Makers

The change the internet brought to publishing, broadcasting and communications is now reaching manufacturing, Chris Anderson argues. The Wired editor in chief and author of The Long Tail shows how 3D printing and electronics assembly are coming within everyone's reach, so entrepreneurs using open source design can bring manufacturing to the desktop and build businesses without a major manufacturer behind them. Anderson frames this as a third industrial revolution, following the one that began with the spinning jenny and the digital one that opened up publishing and distribution. He expects it to reverse the arrow of globalization, favoring local production. Much of the material grew out of a 2010 article of his arguing that atoms are the new bits.

Haier Group chief executive Zhang Ruimin was reported to have named Anderson's books when asked which management theories most shaped Haier's direction.