to say about safety issues, though.
Re: (Score:3)
I'm just waiting for the established automakers to buy a few new 'rule changes' in the NTSB to make these illegal...
Re: (Score:2)
Why would they need a new rule? I am pretty sure the existing ones will do just fine.
I was wondering how long it would be before some idiot started complaining about regulatory capture. Certainly didn't take long.
Re: (Score:3)
Regulatory capture is the new Nazi/ Goodwin.
It is like these people want the USA to look like China once again with smog filled cities, posioned water supplies, cars that kill every time there is a 10 mph accident as the human body can't take it.
Re: (Score:1)
the free market solves all problems.
Re: (Score:2)
Consider that Local Motors most likely found and are exploiting loopholes (e.g. hobbyist car-building from scratch, which is still quite active.) Consider further that they wouldn't have attracted a dime of venture funding without at least some plan to exploit existing legal loopholes.
So - you made the assertion, you get to prove it by naming at least one existing rule or law that could be used to slap them down.
Re: (Score:3)
Consider that Local Motors themselves said the cars are not street legal.
I had not considered the 'we're disruptive so laws don't apply to us' aspect. Assuming they want to operate as a legitimate company and not have a bunch of dead customers, I am sure even you could find some laws in here [nhtsa.gov] that would make a 'design it yourself' car made out of printed plastic just a bit of a problem, especially in the 'crashworthiness' section.
Re: (Score:2)
Consider that Local Motors themselves said the cars are not street legal.
'Street Legal' can mean many different things. In many cases this would effectively be a 'hobby car' - IE built by the owner, one-off, etc... In many states making one street legal is around a 10 item checklist - does it have brakes? Does it have functional brake lights? Can it turn? Functional turn signals? Windscreen, headlights?
Safety of the occupants of said vehicle is not really addressed, just that they aren't a rampant danger to the other people on the road.
Emissions can be tougher.
It ends up on
yes, much like Uber, Megaupload & that TV serv (Score:2)
> most likely found and are exploiting loopholes. Consider further that they wouldn't have attracted a dime of venture funding without at least some plan to exploit existing legal loopholes.
Much like Uber had "some plan to exploit existing legal loopholes". Also that TV service, I've forgotten the name, whose loophole was having thousands of antennas, one for each customer.
Or Megaupload "we run a file hosting service, just like Dropbox".
Or Rick Perry, who was recently indicted, though he thought he had
Re: (Score:2)
Because Uber has faced zero regulatory issues after getting its funding?
Re: (Score:3)
I am reminded of the anti copyright infringement commercial "Would you steal a car?". No, but I would copy a car.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Try this: Crash safety testing.
Well, assuming the article saying that the consumer can "design" it really means design, and not just select from a few options to make it custom.
Crash safety testing not applicable. (Score:2)
Well, assuming the article saying that the consumer can "design" it really means design, and not just select from a few options to make it custom.
If the manufactured number is small enough, no crash safety testing needs to be done.
Depending on the number they're anticipating on selling and the amount of modification the individuals are doing, they could come under the line because they're just not selling enough of them or even, by legal trickery like 'renting' the machine to the customer who uses it to build his car(with help) and the amount of customization/design work the buyer does, every car each customer makes could be 'unique' enough to count
Re: (Score:2)
From their site, they intend to make all the essential parts for crash safety out of printed plastic.
Also on their site has the specs.
Re: (Score:2)
Renault isn't even planning to make it available in the US, since it doesn't meet the road requirements here.
Well, they could be imported in (very) small numbers as a utility vehicle. They wouldn't be allowed on the highways, but golf-cart type vehicles are allowed on many residential streets.
Re: (Score:2)
Ya, but golf carts aren't so hot driving across town. I'd think it would be a rather limited market that would want to pay over $8,000 for a golf cart that you can't carry golf clubs in. Generally, I'd assume Slashdot readers don't fall into that niche. $8K on a gaming machine, maybe. $8K to leave your house? No way. :)
Not just slashdot. (Score:2)
True, golf carts aren't great if you have to go across town, but apparently they're quite popular in the retirement areas down in Florida. If you don't walk so well anymore, the weather's nice(though full cab versions exist), and all you want to do is go to the local convenience store or local community center they're great.
