  The digitalization of manufacturing has created opportunities for consumers
to customize products that fit their individualized needs which in turn would
drive demand for manufacturing services. However, this pull-based manufacturing
system production of extremely low quantity and limitless variety for products
is expensive to implement. New emerging technology in design automation driven
by data-driven computational design, manufacturing-as-a-service marketplaces
and digitally enabled micro-factories holds promise towards democratization of
innovation. In this paper, scientific, technology and infrastructure challenges
are identified and if solved, the impact of these emerging technologies on
product innovation and future factory organization is discussed.
