Digital transformation of supply chain: a study on additive manufacturing practice in medical device in Australia

Abstract

PurposeDrawing on a dynamic capability view, this study develops a decision support model that determines the most suitable configuration of strategies and challenges to adopt additive manufacturing (AM) to expedite digital transformation and performance improvement of the surgical and medical device (SMD) supply chain.Design/methodology/approachTo investigate the research objective, a multi-method and multi-study research design was deployed using quality function deployment and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis.FindingsThe study finds that only resilience strategies or negation (i.e. minimisation) of challenges are not enough; instead, a configuration of resilience strategies and negation of challenges is highly significant in enhancing performance.Practical implicationsSMD supply chain decision-makers will find the decision support model presented in this study as beneficial to be resilient against various challenges in the digital transformation of service delivery process.Originality/valueThis study builds new knowledge of the adoption of AM technology in the SMD supply chain. The decision support model developed in this study is unique and highly effective for fostering digital transformation and enhancing SMD supply chain performance.