Additive Manufacturing: A Game Changer in Supply Chain Design

Victor Verboeket,Harold Krikke

doi:10.3390/logistics3020013

Victor Verboeket, Harold Krikke

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/logistics3020013

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Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a digital manufacturing technology that enables companies to rethink their supply chain (SC) design. By means of literature synthesis, we build new knowledge about the mechanisms AM induces to improve SC design and performance, as well as the disruptive changes AM can cause. We investigate opportunities to optimize SC design for manufacturing purposes by exploiting the characteristics of AM, e.g., its freedom in terms of shape design and complexity and the absence of a need for object-specific tools. We study the roles of demand, assortment, IT systems, sourcing, manufacturing, knowledge, warehousing, and transportation, and explore the effects and tradeoffs on various SC performance outcomes, including cost, assets, and responsiveness. The contribution of this article is twofold. First, through literature synthesis, we construct six AM SC mechanisms that can be used in SC design to achieve desired SC outcomes for AM production applications in certain (business) contexts. Second, we identify the disruptive ‘game-changing’ effects of AM for SC stakeholders. This knowledge can be used by other researchers to develop further research. Moreover, general and logistics managers can use the results to fully exploit the potential of AM for designing much improved supply chains. Innovators and policy makers can use the results to understand the potential game-changing consequences of AM.

Highlights

IntroductionOver the last few decades, these, and other factors—such as rapid growth of the world population, customer awareness, sustainability issues, and globalization—have all created new performance challenges for supply chains
In the articles that we fully reviewed, the relevant supply chain (SC) information was often missing, hidden or vague, which is in line with the complex issues that arise in organization and management [23]
We present the information

Summary

Introduction

Over the last few decades, these, and other factors—such as rapid growth of the world population, customer awareness, sustainability issues, and globalization—have all created new performance challenges for supply chains. A supply chain (SC) is a set of three or more organizations or individuals directly involved in the upstream and downstream flows of products, services, finances, and/or information from a source to the customer and vice versa. Creating customer value, lowering costs, increasing responsiveness, co-creation, managing demand variations—and creating a competitive advantage—are the overriding goals of SC management [2]. SC design is a strategic issue for any company [3], and can be defined as a set of decisions regarding structure, partners, locations, capacities, and systems for SC management [4]. Due to these new challenges, traditional SC concepts can no longer support managing the trade-offs between supply chain objectives. By applying new Logistics 2019, 3, 13; doi:10.3390/logistics3020013 www.mdpi.com/journal/logistics

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