3-D Printing in the Spare Parts Supply Chain: An Explorative Study in the Automotive Industry

Additive manufacturing represents a disruptive technology in comparison to traditional manufacturing. 3-D printing technology discloses companies’ inner potential, enabling them to reconsider their strategic positioning, organization, production and distribution processes, offering the potential for new supply chain configurations. Tooling and design processes are greatly simplified, while new materials, shapes, more functional products and applications constantly emerge. More efficient processing methods are able to reduce manufacturing and logistics time and costs in such a way that significant economic and financial benefits can be spread along the entire value chain. The purpose of this research is to shed lights on the state of art of this technique, with a focus on the potential impact on the companies’ strategy for the management of spare parts. We considered different scenarios and supply chain configurations related to the Automotive sector, applying the AM to the production of discontinued car parts and evaluating its main benefits.