Shanzhai: Chinese open manufacturing networks

Shanzhai are collaborative manufacturing groups that suggest "a new approach to economic recovery ... based on small companies well-networked with each other."

Tom Igoe wrote a great article about them here, and Bunnie Huang here.

Some shanzhai characteristics:

• They gain market share by moving rapidly, understanding and responding to local needs and tastes, and establishing and maintaining local manufacturing and distribution bases;
• They make rapid and continual improvements;
• They continually invest in future developments.
• They have established a culture of sharing information about the things they make through open BOMs (bills of materials) and other design materials, crediting each other with improvements. The community apparently self-polices this policy, and ostracizes those that violate it.

Igoe compares them to US open-source hardware networks like Spark Fun, Adafruit, Evil Mad Scientist, Arduino, and Seeed Studio,

He also compares them to situated software, which is what we do here at Group Accounting.

Igoe lists some of the necessary ingredients for a collaborative network:

• Cheap tools
• Internet sales, publicity, and distribution
• Cheap short run supplies
• Cheap fast shipping
• Open manufacturing information

We think local networks of all kinds should study shanzhai networks.