Traditional vs Additive Manufacturing Supply Chain Configurations: A Comparative Case Study

Abstract

With the recent emergence of Additive Manufacturing (AM) for end-use production applications, contemporary AM management literature suggests radical structural transformations to Supply Chain (SC) structures with corresponding performance benefits, relative to Traditional Manufacturing (TM). However understanding is lacking about the nature of these changes. This paper analyzes the potential impacts of AM processes on traditional SC structures. Configuration theory, postulated by Alfred Chandler and widely applied in studies of TM and service SCs, serves as a basis to analyze the potential impacts of AM on the structural dimensions of SCs, with respect to a set of performance objectives. A framework is developed to capture these impacts with corresponding implications for the operations of part suppliers, module suppliers and final assemblers, deploying AM in different modes and levels in the product hierarchy. By highlighting the differences in characteristics of SCs from TM and AM production scenarios, the framework aids to conceptualize and explain the potential impacts of AM on SC configurations. This differentiation is necessary to understand the relative capabilities of TM and AM SC configurations and implications for different SC entities.