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"New York City-based entrepreneur\u00A0Duy Huynh started his career in 2003 as a Research Assistant in Fujitsu Lab America and later joined IBM as a Software Architect.\u00A0In 2007, he left corporate life to start his first startup, a patio furniture manufacturing company. After working with various factories in Asia as well as retailers in the U.S., he\u00A0saw small retailers struggling\u00A0with purchases from oversea factories while the giant retailers are able to import from overseas at low costs. Small retailers end up falling behind.\r\n\r\nHis startup,\u00A0Shared Production\u00A0is built to solve this problem \u2013 to help small retailers buy direct from oversea factories and compete with the giant retailers.\u00A0In a similar fashion to how StyleFactory works for consumers or Kickstarter for creative projects, the Shared Production platform aggregates demand from small retailers and leverages that \u201Cgroup buying power\u201D to order --at cost-- from the factories overseas.\r\n\r\nAfter 5 years, and launching various other startups like\u00A0Taap.it\u00A0in the meantime, he's finally ready to launch the project he started in 2007.\u00A0&amp;quot;Shared Production is designed to give small retailers big buying power. One small retailer can\u2019t buy from oversea factories directly because the overhead costs won\u2019t make sense for a small order. But, if 10 small retailers cooperate and place one master order together, that will be a decent size order and it will work for the oversea factory. We call it the collective buying power of small retailers,&amp;quot; says Huynh.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe first stage of Shared Production is to connect buyers and factories directly and cut down all the middlemen like wholesalers, distributors, importers, exporters, etc and save up to 90% by buying direct. &amp;quot;So for example, if you see a T-Shirt at Macy's for $100, the production cost at the factory is normally around $10. So we're helping you get this shirt for $10,&amp;quot; explains Huynh.\r\n\r\nAccording to Huynh,\u00A0there is a strong need for this \u2013 on both the buyer side and the seller side. Currently, a product passes through 5-6 middlemen before reaching the end consumer, upping the cost 30-50% with each pass.\u00A0So a $10 chair from the factory becomes a $100 item on a retail shelf. Shared Production helps small retailers buy the same chair directly from original factory at $10.\r\n\r\nOn the seller side, factories need the volume in order to run production effectively and reduce fixed costs. Shared Production hopes that by combining members' orders, factories will be able to make higher volume production runs, cutting down costs, and in many cases making production minimally viable.\r\n&amp;quot;The factory is happy because they have a large order. The small retailers are happy because they can buy what they want at factory-direct prices and avoid all middlemen. We're happy, because we're being helpful,&amp;quot; says Huynh with a smile.\r\nThe next stage of Shared Production will be an &amp;quot;open community&amp;quot; among designers, small retailers, and manufacturers similar to StyleFactory's current model. &amp;quot;Picture a local designer in Brooklyn submitting her furniture sketch to Shared Production, which will be voted to be the Most Favorite Design, and then her products will be made by Shared Production and placed on the shelf of hundreds of small retailers,&amp;quot; says Huynh. In addition to furniture, Shared Production is working on new product categories.\r\n\r\nTo accomplish his goal, Huynh raised $2 million from\u00A0DFJ\u00A0this month to bring technology into manufacturing and supply chain.\r\n\r\n\u27A4\u00A0Shared Production\r\n\r\nWatch this video to see more of how Shared Production works:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nTodd Kuhns\u00A0via shutterstock"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/05/11/shared-production-launches-with-2-million-from-dfj-to-reshape-the-manufacturing-industry/>