Supply chain perspective on additive manufacturing

Current research on Additive Manufacturing (AM) has focused primarily on the technological aspects in terms of improving engineering feasibility and product quality. The increasing maturity of AM technology is not going to incrementally provide another manufacturing method, but could potentially fundamentally change how we organize production throughout the supply chain. This paper looks into the supply chain design issue with Additive Manufacturing. Using the spare parts supply chain as an example, this paper identifies 3 different configurations for supply chain design with additive manufacturing technology. These alternative supply chain configurations are then illustrated in terms of structure, parties and flows. Meanwhile, an analysis of the lead time for 3 different models is performed.Published versio