You also have UTVs (Utility Task Vehicles), which are golf-car like, but generally more powerful. They're popular in many industrial areas for zipping around while taking up less space
Re: (Score:2)
The problem is, it looks like they're trying to sell it as a car, when it's really just another glorified golfcarts.
It's funny that you mentioned Florida, since that's where I am at the moment. I'm only quoting parts of the laws, so this doesn't become a huge message. You can follow the links to read the rest of the statute and other relevant statutes if you want.
Golf carts can only drive on roads in certain communities and only in certain circumstances.
See Florida Statute 316.212 [state.fl.us]
Re: (Score:2)
Just a nitpick, but most of the UTVs I'm talking about could easily be considered a "Mini Truck - (44)“Mini truck” means any four-wheeled, reduced-dimension truck that does not have a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration truck classification, with a top speed of 55 miles per hour, and which is equipped with headlamps, stop lamps, turn signal lamps, taillamps, reflex reflectors, parking brakes, rearview mirrors, windshields, and seat belts."
For example [motobuys.com], one can point out that this does
Re: (Score:2)
I never really thought about them being any different. I always thought of them as being the same.
It looks like Suzuki and Honda have both ATVs and UTVs. I found on another site the major difference is the seating arrangement (side-by-side for UTV). The UTV can have seatbelts, and have motorcycle type controls rather than golfcart/car type controls.
I've always thought about it by engine and general style. Well, I learned something today. :)
What I said before about seeing them still applies. When I li
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
You can build a full VW Beetle from 3rd party parts. Quite literally, you could have absolutely no parts sourced from Volkswagen or their OEM manufacturers at all. It's an expensive hobby, but people do it.
Sitting outside was the hopper full of plastics... (Score:4, Funny)
So that the car could be made in the living room.
Everyone forgot the size of the door....
Crash-testing & strength? (Score:3)
That's awesome, but how does that relate to crash-testing & safety standards?
Are these such low-volume the normal regulations don't apply?
Do they embed reinforcements or print around a base frame?
Sounds like an awesome concept, but so many questions...
Re: (Score:2)
That's awesome, but how does that relate to crash-testing & safety standards? Are these such low-volume the normal regulations don't apply?
Do they embed reinforcements or print around a base frame?
Sounds like an awesome concept, but so many questions...
Summary says car bodies, so these are essentially kit cars.
Re: (Score:2)
As such they'd be registered here on a "Q" plate and be subject to additional checks during the annual mandatory Ministry Of Transport inspection. Because the design is a one-off, then there is no "type" which could have been approved, so before receiving a registration mark that would allow it to be driven on the public highway (and incidentally, to be taxed), it would need to be inspected by a government-approved inspector to determine if it is sa
Re:Crash-testing & strength? (Score:4, Informative)
I agree completely... I don't know what percentage of time is spent engineering the safety of a car... and I know it's super cool and kitchey to "design your own car" and "3D print it" and stuff, but what happens when someone prints a car that is aerodynamically unstable at 80mph?
"My test drives were all fine... but once I decided to open it up on a country road, I lost control and hit a horse drawn carriage full of people."
There are reasons it takes millions and years to get a car roadworthy.
Also, who's gonna handle the recalls if you share your design with someone else?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I've been OK with this for my whole life
...so far.
Re:Crash-testing & strength? (Score:5, Funny)
That means you went over 88mph.
Re: (Score:3)
You can't 3D print 1.21 gigawats.
Need more power? (Score:2)
Yeah, but you can print an awful lot of things if you have that much power available...
Remember: Some 3d printers print in metal, concrete, tissue cultures, etc... Some of these require rather more power to run the 'print head'.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Remember, you can print a gun now - so it is roughly equivelent to metal.
