Additive manufacturing technology in spare parts supply chain: a comparative study |
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| Authors: | Yao Li Guozhu Jia Yuchen Hu |
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| Affiliation: | 1. School of Economics &2. Management, Beihang University, Beijing, P.R. China;3. School of Economics &4. Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P.R. China;5. School of Business Administration, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang, P.R. China |
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| Abstract: | Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology has the potential to significantly improve supply chain dynamics. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of AM on spare parts supply chain. Three supply chain scenarios are investigated in this paper, namely conventional supply chain, centralised AM-based supply chain and distributed AM-based supply chain. Based on system dynamics simulations, this paper specifically compares three supply chain scenarios, in terms of total variable cost and carbon emission. The results show the spare part supply chain utilising AM is indeed superior to the traditional one in sustainable performance. It is also expected that AM can facilitate the spare parts supply chain to achieve more economic benefits along with its development. To our knowledge, this paper is one of the early studies that explores the impact of AM on supply chain performance and quantitatively examines the superiority of utilising AM in spare parts supply chain. Some suggestions are also provided to help managers adopting AM in their spare parts supply chains. |
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| Keywords: | advanced manufacturing technology supply chain dynamics additive manufacturing spare parts supply chain system dynamics comparative study |
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