  The landscape of traditional industrial manufacturing is undergoing a pivotal
shift from resource-intensive production and long supply chains to more
sustainable and regionally focused economies. In this evolving scenario, the
move towards local, on-demand manufacturing is emerging as a remedy to the
environmentally damaging practice of mass-producing products in distant
countries and then transporting them over long distances to customers. This
paradigm shift significantly empowers customers, giving them greater control
over the manufacturing process by enabling on-demand production and favouring
local production sites over traditional mass production and extensive shipping
practices. In this position paper we propose a cloud-native Manufacturing as a
Service (MaaS) platform that integrates advances in three-dimensional (3D)
printing technology into a responsive and eco-conscious manufacturing
ecosystem. In this context, we propose a high-level architectural design for a
cloud-based MaaS platform that connects web shops of local stores with small
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating 3D printers. Furthermore, we
outline an experimental design, including a cost-benefit analysis, to
empirically evaluate the operational effectiveness and economic feasibility in
a cloud-based additive manufacturing ecosystem. The proposed cloud-based MaaS
platform enables on-demand additive manufacturing and opens up a profit sharing
opportunity between different stakeholders.
