Scheduling for Additive Manufacturing: a literature review

Abstract

Advancements in production technologies and materials have facilitated the use of additive manufacturing (AM) (i.e., 3D printing) in the large-scale production of finished products with high level of customization, simplification of the factory floor, and fast delivery. Production sequencing is a well-established topic in this research area; however, its application to an AM environment suffers from specific issues that are yet to be explored. This paper presents a systematic literature review for mapping the state-of-the-art production sequencing methods in AM and for discussing the content of 26 articles published in magazines between 2017–2020. The main mathematical models, algorithms adopted for their solution, and main characteristics of computational experiments performed in these articles are identified; the results indicate that some characteristics of the problem can still be included in these models, such as the possibility of outsourcing and technology restrictions, which are yet to be explored in the literature. Further, authors observed the need for more robust computational experiments to better evaluate the proposed solutions.