Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, has the potential to revolutionise the manufacturing industry by allowing for significant cost, time, and material reductions. In conventional manufacturing, components are produced in bulk at centralised factories and then supplied to customers. But with the rise of 3D printing, many are speculating about whether technology could lead to a change from this centralized model to a more dispersed one, where facilities are coordinated across numerous places to meet industrial demands.
There have been many University studies that looked into how 3D printing might help with distributed manufacturing. In the case of spare parts that have to be warehoused until required for use, many industries can avoid the hoarding of parts and save significant costs. These studies have pointed out that parts that do not require expensive post-processing would be best suited for just on time 3D printing.
