What is a Fast Factory?

The single biggest difference between a standard factory and a fast factory is a the philosophical foundations of the manufacturing methods.

• (1) In a standard factory, the objective is to determine the most efficient methodology to produce a single design and to mass manufacture that part. This approach to manufacturing relies on a large and supposed continuous demand for the product so that any company can justify the investment required for mass manufacturing.
• (2) In a fast factory, most designs are produced only a handful of times and are done so in a very short period of time (i.e. short lead time.) A fast factory is used when a component needs to be manufactured but the extended demand of the part is unknown. Historically, this form of manufacturing has been exorbitantly expensive, however, MRL is leveraging additive manufacturing of high strength metals in combination with its in-house machine shop, rapid material characterization (microstructure, tensile testing, and fatigue testing), and proprietary metal polishing techniques to reduce the price of small batch manufacturing.

MRL is excited to work with new customers and solve design problems together so we can help you be original.

We specialize in low volume rapid production and prototyping.