The Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Zhou Wenzhong, represents his country’s 1.3 billion citizens in dealings with the United States.

David A. McInnis, of Springville, Utah, represents 25 employees and their families in his dealings with China.

Yet during a recent hour-long meeting over breakfast in Portland, Wenzhong and McInnis found they have many mutual interests.

These days, it seems, the lines between East and West are not only disappearing, so, too, are the distinctions between large and small.  Large manufacturers and service companies are learning from innovative startups and vice versa.

What brought Ambassador Wenzhong and McInnis together is the American’s concept for shared-manufacturing.  McInnis is founder and chairman of US Reliant, a Springville, Utah-based company that seeks to revolutionize the way small and mid-size businesses invest in manufacturing assets.  Moreover, McInnis believes his framework will allow America to restore its role as a world leader in manufacturing.

Sitting at a rectangular table dotted with Chinese and American flags, Wenzhong and McInnis, both with senior members of their staffs on hand, discussed McInnis’ initial entry into shared-manufacturing, a company – Tangible Express – that allows manufacturers to purchase fractional ownership in rapid-prototyping machines, much like some businesses share ownership of jet aircraft.

Sitting at a rectangular table dotted with Chinese and American flags, Wenzhong and McInnis, both with senior members of their staffs on hand, discussed McInnis’ initial entry into shared-manufacturing, a company – Tangible Express – that allows manufacturers to purchase fractional ownership in rapid-prototyping machines, much like some businesses share ownership of jet aircraft.

McInnis believes that for many companies, full ownership of expensive, specialized equipment, such as rapid-prototyping and rapid-manufacturing  (RP-RM) equipment, is an inefficient use of capital.  Through Tangible Express, he permits companies to purchase only the capacity they will actually need, allowing them to minimize their investment in hard assets, without sacrificing the benefits of outright ownership.

“The equipment is theirs.  It is an asset on their balance sheet,” McInnis notes.  Yet,  when the asset is not being used by one fractional owner, it is available to other fractional owners.  Tangible Express houses the equipment, maintains it, and facilitates the optimization of the asset by allowing fractional owners to “swap” time on eachothers’ machines.                     

Through U.S. Reliant, McInnis and his crew are charting a course that will fractionalize the entire manufacturing supply chain, from initial design and prototyping to full-scale molding and tooling. 

McInnis’ vision is one that is attracting interest as far away as China.  For one thing, his fractional-manufacturing concept will give small U.S. manufacturers an edge in their battle to survive in a global economy.  More efficient investment of their scarce capital means they can be competitively priced with global manufacturers who pay less for labor, but can’t compete when it comes to proximity, quality and the cost of assets.

For China, the draw is in the prospect of owning U.S.-based assets that can serve those customers who need prototyping or short-run productions – areas where China is not competitive on a global basis.
 
During their meeting, Ambassador Wenzhong asked many questions to McInnis and his team concerning the concept of fractional manufacturing and its potential benefit to Chinese businesses.

“It is a wonderful idea to improve efficiency and cut costs,” the Ambassador said of RP-RM after the briefing was completed.  “The Chinese people like [efficiency and cost cutting] very much.”

It is a sentiment that companies both large and small can ill-afford to ignore.

-- www.l-vma.org