Technology selection in green supply chains - the effects of additive and traditional manufacturing

In recent years, the concept of sustainability is emerging as one of the main concerns in modern society. In this context, industrial production processes are changing thanks to the development of green strategies. The selection of a new production solution is a crucial strategic decision and the introduction of new technologies could cause deep changes to the entire supply chain configuration. This paper introduces a new approach designed to understand the importance of supply chain considerations for a suitable technology assessment. It is aimed at proposing a quantitative model for the evaluation of different structure of supply chains based on different production technologies. In particular, by defining a set of Key Performance Indicators and applying a multi-criteria decision method, a final score is computed, giving important information about both environmental and economic aspects. A numerical example regarding the comparison between Additive and Traditional Manufacturing processes is presented in order to demonstrate the applicability and the effectiveness of the proposed method. Results show that additive solutions bring evident reduction in Carbon Emission and better supply chain and logistics performance. Anyway, production volume strongly influences the economic results and the competitiveness of additive manufacturing remains limited when compared to the traditional manufacturing. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The paper presents a new approach to assess supply chain considerations for different production technologies, using a quantitative model based on Key Performance Indicators and multi-criteria decision method. Results show that additive manufacturing processes lead to a reduction in Carbon Emission and improved supply chain and logistics performance, but the economic competitiveness is limited when compared to traditional manufacturing, largely influenced by production volume.