Designing Sustainable Business Models to Reduce Spare Part Inventory

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) has long been recognized as a revolutionary technology. Throughout the last years, the number of applications of AM technologies has been growing, with a particular focus on the medical and aeronautical fields. Only recently have researchers and practitioners started to perceive the potential of AM in industrial maintenance, particularly in spare parts manufacturing. By allowing toolless manufacturing, and large design freedom, AM technologies can be used to produce spare parts “on-demand”, thus contributing to the elimination of costly/unnecessary stock. This notion of stocking 3d files instead of physical parts is often referred to in the literature as “digital warehouse”, and it is highly aligned with the principals of industry 4.0. The expected benefits are obviously focused on reducing costs, however, there are potential environmental and social gains to be achieved as a result of decentralizing manufacturing, reducing transport, and distributing labor. The main challenge lies on operationalizing this practice and understanding the full impact it will have on supply-chains, particularly in the people directly/indirectly affected (social aspects) and the overall environmental footprint (environmental aspects). While the potential benefits are relatively well documented both the from economic and to some extent environmental perspectives, changing manufacturing and supply-chain paradigms, will have a fundamental impact on the supply chain and everyone involved. To study these changes, this paper focuses on creating, presenting, and evaluating a business model to facilitate the transition from physical to digital warehouses. The authors have chosen to use the Business Model Canvas for Sustainability (BMCS) and the adjacent assessment framework to compare the business model to current practices and evaluate its economic, environmental, and social sustainability.