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Life Cycle Assessment of 3D Printed Products in a Distributed Manufacturing System
Author(s) -
Cerdas Felipe,
Juraschek Max,
Thiede Sebastian,
Herrmann Christoph
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of industrial ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.377
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1530-9290
pISSN - 1088-1980
DOI - 10.1111/jiec.12618
Subject(s) - distributed manufacturing , diversification (marketing strategy) , supply chain , production (economics) , manufacturing engineering , computer science , digital manufacturing , product (mathematics) , 3d printing , product lifecycle , business , industrial ecology , consumption (sociology) , environmental economics , new product development , sustainability , engineering , economics , marketing , mechanical engineering , ecology , social science , geometry , mathematics , sociology , biology , macroeconomics
Summary Motivated by the rising costs of doing business overseas and the rise and implementation of digital technologies in production, new strategies are being explored to bring production and demand closer. While concepts like cloud computing, internet of things, and digital manufacturing increasingly gain relevance within the production activities of manufacturing companies, significant advances in three‐dimensional (3D) printing technologies offer the possibility for companies to accelerate product development and to consider new supply chain models. Under this production scheme, material supply chains are redefined and energy consumption hotspots are relocated throughout the life cycle of a product. This implies a diversification of energy mixes and raw material sources that poses a risk of shifting problems between life cycle phases and areas of protection. This study compares a conventional mass scale centralized manufacturing system against a 3D printing‐supported distributed manufacturing system on the basis of the production of one frame for eyeglasses using the life cycle assessment methodology. The study indicates clearly that the optimization potential is concentrated mainly in the energy consumption at the unit process level and exposes a close link to the printing material employed.