Manufacturing Software Open Source

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A list of open source manufacturing software, free small business ERP software and manufacturing ERP. This list also contains a comparison between open source erpnext and paid erp next.

Software is a great solution for businesses with small and medium scale. Some features are a full suite of business applications that help companies save time, money and reduce hassles. Customers talk about how their company productivity increased and the useful features saved hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Use ERPNext the best ERP Open Source solution for a small or medium sized business and create your business efficient, secure, updated and smart brain.

Open manufacturing, also known as open production, maker manufacturing, and with the slogan “Design Global, Manufacture Local” is a new model of socioeconomic production in which physical objects are produced in an open, collaborative and distributed manner[1] [2] and based on open design and open source principles.

Open manufacturing combines the following elements of a production process: new open production tools and methods (such as 3D printers), new value-based movements (such as the maker movement), new institutions and networks for manufacturing and production (such as FabLabs), and open source methods, software and protocols.[3] [4]

Open manufacturing may also include digital modeling and fabrication and computer numeric control (CNC) of the machines used for production through open source software and open source hardware.

The philosophy of open manufacturing is close to the open-source movement, but aims at the development of physical products rather than software.[5] The term is linked to the notion of democratizing technology[6] as embodied in the maker culture, the DIY ethic, the open source appropriate technology movement, the Fablab-network and other rooms for grassroot innovation such as hackerspaces.

Principles[edit]

The openness of “open manufacturing” may relate to the nature of the product (open design), to the nature of the production machines and methods (e.g. open source 3D-printers, open source CNC), to the process of production and innovation (commons-based peer production / collaborative / distributed manufacturing), or to new forms of value creation (network-based bottom-up or hybrid versus business-centric top down).[7] Jeremy Rifkin argues, that open production through 3D-printing “will eventually and inevitably reduce marginal costs to near zero, eliminate profit, and make property exchange in markets unnecessary for many (though not all) products”.[8]

Socioeconomic implications[edit]

The following points are seen as key implications of open manufacturing:[6]

  • a democratization of (the means of) production,
  • a decentralization of production and local value creation (global cooperation – local manufacturing),
  • the possibility to produce high quality prototypes and products in small quantities at moderate (to increasingly low) prices,
  • the closing of the gap between the formal and informal sector and opportunities for bottom-up open innovation, and
  • a transition from consumer to producer for manufactured goods.

In the context of socioeconomic development, open manufacturing has been described as a path towards a more sustainable industrialization on a global scale, that promotes “social sustainability” and provides the opportunity to shift to a “collaboration-oriented industrialization driven by stakeholders from countries with different development status connected in a global value creation at eye level”.[9]

For developing countries, open production could notably lead to products more adapted to local problems and local markets and reduce dependencies on foreign goods, as vital products could be manufactured locally.[10] In such a context, open manufacturing is strongly linked to the broader concept of Open Source Appropriate Technology movement.

Views[edit]

According to scholar Michel Bauwens, Open Manufacturing is “the expansion of peer production to the world of physical production”.[1]

Redlich and Bruns define “Open Production” as “a new form of coordination for production systems that implies a superior broker system coordinating the information and material flows between the stakeholders of production”, and which will encompass the entire value creation process for physical goods: development, manufacturing, sales, support etc.[11]

A policy paper commissioned by the European Commission uses the term “maker manufacturing” and positions it between social innovation, open source ICT and manufacturing.[3]

Criticism[edit]

A number of factors are seen to hamper the broad-based application of the model of “open manufacturing” and / or to realize its positive implications for more sustainable global production pattern.

The first factor is the sustainability of commons-based peer production models: “Empowerment happens only, if the participants are willing to share their knowledge with their colleagues. The participation of the actors cannot be guaranteed, thus there are many cases known, where participation could only be insufficiently realized”.[9] Other problems include missing or inadequate systems of quality control, the persistent paradigm of high-volume manufacturing and its cost-efficiency, the lack of widely adopted platforms to share hardware designs, as well as challenges linked to the joint-ownership paradigm behind the open licences of open manufacturing and the fact, that hardware is much more difficult to share and to standardize than software.[6]

In developing countries, a number of factors need to be considered in addition to the points above. Scholar Waldman-Brown names the following: lack of manufacturing expertise and informality of current SMMs[clarification needed] in emerging markets as an obstacle to quality control for final products and raw material as well as universities and vocational training programs not apt to react rapidly enough to provide the necessary knowledge and qualifications.[6]

Examples[edit]

  • Open Source Ecology, a project for designing and building open source industrial machines, fabricated by eXtreme Manufacturing
  • RepRap Project, a project to create an open-source self-copying 3D printer.
  • Wikispeed, a automotive manufacturer that produces modular design cars using open source tools
  • Local Motors : Applying open production to the field of transport and vehicles
  • Sensorica, a hardware development network-organization using the open value network model.

Open-source software is non-proprietary software that allows anyone to modify, enhance, or simply view the source code behind it. It can enable programmers to work or collaborate on projects created by different teams, companies, and organizations.

Open-source software authors do not view their creations as proprietary and instead release their software under licenses that grant users with the desire and know-how to view, copy, learn, alter, and share its code.

OSS is shared in a public repository, granting access to anyone who wants to work on the source code. However, open-source software tends to come with a distribution license, which establishes how people can interact, modify, and share the OSS.

Once changes are made to the source code, the OSS should signify those changes and what methods were used to make them. Also, depending on the license, the resulting OSS may or may not be required to be free. With that, most open-source software is free but some require up-front costs or subscription fees.

There are many examples of open-source software available online, with many popular applications allowing improvements and modifications from users. While not all of the changes and improvements made by programmers will be made available to the general public, the ability to work with these source codes can be educational and fun for some.

While open-source software allows pretty much all programmers to use and modify it, it does come with a distribution license. Some may require anyone who modifies a program to release the new code without compensation.

The most popular licenses include:

  • MIT License
  • GNU General Public License (GPL) 2.0
  • GNU General Public License (GPL) 3.0
  • Apache License 2.0
  • BSD License 2.0 (3-clause, new or revised)

Utilizing open-source software has many advantages over its proprietary peers, especially for businesses and organizations just getting started in the industry.

  • Open-source software tends to be more flexible as it offers programmers multiple ways of solving problems and encouraging creative solutions.
  • Improvements and bug fixes on OSS happen much more quickly. Because open-source software allows collaboration, issues and improvements are implemented at a faster pace.
  • It’s cost-effective. Generally speaking, proprietary software requires internal employees to work on its source code to keep the information private. Open-source software allows those unaffiliated with the project access without its authors having to pay out for further development.
  • You can attract better talent. If a small business launches open-source software, the ability of all programmers to view and modify it could allow the organization to recruit particularly talented employees.
  • Open-source software can be more difficult to use since they may have less user-friendly interfaces or features that aren’t familiar to all programmers.
  • Compatibility issues may arise if the hardware used to create a piece of open-source software isn’t available to all programmers working on it. This could also drive up costs of the project.
  • Open-source software doesn’t come with the same warranties and indemnification as proprietary applications. This could become a problem as open-source software may provide no real protection from infringement.

To manage manufacturing operations, most manufacturers use ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems and sometimes other types of software such as MES (manufacturing execution systems) and QMS (quality management systems).

While these systems help manufacturers streamline and improve operations, they may not be enough to address the unprecedented challenges faced by the manufacturing industry, such as:

  • Slow growth is the new normal in manufacturing, with a rate of 3 percent year over year and an average yearly increase of 3.79 percent between 1920 and 2019.
  • Outsourcing and globalization put a lot of pressure on manufacturing companies to stay competitive and cut costs.
  • The skills gap is a significant issue in manufacturing, which is expected to cause losses of $454 billion in manufacturing GDP by 2028.
  • Customer pressure to deliver quality products and services that are also ethical, sustainable and environmentally-friendly.

While ERP has been around for decades and is perceived as must-have software for manufacturers, many different solutions offer complementary functionality such as product design, maintenance, and supply chain applications.

ERP software rarely covers all the features mentioned above, which is why, in the best-case scenario, companies end up using at least several products. The worst-case scenario can be described by the image below:

Typical IT ecosystem of a large manufacturing company

This is reminiscent of the term “spaghetti code,” which refers to unstructured code that is very difficult to maintain. Many manufacturers have “spaghetti software” consisting of multiple systems that are more or less integrated, built on various technologies and databases, and sometimes even include several versions of the same software.

To continue the pasta analogy, “ravioli code” refers to code that only makes sense in isolation but is difficult to understand as a whole. Manufacturers also have a lot of ravioli software in various forms such as suites, best-of-breed, add-ons, customized tools or apps. While buying and implementing them made sense at the time for each team or department, no one really knows how they work together.

Finally, there’s “lasagna code,” which has layers so intertwined that any change to one layer will impact the others. ERP lasagna has been one of a manufacturers’ worst nightmares for a long time, primarily due to upgrades. On-premise software used to be upgraded or patched regularly, which solved some issues while also creating new ones.

Conclusion

The best manufacturing software for small businesses. A complete and competitively priced ERP solution for small manufacturing businesses. Free to use and adapt as your business grows. Making ERP software cheap, easy and powerful.

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