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Amazon is Becoming a Manufacturer

Amazon has patented a system designed to quickly produce clothing and other products after the customer’s order had been placed.

If there’s one company you can count on to get into pretty much every line of business, it’s Amazon. And whether its grocery deliveries or drone development, Jeff Bezos likes the keep busy.

Well, the latest from the omnipresent online retailer has its competitive roots in manufacturing. It appears Amazon was awarded a patent this last Tuesday for what Recode is calling “an on-demand clothing manufacturing warehouse.”

According to the article, the system being patented would be designed to quickly produce clothing and other products after the customer’s order had been placed.

“The computerized system would include textile printers, cutters and an assembly line, as well as cameras designed to snap images of garments that would provide feedback on alterations needed in subsequent items,” says Recode. Efficiency gains would come from batch manufacturing based on factors such as the customer’s location.

You can review the entire patent by clicking on this link, but I wouldn’t recommend it if your objective for your workday is staying awake at your desk. Suffice it to say, Amazon’s efforts towards private labeling are in full swing: the company already offers eight different private label brands and has hinted towards others. And this new manufacturing process, which Amazon says has wider applications including things like footwear, bedding and towels, is not its only competitive advantage: Amazon is also the possessor of such a huge stockpile of data on customer buying trends that its product development could surely benefit greatly from its vantage point.

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