Small Maker-Tech Firms Streamline R&D for Big Manufacturers

By Edward Del Beccaro

In small industrial spaces across the country, advanced manufacturers or “maker-tech” firms are merging design, fabrication, small-batch production and other activities to offer turnkey research and development services.

Sharing characteristics of hacker or maker culture, these companies may employ engineers, scientists, skilled tradespeople and other specialists in a single, highly flexible, technologically-advanced industrial facility. The uses each firm brings together vary widely, but collaboration across disciplines is a defining characteristic of this growing niche.

Maker-tech facilities seldom occupy more than 10,000 square feet, but their services are essential to some industries. Indeed, relatively small advanced manufacturers have played a vital role in the development of electric sports cars, military-grade drones, consumer electronics and other cutting-edge products over the past decade.

In many industries, the time-tested model of rolling out a product, collecting user feedback and introducing improvements in the next year’s model has become too slow and cumbersome to retain a company’s market share. The faster a manufacturer can incorporate improvements, the better its chances of capturing sales while the iron is hot.

Multidisciplinary industrial providers can speed the innovation process to deliver a final product in a matter of weeks or even days. Even if the end goal is mass production at a dedicated manufacturing site, a dynamic maker-tech shop can reduce the time required to begin production.

Reflecting their role as problem solvers for larger organizations, maker-tech firms may form clusters or ecosystems around a major employer, such as an automaker, or around a regionally dominant industry, such as oil and gas. Most will locate within a four-hour drive of suppliers, clients or prospective clients. Most will also require easy highway access, and an airport within a one-hour drive.

Advanced manufacturers require access to a diverse labor pool, continually replenished by area universities and trade schools. As a result, maker tech flourishes in communities with existing brain clusters serving the targeted industry. These hubs exist in only a handful of major U.S. markets, including the San Francisco Bay area, Boston, New York and Atlanta.

Buildings must offer a robust shell and excellent power and gas service. Advanced manufacturers are unlikely to choose low-cost locations off the beaten path, because the disadvantages of accessing a remote facility will outweigh any benefits gained from below-market rent.

Standard ethernet broadband access may be inadequate for firms that need to rapidly transmit massive design files and supporting data. For those users, properties with access to dark fiber—unused fiberoptic cabling—may offer a solution. At a minimum, maker-tech firms will seek the highest commercially available bandwidth to the site.

Building out a space for an advanced manufacturer may cost $50 to $100 per square foot, compared to about $20 per square foot for more traditional manufacturing. This reflects the variety of activities required, which can range from computer-aided design in an office setting, to welding and machining in the next room or a building nearby.

A few progressive municipalities have recognized the importance of maker-tech space, and established advanced zoning rules to accommodate non-traditional combinations of activities. Zoning may become less of a concern, as more communities recognize the vital role that maker tech plays in product development and manufacturing.

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Paul Bubny