Characterising the cost of additive manufacturing: demand volatility and absence of inventory

Ageel Alogla, Martin Baumers and Christopher Tuck

European Journal of Industrial Engineering, 2025, vol. 20, issue 3, 411-447

Abstract: This paper explores the impact of additive manufacturing (AM) on supply chain cost-effectiveness for products with volatile demand. It specifically assesses how AM adoption affects inventory and stockout costs through an exploratory simulation. The study compares the unit costs of AM with injection moulding (IM) and a combination of both. Results indicate that using AM alongside IM is cost-effective only with high stockout penalties. Without such penalties, IM alone proves to be the most economical option. This research provides insights into strategic production decisions in supply chains with fluctuating demand. [Submitted: 13 December 2023; Accepted: 4 September 2024]

Keywords: advanced manufacturing technology; discrete-event simulation; demand uncertainty; design of production systems; bullwhip effect. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=148094 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:eujine:v:20:y:2025:i:3:p:411-447

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in European Journal of Industrial Engineering from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().