The impact of location of 3D printers and robots on the supply chain

Abstract

3D printers and robots (3DPR) are new technologies that may disrupt traditional supply chains.The location of the manufacturing place can be moved toward more customer side in the supply chain, which brings both agility and the ability of customization.The impact is yet to be examined quantitatively. In this paper we study the location of 3DPR in the supply chain. We present and compare three models of supply chains: Traditional supply chain; 3DPR at warehouse; 3DPR at shop. The semodels are compared by the equipment installation cost, the production cost,and inventory cost for safety-stock. The study presents a practical case study motivated from a real-world apparel company, discusses the three models under various parameter settings, comparing the obtained total cost and discovers the advantages and disadvantages.