Starter Kit. Idea 459 of 500. Cluster 24
A marketplace for used machinery where every machine is inspected and its working hours certified, so a small factory can buy second-hand with confidence
The mechanism, from the book
The one thing. A country where people do not expect the rules to hold cannot build anything else, and proof can be manufactured by private people, one published record at a time.
The first step
Find five small factories selling a used machine and five looking to buy one. Agree with a trained mechanic to inspect each machine, record its working hours and condition, and sign a report. List the machines with the report and photographs, and charge a fee on each sale. The proof is the first sale where the buyer paid because of the report.
- Who pays first
- A small factory owner who needs a second-hand machine but has been sold a bad one before.
- What leaves today
- Good machines sit idle or are sold blind; a trusted inspection gets them working again in small factories.
Ask first
- Department of the Registrar of Companies. Ask how to register the marketplace so buyers can see who stands behind it.
- Sri Lanka Standards Institution. Ask whether any inspection standard exists for used industrial machinery.
Check before you spend
Confirm proof of ownership for every machine, the inspector's qualifications, and written terms on what the report promises and what it does not.
Find out these three numbers
- What fee will a seller pay on each sale?
- What does a trained mechanic charge to inspect one machine?
- Which machines do small factories most often buy second-hand?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.