The Impact of Additive Manufacturing on the Flexibility of a Manufacturing Supply Chain

Abstract

There is an increasing need for supply chains that can rapidly respond to fluctuating demands and can provide customised products. This supply chain design requires the development of flexibility as a critical capability. To this end, firms are considering Additive Manufacturing (AM) as one strategic option that could enable such a capability. This paper develops a conceptual model that maps AM characteristics relevant to flexibility against key market disruption scenarios. Following the development of this model, a case study is undertaken to indicate the impact of adopting AM on supply chain flexibility from four major flexibility-related aspects: volume, mix, delivery, and new product introduction. An inter-process comparison is implemented in this case study using data collected from a manufacturing company that produces pipe fittings using Injection Moulding (IM). The supply chain employing IM in this case study shows greater volume and delivery flexibility levels (i.e., 65.68% and 92.8% for IM compared to 58.70% and 75.35% for AM, respectively) while the AM supply chain shows greater mix and new product introduction flexibility, indicated by the lower changeover time and cost of new product introduction to the system (i.e., 0.33 h and €0 for AM compared to 4.91 h and €30,000 for IM, respectively). This work will allow decision-makers to take timely decisions by providing useful information on the effect of AM adoption on supply chain flexibility in different sudden disruption scenarios such as demand uncertainty, demand variability, lead-time compression and product variety.

Scalable methods for directional assembly of fillers in polymer composites: Creating pathways for improving material properties

“…Moving forward, additive manufacturing (AM) processes are now becoming an emerging technology with enormous potential for mass production and rapid prototyping. [281][282][283][284][285][286][287] AM has several distinct advantages over conventional manufacturing methods, including design flexibility, [288][289][290][291] and significant reduction in overall processing time, [292,293] energy consumption, [294][295][296] and waste generation, [297][298][299] making it very compelling for the polymer industry. Over the past decade, intensive research efforts have been focused on improving printing resolution, [300,301] accelerating printing rate, [302,303] and enabling the precise structural control across multiple length scales.…”

Additive Manufacturing of Slow-Moving Automotive Spare Parts: A Supply Chain Cost Assessment

“…Thomas [40], with a supply chain perspective, composes a cost model for AM and CM but the model is generic and conceptual without taking into account the implication of producing long-tail slow-moving spare parts with AM. Alogla et al [41] proposed a flexibility model for AM supply chain where they presented a cost model for AM parts; however, their work is only focused on the value of supply chain flexibility and does not study spare parts supply chain cost models. The supply chain cost models in Khajavi et al [4], Li et al [13], Holmström et al [27], Thomas [40], and Alogla et al [41] are presented in Table 1.…”

“…Alogla et al [41] proposed a flexibility model for AM supply chain where they presented a cost model for AM parts; however, their work is only focused on the value of supply chain flexibility and does not study spare parts supply chain cost models. The supply chain cost models in Khajavi et al [4], Li et al [13], Holmström et al [27], Thomas [40], and Alogla et al [41] are presented in Table 1.…”

Smart Additive Manufacturing: The Path to the Digital Value Chain

“…Since manufacturers can produce a physical product on demand from a digital inventory, they have greater supply chain security and significantly reduced costs. Commonly associated with production flexibility, SAM allows the production directly from digital files, available in digital inventories, without the need for tools or molds, enabling on-demand production and allowing SCs to quickly deal with demand fluctuations [84]. (e) Stage 5-Controlled phase-out: The controlled phase-out eliminates the costs associated with storage and inventory, replacing the latter with a digital inventory of digital spare parts to be printed on demand.…”