From the past decades, increasing attention has been paid to the quality level of technological and mechanical properties achieved by the Additive Manufacturing (AM); these two elements have achieved a good performance, and it is possible to compare this with the results achieved by traditional technology. Therefore, the AM maturity is high enough to let industries adopt this technology in a more general production framework as the mechanical manufacturing industrial one is. Since the technological and mechanical properties are also beneficial for the materials produced with AM, the primary objective of this paper is to focus more on managerial facets, such as the cost control of a production environment, where these new technologies are present. This paper aims to analyse the existing literature about the cost models developed specifically for AM from an operations management point of view and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of all models.

The uncertainty in the supply chains (SCs) for manufacturing and services firms is going to be, over the coming decades, more important for the companies that are called to compete in a new globalized economy. Risky situations for manufacturing are considered in trying to individuate the optimal positioning of the order penetration point (OPP). It aims at defining the best level of information of the client's order going back through the several supply chain (SC) phases, i.e. engineering, procurement, production and distribution. This work aims at defining a system dynamics model to assess competitiveness coming from the positioning of the order in different SC locations. A Taguchi analysis has been implemented to create a decision map for identifying possible strategic decisions under different scenarios and with alternatives for order location in the SC levels. Centralized and decentralized strategies for SC integration are discussed. In the model proposed, the location of OPP is influenced by the demand variation, production time, stock-outs and stock amount. Results of this research are as follows: (i) customer-oriented strategies are preferable under high volatility of demand, (ii) production-focused strategies are suggested when the probability of stock-outs is high, (iii) no specific location is preferable if a centralized control architecture is implemented, (iv) centralization requires cooperation among partners to achieve the SC optimum point, (v) the producer must not prefer the OPP location at the Retailer level when the general strategy is focused on a decentralized approach.

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Additive manufacturing (AM) maturity allows diffusion of this technology in conventional production environments. In the decision to adopt a new technology, production costs are one of the most important factors to analyse, even if they are not developed enough yet. In the last decade, several cost models for AM have been proposed, but each of them focuses on a specific aspect of the process, lacking the ability to consider the effective costs associated with AM, i.e. regarding AM as part of a more general production context. The aim of this study is to develop a cost model that evaluates process costs of AM for relevant technologies such as stereolithography, selective laser sintering and electron beam melting when integrated in a general production process. The integration of AM on the shop floor is proved by the introduction of an index such as the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) index, which allows this evaluation to be more connected to real production system issues. At the end of the paper, an experiment to compare the results of the proposed model with those of previous studies is reported and it is put in evidence how this model overcomes the previous problem of estimation

The new technology named additive manufacturing (AM) is gaining significance in the industrial sector due to its capacity to define new improvements in the design, production and logistical issues related to a specific product. This new area in industrial engineering is becoming operative but is still not easily applicable to all types of production systems. Many research and practical contributions have been developed in the last few years, but a unique answer for a possibility to be applied to the industrial sector has not yet been derived. This paper aims to analyse existing research literature on AM application in the industrial sector and tries to determine the open issues related to this theme. Here the themes on the mechanical and chemical characteristics of the materials produced with AM and the management theme are examined