Properties of Metal Extrusion Additive Manufacturing and Its Application in Digital Supply Chain Management

Abstract

Abstract The Fourth Industrial Revolution with a global demand for digital product life-cycle and the digital economy. The pervasiveness of internet of things, sensors, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and particularly digital manufacturing and digital supply chain management led to the formation and development of the digital economy. A digital device alters from an auxiliary tool to an essential production element when the cost of production is low and the needs for inventory is minimized, so that it can be used for different financial levels. In fact, the development of digital production systems and supply chain will not only affect how the supply chain is managed, but also will define the concurrency of the production with the other activities in product life-cycle. In this paper, the role of Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing (MEAM) on Digital Production Systems and supply chain management is investigated. It is discussed how MEAM is comparable to the other metal 3D printing methods, in terms of machine cost, printing and post-processing. In addition, it is discussed that considering overall mechanical properties of the final products, production requirement, and cost what can be expected as the role of MEAM in digital production’s economy.