Fab lab management

Fab Lab management Fab 6

Work in process

Fab

• Academics
• Business
• Community

Lab Profile

• - Stand alone
• - Institutional
• - Community based

Main aspects

• - Infrastructure
• - Human capital - staff
• - Operation equipment
• - Program content
• - Safety (people and equipment)

Overhead

• Payroll
• Building
• Heating
• Cooling
• Electricity
• Rent
• Taxes
• Insurance – property + personal injury
• Finances / book-keeping
• Cleaning
• Telephone
• Internet
• PR
• Materials / Consumables
• Equipment maintenance and repair costs

Staff

• How many people?
• Managers
• Instructors
• Researchers
• Volunteers
• Interns
• Technician
• Maintenance – Cleaning

Personnel training (Initial and on going)

• Peer-to-peer
• Boot camp
• Fab Academy
• Self training
• Other fab labs

Staff profile

• Interpersonal skills
• Charismatic
• Enthusiastic
• Multifunctional
• Technical knowledge
• Previous experience (Computers, electronics, design, entrepreneurship)
• Creative
• Collaborative (ready to help and enjoy it)
• Reliable
• Good sales person
• Good teacher

Hardware

• - Equipment maintenance
• - Inventory
• - Repairing

Software

• - Licensing
• - Open source, free source, commercial
• - Upgrading
• - Cleaning - virus!
• - Backup
• - http://fab.cba.mit.edu/about/fab/

• Server installation, networked computers and machines
• Material management (inventory, ordering - suppliers, reuse, waste, optimization, nesting-efficient use)
• Security
• Scheduling
• Fund raising

Program development and coordination

• - Faculty
• - Content
• - Operative aspects

Education and research

• - Fab Academy
• - Global Bootcamp
• - Fab Lab Network projects
• - Local research and impact projects
• - Support to other programs
• - Open access

Workshops

• - Weekend workshops
• - Two week workshops
• - Boot Camp
• - 30min – 1hr demonstrations

Scheduling

• - Priorities
• - Students
• - Clients

Documentation and diffusion

• - Wiki
• - Web
• - Handbooks
• - Prove effectiveness (Statistics)

Communication and Networking

• - Polycom
• - Web
• - e-mail - skype
• - Collaboration (File sharing, regional - global)
• - GIT and Bazaar
• - VNC

Scheduling

• How to Schedule?
• Eventbrite,
• Calendar
  • For different groups
  • Google Calendar or Google Spreadsheets
    • First come -> first served
    • How to handle machine time schedule?

Insurance / Safety

• Safety and insurance for employees, volunteers, users, visitors
• How to handle insurance?
• Liability?
• Machine damage, or people damage
• Enter at your own risk

What is a Fab Lab?

• Global network of people who want to cooperate and share knowledge
• Fab Charter:

How to make the Fab Lab sustainable?

• Fab Education?
• Fab Business?

Ideas of fundraising

• Fab Education?
• Fab Business?
• Funds from government
• Project based funding
• Private companies
• investors

Open access

How it works?

• How to encourage instruction?
• How to handle big groups?
• How to organize and take larger groups to it.
• Based on structure.
• Start on a project, how to train, balance the time, design vs. Producing.
• Teach a class
• Training, good to have cameras and projectors
• Vinyl cutter -> Laser -> Shopbot