The research framework provided the direction in which the study took and what information it was looking after to accomplish its objectives. This study identified earlier the seven key processes in digital and additive manufacturing, that is, vat photopolymerization, binder jetting, directed energy deposition, material extrusion, powder bed fusion, material jetting and sheet lamination. Out of these, the study aimed at establishing the most appropriate processes going into the future, barriers to the adoption of the technology, and implication of the processes on supply chain in the manufacturing industry.
On the subject of the processes that were identified to be relevant going into the future, the study found out that out of the selected seven processes, five were regarded to be relevant going into the future. All of the seven processes but binder jetting and sheet lamination were considered as key ones both in present time and going into the future. Therefore, the processes that were deemed relevant now and in the future were:
– VAT photopolymerization,
– Directed Energy Deposition,
– Material Extrusion,
– Powder Bed Fusion,
– Material Jetting
Material extrusion has been identified as the current leading additive manufacturing process out of the five relevant ones. Besides, it is the most widely used process in the manufacturing industry thanks to its cost-effectiveness. Going into the future, the study found out that despite leading the way currently, material extrusion faces drawbacks such as slowness and limited material used will likely affect its future adoption. As a result, the material extrusion process is expected to lose its leading position in the next ten years. Powder Bed Fusion process that uses ceramics, metals, composites, and polymers is regarded as critical in the future spare parts production and as a result it will be a key process going into the future.
Although digital and additive manufacturing are deemed as the future of manufacturing industry, there are barriers that are likely to interfere with their future adoption. One of the barriers is the limited variety of materials used in the processes. Currently, most processes that are regarded as relevant have insufficient quality of metal applied in the process. Besides, the literature review has cited the high cost of these materials and technical issues as the factors that are likely to interfere with the adoption of the additive technologies in the future. Moreover, there is still insufficient training and education particularly on engineers that should specialize in the additive manufacturing processes. It will not be easy to adopt digital and additive manufacturing if there is insufficient incorporation of additive manufacturing in the education system and training of engineers. This also includes raising awareness to customers about the products created from additive manufacturing processes.
The supply chain implications were also the primary objective of this study. This study has established that with more customer awareness getting integrated in additive manufacturing, consumers will increasingly become more involved in the digital and additive design and manufacturing process of their products. In addition, digital and additive manufacturing is likely to change the adoption of single production facilities in countries that was regarded as creating economies of scale. Additive manufacturing processes have been identified to have the ability to produce products in small quantities even closer to the customers and faster. Therefore, in the next five or ten years, it is more likely to be seen that supply chain structure will change in a way that local manufacturing will increase thanks to digital and additive manufacturing. However, when it comes to large scale home fabrication, it is less likely that digital and additive manufacturing will change the supply chain structures in this way.
The success of the digital and additive manufacturing will, however, be realized if all barriers to the processes are removed. The major barriers in this case include insufficient metal quality, limited variety of materials, and in some cases, high cost of materials. It is however still not understood quite well how additive manufacturing producers are going to make sure that they eliminate these barriers in the next five to ten years. Nonetheless, continuous improvement research continues to be done on digital and additive manufacturing process. It is just a matter of when and not how a breakthrough will be reached that will do away with the main barriers that currently limit the full success of digital and additive manufacturing. Already the digital and additive manufacturing has facilitated customization of products according to the specifications of customers.