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How additive manufacturing allows products to absorb variety in use: Empirical evidence from the defensive industry

Davies, Philip; Parry, Glenn; Alves, Kyle; Ng, Irene

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Authors

Philip Davies

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Kyle Alves Kyle.Alves@uwe.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Operations Mgt.

Irene Ng



Abstract

The normative assumption holds that a product’s structural and functional elements are fixed pre-production to support manufacturing efficiency. Firms servitizing are faced with delivering resources for customers in context and absorbing contextual variety presents a number of challenges. This paper examines shortcomings of modular design and whether additive manufacturing can efficiently provides high variety that meets emergent user demand. A case study is undertaken, drawing upon design change data and in-depth interviews with industry experts. Findings show that introducing design changes to modular products through life creates complexity in the product architecture and the supply chain. We find that AM can act as a supply chain solution, managing complexity and allowing products and supply chains to efficiently and effectively absorb contextual variety. Existing theory must expand beyond the normative assumption that the physical product is fixed, to include cases where the tangible product can absorb variety to meet the emergent need.

Citation

Davies, P., Parry, G., Alves, K., & Ng, I. (2022). How additive manufacturing allows products to absorb variety in use: Empirical evidence from the defensive industry. Production Planning and Control, 33(2-3), 175-192. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2020.1810763

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 22, 2020
Online Publication Date Aug 25, 2020
Publication Date 2022
Deposit Date Apr 9, 2020
Publicly Available Date Aug 26, 2021
Journal Production Planning and Control
Print ISSN 0953-7287
Electronic ISSN 1366-5871
Publisher Taylor & Francis
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 33
Issue 2-3
Pages 175-192
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2020.1810763
Keywords servitization; variability; modularity, additive manufacturing; supply chain management
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/5572709
Publisher URL https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tppc20/current

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How additive manufacturing allows products to absorb variety in use: Empirical evidence from the defensive industry (540 Kb)
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Copyright Statement
This is an Accepted Manuscript version of the following article, accepted for publication in Production Planning and Control. Davies, P., Parry, G., Alves, K., & Ng, I. (2022). How additive manufacturing allows products to absorb variety in use: Empirical evidence from the defensive industry. Production Planning and Control, 33(2-3), 175-192. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2020.1810763 It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


How additive manufacturing allows products to absorb variety in use: Empirical evidence from the defensive industry (1.9 Mb)
Document

Licence
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This is an Accepted Manuscript version of the following article, accepted for publication in Production Planning and Control. Davies, P., Parry, G., Alves, K., & Ng, I. (2022). How additive manufacturing allows products to absorb variety in use: Empirical evidence from the defensive industry. Production Planning and Control, 33(2-3), 175-192. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2020.1810763 It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.







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