Le catene di fornitura basate sulla produzione additiva

This article deals with the implementation of additive technologies in supply chains and addresses two open issues: the first one concerns the approaches and methods of evaluating the implementation of additive technologies in supply chains; the second one the relationship between the cost advantages allowed by additive technologies and the demand of additive products. In agreement with some scholars, the quantitative approach to the analysis of manufacturing technologies is recommended, and System Dynamics (SD) method is advised in order to measure the effects produced by the implementation of additive manufacturing in supply chains. SD models, simulates and, therefore, helps to understand the dynamics of conventional and additive manufacturing based supply chains. Cost structures can be built on basis of supply chains dynamic models, each of which refers to a different production technology, and used in comparative assessments. The supply chain modeling and simulation is an extension of Virtual Manufacturing to the entire value creation system. In this article, no mathematical formalization of supply chain models is suggested, but rather a method of 'capturing' the variables for value chain modeling is proposed and a decisionmaking process for choosing the AM option is advised.