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Incentives and challenges for adopting AM technology in the plastic industry

Johansson, Wiktor and Wennmo, Tomas (2016) MIO920
Production Management
Abstract
Problem definition Additive manufacturing is a technology that has received a lot of attention and many are wondering how it will affect them plastic industry in the future. Additive manufacturing is mostly used for prototyping today but there is reason to believe that the technology has potential to overtake other application areas for plastic or used as a complementary method to existing manufacturing technologies.
Purpose The purpose of the thesis is to identify, describe and evaluate the incentives and challenges manufacturing companies in the plastic industry are facing when adopting AM-technologies.
Methodology In this thesis the approach is going to be a combination of descriptive and exploratory together with deductive... (More)
Problem definition Additive manufacturing is a technology that has received a lot of attention and many are wondering how it will affect them plastic industry in the future. Additive manufacturing is mostly used for prototyping today but there is reason to believe that the technology has potential to overtake other application areas for plastic or used as a complementary method to existing manufacturing technologies.
Purpose The purpose of the thesis is to identify, describe and evaluate the incentives and challenges manufacturing companies in the plastic industry are facing when adopting AM-technologies.
Methodology In this thesis the approach is going to be a combination of descriptive and exploratory together with deductive approach. The study is qualitative and based on gathered information from six interviews with plastic manufacturing companies, six qualitative surveys with people from the AM industry, complementary interviews and event participation. The empirics are summarized in Hill´s manufacturing strategy and the results are analysed with the resistance model.
Conclusion The conclusion can be summarized in incentives and challenges for adopting additive manufacturing in the plastic industry.
Incentives:
Can lead to shorter lead times
No tool investment for injection moulding
Ability to decentralize production
Reducing material waste
Possible to pursue mass customization
Challenges:
Long Cycle time
Size of build area and quality
Lacking design capabilities within plastic manufacturing companies
Material shortage for AM
Fragmented application areas for AM
Lacking of experience of which products that are suitable to produce with AM
Repeatability
Reparability of the machines and ability to automate the AM process (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Johansson, Wiktor and Wennmo, Tomas
supervisor
organization
course
MIO920
year
type
M1 - University Diploma
subject
keywords
dditive manufacturing, incentives, challenges, adoption, plastic industry, technology diffusion.
other publication id
16/5546
language
English
id
8892334
date added to LUP
2016-09-23 09:55:51
date last changed
2016-09-23 09:55:51
@misc{8892334,
  abstract     = {{Problem definition	Additive manufacturing is a technology that has received a lot of attention and many are wondering how it will affect them plastic industry in the future. Additive manufacturing is mostly used for prototyping today but there is reason to believe that the technology has potential to overtake other application areas for plastic or used as a complementary method to existing manufacturing technologies.
Purpose 	The purpose of the thesis is to identify, describe and evaluate the incentives and challenges manufacturing companies in the plastic industry are facing when adopting AM-technologies.
Methodology 	In this thesis the approach is going to be a combination of descriptive and exploratory together with deductive approach. The study is qualitative and based on gathered information from six interviews with plastic manufacturing companies, six qualitative surveys with people from the AM industry, complementary interviews and event participation. The empirics are summarized in Hill´s manufacturing strategy and the results are analysed with the resistance model. 
Conclusion 	The conclusion can be summarized in incentives and challenges for adopting additive manufacturing in the plastic industry.
Incentives:
	Can lead to shorter lead times
	No tool investment for injection moulding
	Ability to decentralize production
	Reducing material waste
	Possible to pursue mass customization
Challenges:
	Long Cycle time
	Size of build area and quality
	Lacking design capabilities within plastic manufacturing companies 
Material shortage for AM
	Fragmented application areas for AM
	Lacking of experience of which products that are suitable to produce with AM
	Repeatability
	Reparability of the machines and ability to automate the AM process}},
  author       = {{Johansson, Wiktor and Wennmo, Tomas}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Incentives and challenges for adopting AM technology in the plastic industry}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}