Just what is small scale manufacturing?
It’s the artisan makers, the prototyping to small scale, it’s the production at scale, the makerspaces and the shared commercial kitchens and workshops.
You’d be looking for craft brewers, artisan businesses, contract manufacturing, commercial kitchens, farmers market organizers, and the ‘connectors’.
Let’s play a short game of who do you know.
Who likes to cook and is making food at home for sale?
Who is making crafts, sewing, painting, digital graphics, signage?
Who do you know who sells products on etsy?
Who is refurbishing furniture?
Who is making soap or lotions?
These are your possible small scale manufacturers.
Now we need to understand the spaces that can house small scale manufacturing.
1. an empty building with pop up shops
2. shared kitchen or shared workshop
3. micro retail in the front and production in the back
4. large retail and/or production
5. small, but industrial.
What areas in town will we target to put these folks into business?
You’ll base your decision on several factors.
1. What buildings are vacant?
2. Are there people in community that will invest in this type of new business?
3. Is there a neighborhood that could benefit from this business and help stabilize the neighborhood?
4. Is there neighbor or property owner interest?
This information should get you started in looking at your possibilities for new business, expanded business and the neighborhoods they could go into to.