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Unpacking Additive Manufacturing Challenges and Opportunities in Moving towards Sustainability: An Exploratory Study

Author

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  • Wen Liu

    (School of Economics and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China)

  • Xielin Liu

    (School of Economics and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China)

  • Ying Liu

    (School of Economics and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China)

  • Jie Wang

    (Center for Sustainable Development and Global Competitiveness, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA)

  • Steve Evans

    (Institute for Manufacturing, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FS, UK)

  • Miying Yang

    (Sustainable Business Group, School of Management, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedford MK43 0AL, UK)

Abstract

The global market for Additive Manufacturing (AM) is expected to grow, which may increase the prominence of sustainability aspects in the manufacturing process. A growing number of AM academics and practitioners have started to pay attention to the environmental and societal impacts of AM instead of only focusing on its economic aspect. Yet, AM is still not widely adopted, and the research on AM sustainability is still at the nascent stage. This paper aims to better understand AM’s sustainable adoption and seeks to address three questions: what the sustainability implications of AM are; what challenges may prevent the broad adoption of AM; and what opportunities can enable AM sustainability. The research adopts a multiple case study method to investigate six AM companies that play different roles in the AM ecosystem, including AM design, AM machine, AM material, AM service, AM education, and AM consulting. The results from these studies reveal that AM has the potential to reduce environmental and social impacts; however, it might also cause negative consequences and lead to some rebound effects. We identified 43 categories (synthesized from 199 examples) of key challenges for AM adoption and proposed 55 key solutions in moving AM towards sustainability. It is evident that AM acts as a promising digital technology for manufacturing and has the potential to pave the way for a new era of sustainable manufacturing.

Suggested Citation

  • Wen Liu & Xielin Liu & Ying Liu & Jie Wang & Steve Evans & Miying Yang, 2023. "Unpacking Additive Manufacturing Challenges and Opportunities in Moving towards Sustainability: An Exploratory Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-26, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:3827-:d:1074274
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stefan Tabacu & Ana Badea & Alina Sandu, 2023. "Complex Analysis of an Auxetic Structure under Compressive Loads," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-24, April.
    2. Paolo Ferro & Alberto Fabrizi & Hamada Elsayed & Gianpaolo Savio, 2023. "Multi-Material Additive Manufacturing: Creating IN718-AISI 316L Bimetallic Parts by 3D Printing, Debinding, and Sintering," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-19, August.

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