Working on OSE Chapter - South Africa
Channel: Marcin Jakubowski
Date: 2020-07-24

Working with Lesego on bill of materials for the OSE 3D Printers to determine feasibility of producing 3D printers locally in South Africa. Sourcing of parts is a prerequisite for an enterprise that revolves around 3D pritning, education, and production - the usual OSE package. 

There are several considerations for BOMs in different countries:
1. First, price must make it feasible to replicate what is doable in the USA to within 50% of cost off the shelf.
2. If the price is not within 50% overrun, then this may be a no-go.
3. To get price to comparable to the USA cost, there must be design changes, part substitutions, or further ability to produce additional parts in house. This is doable once the full open source microfactory is avvailable, but in the meantime, we must work with existing supply chains.
4. For parts - sticker price is only one half the story. What is the shipping cost, for example for Ebay or Amazon or Aliexpress?
5. To substitute parts - what machinery is required to build parts in-house?
6. OSE Chapters can fill a role of developing the part substitution, so that more parts are produced in house. This is one part that will be pursued through the immersion training program: if some parts are too expensive, we develop the tools to produce those parts. This is a way to make this feasible throughout the world: by leapfrogging on the supply chains.

Chapters mark the evolution to full time engagement with OSE work. Read more information on OSE Chapters at https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/wiki/OSE_Chapters_Proposal/

See Lesego's work at https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/wiki/Lesego_Log

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