Overview of the ‘3-D Printing’ System
Additive manufacturing (3-D Printing) beats subtractive manufacturing (traditional manufacturing) by reducing cost and increasing flexibility at the same time. If the natural selection favors the more efficient production mode that generates less economic waste, 3-D printing will be the sure winner.1 In essence, 3-D printers can mass-produce customized physical objects. This process is also called “mass customization,” which breaks the cost-value trade-off and shifts the productivity frontier outwards.
Traditionally, assembly lines are intended to utilize standardized modules to construct complex systems2. However, the modularity in subtractive manufacturing is so imperfect that the supply chain carries the organizational costs from the modulization (intra-firm coordination) to the assembling (inter-firm transaction) processes3. As a result, the traditional supply chain is comprised of specialized firms handing standardized modules4. Since such specialized firms can not be efficient without a stable external demand to match standardized internal processes, the entire supply chain will be too rigid to meet the changing demand or transfer the “rigidity” cost to specialized firms.
Mass customization breaks the standardization-customization compromise. The technology of 3-D printing reverse-engineers the problem of supply chain rigidity. Instead of preparing modules, manufacturers can act directly on demand and shorten the cycle between the point of consumption and point of production5. The middlemen are eliminated as the module-producing and assembling processes are replaced by a single data input file for a 3-D printer. The end product can be both scalable and personalized, designed to meet the demand.
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Mertz, Leslie. “Dream it, design it, print it in 3-D: what can 3-D printing do for you?.” IEEE pulse 4.6 (2013): 15-21.↩