The 3D printing order: variability, supercenters and supply chain reconfigurations

Abstract

Structured AbstractPurpose: Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM) is conceived of as either disrupting the entire manufacturing economy or merely enabling novel production. Between these extremes, we introduce an alternative where DDM coexists with and complements traditional mass production. When multiple parts run across one manufacturing line, DDM can isolate variability associated with low volume part production and may be preferred to mass production despite being expensive. If DDM complements rather than cannibalizes mass production, this alters our understanding of who adopts DDM, the products built with DDM, and DDM's long-term supply chain implications. Design/methodology/approach: This invited article explores a DDM rollout scenario and qualitatively assesses potential supply chain reconfigurations. Findings: Our analysis recognizes that existing manufacturers with heterogeneous bills-ofmaterial may develop DDM capabilities to isolate disruptive, low-volume production from scalable mass production. Developing DDM competence and raw material scale advantages, these manufacturers become the locus of change in a manufacturing landscape increasingly characterized by multi-product DDM supercenters. Originality/Value: Extant research largely focuses on two potential reasons for DDM adoption: cost-per-unit and time-to-delivery comparisons. We explore a third driver: DDM's capacity to isolate manufacturing variability attributable to low volume parts. Relative to the extant literature, this suggests a different DDM rollout, different adopters, and a different supply chain configuration. We identify mass manufacturing variability reduction as the mechanism through which DDM may be adopted. This adoption trajectory would eventually enable a supply chain transition in which spare parts inventory migrates from finished goods at proprietary facilities to raw materials at generalized DDM supercenters. 1 Direct digital manufacturing is also commonly called 3D printing. We use both interchangeably. The literature has also used the terms "additive manufacturing" and "rapid manufacturing." 4We propose a middle-of-the-road scenario where manufacturers with complex billsof-material will adopt 3D printing to extract additional scale advantages from traditional manufacturing. Hence, product variability, in addition to product launch (Khajavi et al. 2015) is a pivotal antecedent for the co-location of traditional manufacturing and DDM. Demand for specialized products and demand from specialized geographies will reduce 3D printing's raw materials costs (Ruffo, Tuck & Hague 2007), and advance 3D printing technology. We propose that resulting cost reductions and quality improvements will make 3D printing viable for urgent, otherwise disruptive production in existing manufacturing facilities.Manufacturers will allocate expedite orders for low and sporadic demand parts to 3Dprinting, reducing setup and changeover on traditional production lines.3D printing-adopting manufacturers will imprint early 3D printing technological developme...

Industry 4.0, global value chains and international business

“…Third, 3-D allows the relatively easy production of complex products, and may well reduce overall production time as several manufacturing/assembly steps are consolidated. However, additive manufacturing technologies currently suffer from a number of drawbacks, which limit their use (Janssen et al, 2014;Holweg, 2015;Sasson and Johnson, 2016;Laplume et al, 2016). First and foremost, current additive technologies are relatively slow and inefficient whilst -unlike subtractive processes -production is not subject to economies of scale.…”

The Perceived Value of Additively Manufactured Digital Spare Parts in the Industry: An Empirical Investigation

“…Some of the benefits of introducing AM in a supply network include reduced changeover time [14], decreased energy costs [15], increased sustainability [16] and cost reduction in long tail production [17]. The long tail of products is concept which Anderson (2006) describes as containing products in low demand and that have a low sales volume.…”

3D printing the future: scenarios for supply chains reviewed

“…. Between these extremes, there are many examples where more redistributed manufacturing is proposed, both at a local (Bedinger et al, 2016), and a regional level (Sasson and Johnson, 2016). The use of 3DP in local (or redistributed) manufacturing has been identified to be of particular interest in relation to government support for reshoring of manufacturing as a means of national competitiveness (e.g.…”

“…Developing a coding framework for future additive manufacturing (AM) scenarios The implications for supply chains of the introduction of 3DP as a manufacturing technology are widespread, including effects upon transportation costs Barz et al, 2016), lead times (Holmström et al, 2010;Khajavi et al, 2015), inventory (Khajavi et al, 2014;Mavri, 2015), product quality and reliability (Monzon et al, 2015;Wagner and Walton, 2016) production flexibility, productivity and economies of scale (Petrick and Simpson, 2013;Baumers et al, 2016;Sasson and Johnson, 2016), supply chain sustainability Ford and Despeisse, 2016), new business models (Rayna and Striukova, 2014) and opportunities for new suppliers (Bogers et al, 2016). This research, however, focusses on three areas: customer engagement, examined using OPP (Gosling et al, 2007), the geographic distribution of manufacturing and the type of manufacturing operation, each of which is described further in the following sections.…”