How additive manufacturing helps supply chain

The scope of Additive manufacturing (AM) has recently expanded from prototyping to tooling and production of end-user parts. AM has its influence across many industries including aerospace and defines, automotive commodity, industrial products then on. As a highly innovative production technology, additive manufacturing is gaining fast interest, due it the benefits it offers over more traditional production methods. This permits high flexibility in product design, manufacturing and downstream throughout the availability chain. Using additive manufacturing technology to develop supply chain may give strong value proposition and competitive advantage to businesses. The 2 main advantages are functional integration of parts and a better resource efficiency, for production.

AM’s impact on supply chain can be understood from below points;

·       Help optimize weight ratios of products, reducing the quantity of staple needed within the supply chain.

·       Simplification of supply chains by reducing the amount of assembly steps, to urge the ultimate product.

·       Reduction of labour inputs, tooling, machining centres, and inventory of work-in-process.

·       AM production systems are versatile and configurable, capable of manufacturing several different parts without additional costs like creation of kit

·       Improve the pliability of the method and respond more quickly to demand.

·       Redesign supply chain networks for distributed production networks.

·       Reduce the value of capital access to new markets.

Source: www.goospares.com

Additive manufacturing can have a positive impact in building a replacement age collaborative innovation methodology, during which AM impacts supply chain to enhance overall efficiency. From layout to logistic operations, it can influence the availability chain significantly. With AMs impact, all associated activities can also see improved performance.

AM in the supply chain of spare parts

AM may appear as a costly process, but there are significant advantages in terms of inventory reduction, shorter lead times and customer response times.

From a sustainability viewpoint, the resulting picture is a smaller amount clear; it's obviously beneficial to attenuate material waste during processing. On the opposite hand the product’s quality after it's been discarded is questionable, although reuse of working components could also be feasible for conventionally manufactured products.

Additive manufacturing will fundamentally change the way supply chains operate worldwide. Below are shaping impact on conventional supply chains of the assembly of additives. The three cases are often summarized as follows:

1.     The flow of information would increase as material flows decrease

Additive manufacturing systems rely not on the operator’s skills, but on the designs. It limits worldwide product movement as only the planning document is transferred to production locations rather than the fabric in digital format. The planning is printed and therefore the material is formed available to the foremost appropriate printer. Local market-oriented supply chain

AM will help shorten the availability chains and reduce stock by closely following the market demands and reducing lead times.

The faster supply chain: Less Logistics

As products are manufactured on the premises worldwide, the transport needs will thus decrease the lead times thereby improving the efficiency of the availability chain.

Additive manufacturing provides companies with the power to scale back lead times and reduce uncertainty by simple processes. Additionally, additive manufacturing may eliminate significant financial obstacles that have prevented other competitors from entering the market until recently. AM reduces supply chain costs and improves supply chain responsiveness.