Smart Additive Manufacturing: The Path to the Digital Value Chain

Abstract

The aim of this article is to characterize the impacts of Smart Additive Manufacturing (SAM) on industrial production, digital supply chains (DSCs) and corresponding digital value chains (DVCs), logistics and inventory management. The method used consists of a critical review of the literature, enriched by the authors’ field experience. The results show that digital transformation of manufacturing is affecting business models, from resource acquisition to the end user. Smart manufacturing is considered a successful improvement introduced by Industry 4.0. Additive Manufacturing (AM) plays a crucial role in this digital transformation, changing the way manufacturers think about the entire lifecycle of a product. SAM combines AM in a smart factory environment. SAM reduces the complexity of DSCs and contributes to a more flexible approach to logistics and inventory management. It has also spurred the growth and popularization of customized mass production as well as decentralized manufacturing, rapid prototyping, unprecedented flexibility in product design, production and delivery, and resource efficiency and sustainability. SAM technology impacts all five Fletcher’s stages in DVCs. However, the need for clear definitions and regulations on 3D printing of digital files and their reproduction, as well as product health, safety, and integrity issues, cannot be ignored. Furthermore, investment in this technology is still expensive and can be prohibitive for many companies, namely SMEs.

3D Scanning/Printing: A Technological Stride in Sculpture

“…Obviously, the majority of this does not concern sculpture. AM is very often referred to as the new industrial revolution [49][50][51] and 3D scanning/printing technology is moving into an expanding realm of fields [52], from medical equipment [53][54][55] to car parts, to houses [56,57].…”

Data Optimization for Industrial IoT-Based Recommendation Systems

“…J. Leng et al investigated security issues in smart factories and proposed the integration of blockchain technology [10]. In [11], J. Behnke considered the challenges of creating a digital twin in a factory to improve production efficiency. J. Bai et al [12] emphasized the importance of cloud manufacturing (CMfg) and proposed an automatic perfecting service information method of BOSS (Bills of Standard Manufacturing Service) for service standardized encapsulation.…”

Review of Intelligence for Additive and Subtractive Manufacturing: Current Status and Future Prospects

“…Thus, the emergence of digital twin (DT) technology provides an opportunity to incorporate digitization and intelligence in materials processing technology. Additionally, the adoption of digital technologies can shift the paradigm across all manufacturing sectors [ 20 ]. In fact, several innovations have enriched additive manufacturing (AM) in various dimensions, including smarter materials and functional structures, smart and agile manufacturing ecosystems capable of traditional manufacturing [ 21 ].…”

“…Additive manufacturing (AM), commonly known as 3D printing, is the layer-wise manufacture of parts printed to the required shape [ 22 ] rather than wastefully cutting away material from a solid block of metal, ceramic, polymer or composite material. AM technology is capable of rapid prototyping, mass customization and decentralized production with the networking potential of connecting the vast number of machines concurrently [ 20 ]. By incorporating a ‘smart’ component into AM, a cyber physical system (CPS) can be developed to respond to market demand in real-time situations, thereby enabling the digital value chain [ 23 ].…”