Additive manufacturing in the process industry: A process-based cost model to study life cycle cost and the viability of additive manufacturing spare parts.

Abstract

The potential applications of Additive Manufacturing technologies are capturing the interest of researchers and industries. Many researchers are now focusing on additive manufacturing and its potential to change the industrial paradigm in terms of economic, environmental, and social sustainability. One of the most promising areas for additive manufacturing adoption is maintenance, more specifically, manufacturing of spare parts. The customization potential, and excellent small series capabilities of AM can lead to reductions in size of central and local storages, eliminate the need to locate uncommon spare parts in the distribution network, shorten supply chains and diminish the duration and cost of logistics. The case for replacing conventional spare parts with additive manufactured equivalents has been the discussed in various studies focused of the aeronautic sector, however, its potential in other industries remains relatively unexplored. The continuous process industry is characterized by extremely high production volumes with costly machines and downtime. The combination of these characteristics with intermittent spare part demand patterns and the predominance of reactive maintenance, drives companies to keep large spare parts stock, which makes the case for introducing AM in process industry maintenance very appealing. This study focuses on how AM could change maintenance activities/supply chain in process industries and its economic impact using process based cost models. To further illustrate and study the problem, this paper contains a detailed evaluation of AM’s potential and impacts in a case study from the paper and pulp industry.