You may have to make certain arts slightly thicker, but I don't see any problem with crash-testing and safety standards.
What I do see a problem is COST. Usually 3d printing is very expensive when compared to mass produced. Not only are materials more expensive, but the time of the 3d printer is worth money. It takes time and effort to 3d print, rather than pour stuff i
Re: (Score:2)
That being said, I also question the cost and feasibility of this. 3D printing is great for 1-off prototypes, but it's a stupid idea for mass production. Even the best 3D printers are sl
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
There is a specialty vehicle clause that covers super low production cars. That is why you can go to a shop and buy a 32 Duce coup Hot Rod that used no parts from a 32 Ford Duce coup and probably has a small block chevy in it. No crash testing and no emissions testing... That is why they use a small bock chevy or some other classic engine. They make the emissions date of the car be the date of the engine so for a SBC they can put something like 1962. Same thing goes for kit cars and so on.
But the truth be
Re: (Score:2)
I think designing and printing whole car bodies is only ever going to be niche industry; to most people, a car is just a set of wheels to take them to and from work. But I can see a much more interesting application of this: printing out spares that are otherwise ridiculously expensive to buy. It might help break the car industry's stranglehold on their customers - that would be very welcome, IMO.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
From the website: https://localmotors.com/3d-pri... [localmotors.com]
Is the entire car 3D printed?
Everything on the car that could be integrated into a single material piece has been printed. This includes the chassis/frame, exterior body, and some interior features. The mechanical components of the vehicle, like battery, motors, wiring, and suspension, are sourced from Renault’s Twizy, an electric powered city car.
Re: (Score:1)
Tell me the frame isn't printed plastic, please. Safety ratings? Top speed? Crash tests? Price? Sounds cool, but I'd rather not die in a shower of plastic bits when an inattentive SUV driver plows into me during rush hour.
It is printed ABS with carbon fiber reinforcement. It seems to be a unibody: "Everything on the car that could be integrated into a single material piece has been printed. This includes the chassis/frame, exterior body, and some interior features."
I don't see how it can meet safety standards, but they seem to think it possible: "Once the 3D-printed car is cleared by U.S. vehicle rules and regulations, it will be drivable on public roads; our goal is to complete this in 2015."
For repair, I guess you just sc
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Yes, the full article incorrectly reported:
"Depending on the options chosen by the buyer, the Strati will retail between $18,000 and $30,000, and it is expected to be highway-ready in the next year."
When we asked Local Motors about crash performance at NAIAS this year, they confirmed that these vehicles aren't going to be usable on public roads. Neat idea, but very very far from being a game changer....
Re: (Score:3)
I've looked into bringing a car from Mexico to the US. Latin America has lots of models that aren't available in the US, such as the Ford Ka. Unfortunately, US safety standards thoroughly "cock block" that idea. It can be done, but it's not worth doing. A car made to Mexican safety standards, such as they are, I think can be driven in the US by Mexican owners, but can't be simply bought and driven by US citizens. A US citizen can't pop down to Mexico, buy one of these cars and just drive it back to the
Re:NHTSA Safety standards cock-blocks the idea (Score:4, Interesting)
The big exception to safety standards is the antique car.
I'll add one more: The kit car. So long as it's assembled by the owner himself(though he can subsequently sell it intact, it's a bit like selling home-made firearms), it's not considered 'manufactured' and not subject to a lot of the rules.
If they can arrange it so the buyer is 'assembling' the car(even if that means the paperwork says he's renting the machine and buying only the feedstock/parts) as a legal fiction, they can dodge a lot of rules.
Why not build scooters/motorcycles this way? (Score:2)
I would presume scooters and motorcycles have way easier standards to meet since they don't have to do anything to protect the rider - I wonder if it would make more sense to start by producing those. Custom scooter/motorcycle designs could be pretty cool.
Only printing the bodies, of course. (Score:2)
In reality all this lets you do is reskin a standard car with any sort of body that you want, but under the hood it is still the same as every other car. Which is probably still a good thing - otherwise maintenance becomes a nightmare.
