In the last fifteen years the mass production of the modern industry has been shifted to third world countries, especially Asia. European firms are faced with the need to promptly adjust towards the fabrication of low volume custom-made products with high added value by developing new advanced manufacturing technologies. Additive manufacturing (AM) is an advanced technology that could enhance manufacturing. In particular, with the use of AM technology products are manufactured by building up thin layers of materials from digitized three-dimensional (3D) designs virtually constructed using advanced 3D Computer-Aided Design software. This free form fabrication enhances the design potential, allowing end-products to comply with functionality thus pushing the boundaries of manufacturability. The impact of AM technologies on supply chains could be massive since shrinkage of the product development cycles and development costs can be achieved along with rapid innovation cycles. Additionally, novel product concepts can be pursued since cost and time to prototype and manufacture are diminished. The potential is almost endless, making tremendously flexible the small-batch manufacture firms in the event they pursue domestic advanced manufacturing. The aim of this paper is firstly provide a state of the art synthesis of AM technology, their limitations, their adoption rate by various industrial sectors and secondly to outline their emerging impact on supply chain design and management. Finally, a methodological framework is proposed which combines Multi Criteria Decision Aid (MCDA) together with Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in order to serve as a decision-making tool for the determination of an optimal production strategy.
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