What is the potential of additive manufacturing in supply chains? : a narrative literature review approach

Abstract

The study of additive manufacturing (AM) has grown rapidly during the last decade as it is perceived that the technology has the potential to revolutionize the way in which products are produced and delivered to the customer. Additionally, AM is able to create new business opportunities, as well as introduce new rules of competition to the business world. Despite experiencing immense growth in the study of AM, the knowledge of interdependencies across forms of technology deployment and different sectors involved in supply chains is widely dispersed. The initial consequence of this situation is to proliferate fragmented studies duplicating identical efforts, while neglecting certain aspects. Therefore, this article attempts to synthesize the existing research on AM regarding its impact on business and supply chain management with the goal of shedding light on the current situation and open up avenues for further research. This paper applies a narrative approach to conducting a literature review and summarizes the fndings in relation to three main categories of the supply chain: supply side, frm side and demand side. Additionally, it offers recent examples of AM deployment in industry and the real world to highlight the trend and potential in the area of AM. Given this trend and potential of AM in business, decision makers (based on their positions in the entire supply chain) are able to make better choices when deploying this technology as a disruptive technology. Being on time and making the right choice of new technology deployments not only prevent firms from losing their competitive advantage (and from bankruptcy in ultimate situations), but also support them to enhance their advantage over their competitors. In particular, they can receive high-level benefts as early or first adopters. This article is a step towards reaching this goal.