Ponoko: World’s Easiest Making System

I recently read about Ponoko in the Inc. magazine article “Let’s Get Started“. Ponoko is a very intriguing business model. Visit their website and you read the tagline “world’s easiest making system”.

So what is Ponoko? It appears to be a combination of an art nouveau / design / eclectic / manufacturing? type of company. The basic premise is that there are designs (or you can submit designs) of products that can be manufactured one at a time.

Is Ponoko sustainable? Can it be franchised? Or rather, could Ponoko or someone establish a network of complimentary resources to become a virtual one-stop shop for product concept to market? I’m also curious if this kind of concept has merit with entrepreneurs and prototypes. Might be cost-prohibitive.