Re: (Score:3)
The body is way more than a skin around everything else. The body IS the structure of the car. They don't have frames anymore. The body provides the stiffness for everything. Drive train components anchor to it. The body provides crash protection as the structure crumples to absorb energy.
I'm not saying it is impossible, but the body is a way more complicated structure than most folks think. A car body isn't just a style statement. Many of the shapes we see over and over in cars are there for rigidi
Disruption? (Score:3)
Yeah, I'll bet the auto manufacturers are really losing sleep over this 'disruption'. Gee, they can print out a body in only 44 hours - what's it take a real manufacturer, 2 seconds? And how does a car that 'anybody' can design even begin to meet safety standards? Or are safety standards just another 'regulatory capture'?
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
How about minor repairs? Will we need to pay hundreds of dollars to buff out some scratch or repair deep dents when we can instead replace the damaged outer panel with a new 3D printed one. Of course, cars need to be redesigned to handle such swapping.
Re: (Score:3)
The hundreds of dollars is usually mostly made up of the cost of making it look good - sanding, painting, etc. Unless these cars are going to be just raw material, with no finish (not even UV protection), they will have the same issues. And if they are going to be just raw materials with no finish, yuck.
Re: (Score:2)
Of course they'll have a decent finish and UV protection. Except they'll probably be mass manufactured in some cheap country by robots where they don't charge $50/hour, so it'll be 1/10th the cost of having in repaired by an auto body shop.
Re: (Score:2)
44 HOURS per machine. Almost 80000 times as long as stamping.
Can you actually drive it? (Score:5, Interesting)
First of all FFS put a link to the actual company in the the summary, and don;t just link to a blog talking about it. How hard is that to do? Local Motors [localmotors.com]
Ok .. its a 3d printed body of a car that slips onto a pre-built electric car chassis (from Renault according to their FAQ). But the big question I have is about this statement in the FAQ:
Does it drive?
Hell yeah. Once the 3D-printed car is cleared by U.S. vehicle rules and regulations, it will be drivable on public roads; our goal is to complete this in 2015.
What I don't know about US car regulations is what is needed to certify a car as being able to drive on the road. The classic manufacturers basically get a particular model certified and then stamp out millions that conform to that, and have QA departments that verify what they produce is what the expect to be producing.
But in this case the car is effectively being made from scratch each time on a small jobbing basis. So does that mean that every instance of one of theses cars needs to be certified on a per car basis?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Custom built cars have only need to meet particular set of standards. If you can get the tag you are usually fine. Getting the tag in no way means NHTSA certified. It usually means you have particular things in your car. For example 2 break/head/color lights, particular types of breaks, wheels are covered, muffler if it is ICE, etc. You car could be a total disaster in a crash yet you can still drive it on the road.
There are particular safety things they do enforce (must have seat belts and possibly ai
Bre Petis (Score:4, Interesting)
Local Motors is an investment of Bre Petis, of Makerbot fame, as noted on his web page. [brepettis.com]
I don't know if it is deliberate viral marketing strategy of his or just good investment instinct, but I have noticed that products which make headlines on tech sites trace back to his investments. Another example is the new LIDAR [wikipedia.org] offered at SparkFun [sparkfun.com] from PulsedLight, which, according to this [youtube.com] YouTube video, is linked to DragonInnovation.com, another Petis investment.
Yay, head-explodey time! (Score:2)
If only I could think of a car analogy to help me decide!
Nothing new (Score:2)
An modern auto plant turns out a vehicle approximately once every minute. These vehicles tax 44 hours per unit. The US alone purchases 16M vehicles/year. How will this ever be competitive?
Of course if one reads the article, they are mainly looking at this for prototyping vehicles, particularly military ones, but not the actual production of vehicles. So in short, this is about using 3D printing to prototype something before going to full production. Haven't we been doing that since the 1970s?
