Selecting parts for additive manufacturing in service logistics
Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management
ISSN: 1741-038X
Article publication date: 5 September 2016
Abstract
Purpose
For more than ten years, the value of additive manufacturing (AM) for after-sales service logistics has been propagated. Today, however, only few applications are observed in practice. The purpose of this paper is to discuss possible reasons for this discrepancy and to develop a method to simplify the identification of economically valuable and technologically feasible business cases.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is based on the analytic hierarchy process and relies on spare part information, that is easily retrievable from the company databases. This has two advantages: first, the approach can be customized toward specific company characteristics, and second, a very large number of spare parts may be assessed simultaneously. A field study is discussed in order to demonstrate and validate the approach in practice. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses are performed to evaluate the robustness of the method.
Findings
Results provide evidence that the method allows a valid prioritization of a large spare part assortment. Also, sensitivity analyses clarify the robustness of the approach and illustrate the flexibility of applying the method in practice. More than 1,000 positive business cases of AM for after-sales service logistics have been identified based on the method.
Originality/value
The developed method enables companies to rank spare parts according to their potential value when produced with AM. As a result, companies can evaluate the most promising spare parts first. This increases the effectiveness and efficiency of identifying business cases and thus may support the adoption of AM in after-sales service supply chains.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research is part of the project “Sustainability Impact of New Technology on After sales Service supply chains (SINTAS)” and has been sponsored by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research.
Citation
Knofius, N., van der Heijden, M.C. and Zijm, W.H.M. (2016), "Selecting parts for additive manufacturing in service logistics", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 27 No. 7, pp. 915-931. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMTM-02-2016-0025
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited