Developing Performance System for Evaluating AM versus TM

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a revolutionary technology that is rapidly coming into the limelight. Having been in development for over 30 years, it is expected to compete with Traditional Manufacturing in the next two decades. Federal organizations, the industry and researchers are highly focused on Additive Manufacturing (AM) and its impact once it enters main stream manufacturing. Compared to traditional manufacturing techniques like casting, forging, injection molding, and others, it has many advantages like minimal or no tooling for production, shorter and leaner supply chains, little to no distribution cost, no manufacturing lines, minimal to zero inventory, low carbon footprint, energy efficiency and its ability to produce highly complex designs. Additive technology is widely used in the aircraft industry for reasons which include its ability to produce complex assemblies and structures that would drastically reduce the weight of the components and hence increasing fuel efficiency. Additionally, it can help in reducing supply chain and logistics cost due to its potential to produce parts as required without expensive traditional setup. Automotive, space industry and the military are some of the other industries that are highly focused on this technology. Seeing its potential and growth, it is vital to focus on the softer side of additive manufacturing and its comparison to the traditional methods due to limited available research. This research focuses on the comparison and performance evaluation of additive and traditional manufacturing using supply chain and manufacturing factors/sub factors. Simulation analysis, survey from experts as an assessment tool and AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) are some of the tools used in this study to evaluate the two systems.