Re: (Score:2)
44 hours per unit isn't comparable to a car factory. How much footprint does the 3D printer take up, and how many of those can fit in the footprint of a car factory? I'm sure you'll get it down to a minute if you can put 2640 of them in the building. What you are saying is that it takes thousands of man-hours to make a car, how is that every going to be competitive?
Re: (Score:2)
An modern auto plant turns out a vehicle approximately once every minute.
A car might roll off the line every 60 seconds, but each individual car takes ~20 hours to make. And that only works because they are all the same with only superficial differences.
So in short, this is about using 3D printing to prototype something before going to full production. Haven't we been doing that since the 1970s?
No, because 3D printers weren't developed until the 80s. :)
=Smidge=
Re: (Score:2)
The math may be easy, but you didn't do any. The OP said 'competitive'. That means efficiency, or more simply, cost. What is the COST of each of those printers, the energy to run them, the manpower, the space, etc? How does that COST compare to a simple metal-stamping plant, producing the same number of items?
For very low production runs, the printer will probably be cheaper. For anything remotely mass-produced the traditional plant will be orders of magnitude cheaper.
Re: (Score:2)
Instead of them printing it, they'll send the instructions to your home maker for a one-time build (or just give you the plans why not?). Instantly.
Re: (Score:2)
How many parts do you suppose an average AutoZone sells in a day? Now, imagine that instead of having those parts stocked (either in the store or within a day), they have all the materials, space, and tooling to MANUFACTURE those parts. How much manufacturing space do they need in order to meet the same turn-around time as today? How much is all that space, materials, and time going to cost? You are just plain crazy if you think that model will EVER be more effective than high-speed manufacturing using
Wait for the fallout (Score:2)
Car manufacturers will have KITTENS once they realize their parts department becomes irrelevant when any third party business can now print compatible parts out for a fraction of what the dealerships charge for them. Things like doors, body panels, and the like.
I wonder how long it would take for them to introduce some sort of DRM model into vehicle parts .
Re: (Score:2)
You don't really think that the dealer is the only place to buy replacement parts, do you?
Re: (Score:2)
It depends on the part and the popularity of the model. For things like Mustangs, Camaros, Firebirds, etc there's lots of aftermarket options for all sorts of things. Fenders, door panels, door skins, bumper covers... you could probably build a whole vintage Mustang from the frame up with non-Ford-OEM parts. Likewise with parts that are widely shared across models and are generally considered consumable - brake pads, clutches, alternators, etc. Readily available third party. On the other hand, if you need s
Re: (Score:2)
My point was that all of the common parts (ie the ones that you can actually make money selling) are already available from third parties. No auto manufacturer is getting rich selling climate control sliders or even climate control heads. Yes, those parts may be expensive to buy, but that does not mean they are some sort of cash cow for the manufacturer like the OP seems to think. I suspect that the manufacturers wouldn't carry those parts at all if they could avoid it, because they are money losers.
Re: (Score:2)
Seriously? (Score:2)
The only thing 3D printed on this vehicle was the body. None of the running gear (you know, the parts that usually break) were printed.
Take this NADA (Score:3)
[*] Sorry if you got Macgyver theme song running in your head.
Re: (Score:2)
[*] Sorry if you got Macgyver theme song running in your head.
After SNL, I always think about McGruber now.
Recycling Materials (Score:2)
What struck me as the most interesting part of this article was the concept of taking your car to the shop, removing the drive train, and melting the rest down to be used to print a new car.
This would be fantastic. All of a sudden, getting into a crash doesn't mean you have to junk the whole car. You can salvage the body and a lot of the parts (in theory). Wait a week or two and voila, you have a brand new product.
In theory we should be doing this with existing cars, but they just don't seem to be built for
Re: (Score:2)
getting into a crash doesn't mean you have to junk the whole car. You can salvage the body and a lot of the parts (in theory). [...] In theory we should be doing this with existing cars, but they just don't seem to be built for it,
The labor involved in disassembling and assembling cars is substantial. But even so, when you "junk" a car, they don't just crush it. Most of the parts are removed from the vehicle first, and sold on or scrapped separately. The body is crushed and made into more cars, or into home appliances, or whatever. And now we're moving towards Aluminum unibodies, which are even more recyclable than steel. They're also more repairable, because of the way they're put together, but the cost is still prohibitive so it's
Re: (Score:2)
Good to know. Where I live (semi-rural area) there's probably a half dozen junk yards within a 15 minute drive of me. Cars just go there and... sit around... Sometimes people will run in there and yank a part out for nominal amounts of money, but most of the time they just sit and rust away.
Re: (Score:2)
. Where I live (semi-rural area) there's probably a half dozen junk yards within a 15 minute drive of me. Cars just go there and... sit around... Sometimes people will run in there and yank a part out for nominal amounts of money, but most of the time they just sit and rust away.
It's highly unusual any more for a junkyard not to have at least part of their inventory on the internet, even bumpkin ma and pa junkyards are networked now. There's sites that let you enter your inventory and which handle relaying sales inquiries. So they don't have webpages, but you can contact them via the web.
Re: (Score:2)
All of a sudden, getting into a crash doesn't mean you have to junk the whole car. You can salvage the body and a lot of the parts (in theory). Wait a week or two and voila, you have a brand new product.
In theory we should be doing this with existing cars, but they just don't seem to be built for it
No, instead they're built in a way that dissipates the energy so you survive the crash. Yes the car is totalled but you stand a higher chance of walking away from the accident. You seem to want to reverse the advances there have been in crash protection.
3D Printing is not the solution to every problem (Score:1)
3D printing is great for small volume items that you don't want to stock or are customized each time.
They are not so good for high volume parts. This may make an interesting custom body building option, but a Toyota replacement it is not. The article seemed to imply that the body itself was $10,000+. For a mass car manufacturer the body is $1,000, painted (material, energy and direct labour). The other issue is the properties of material that can be used. Can a 3d printer use galvanized steel? Or make
disruptive? hah. (Score:2)
No. Lookit, printing a car body in 44 hours is a joke. Any auto plant in the world can probably turn out a thousand or so a day.
If anything this might be disruptive to MAACO or some other body shop -- dent up your fusion, and they can print out a replacement panel in a day or two.
3d printing is cool, but right now (and probably forever) it's just hype.
You've missed the point (Score:2)
No factory in the world can custom build you a car body in 44 hours based on a design you just finished.
Re: (Score:2)
And that lack of capability is 'disruptive' or threatening to their business model somehow?
I'm not taking exception to what they're doing, nor discounting the 'cool' factor -- but to claim it's DISRUPTIVE to the auto industry is silly.
Re: (Score:2)
but to claim it's DISRUPTIVE to the auto industry is silly.
Indeed. 'Disruptive' would be Tesla coming out with a hatchback EV with a 300 mile range for under $20k (just to make it wildly disruptive).
Worst case this displaces some kit car builds, and the likely result is that the prototyping departments are already buying the printers for the major manufacturers to purchase themselves.
History Still With Us (Score:2)
upsized, good looking golf cart (Score:2)
Not quite the definition of 'car', 3D printed or no.
No thanks. (Score:2)
Customized yes, cheap, no. (Score:2)
The only part of the automaking process that they changed was body/chassis assembly. That part is already highly automated, with robots doing most of the work. Yay, so you get all the automation, with the addition of greater customization. However, the vast majority of the labor is in assembly of the rest of the car. And if every car off the line is different, a lot of the efficiencies you get with the moving assembly line go completely out the window.
Avoid inventory tax... (Score:1)
Being an old fart; I remember when finding after market parts for vehicles more than a few years old was easy. Then it became fashionable in the 1990s to have a quarterly inventory tax (implemented by many states). Having a recurring inventory tax made it prohibitively expensive to keep ready stocks of repair parts. Even the utility industry went to "just in time" ordering as they were being taxed on their warehouses full of spare pumps, motors, valves.
3D printing looks like an easy way