Authors: Evgenia Fronimaki, Maria Mavri

Title: The economics of 3D printing: a linear cost model

Abstract

The Additive Manufacturing (AM) term, also known as 3D printing (3DP), describes the use of a collection of technologies capable of joining materials to manufacture complex products in a single process step. 3DP enables to the potential customer to produce complex (functional) shapes using less material than traditional manufacturing methods. Flexible, rapid and cheap are the three main characteristics of this new technology.

AM reduces time and costs from the design phase to manufacturing, since there is no investment in designing and fabricating the necessary tooling and fixtures. The cost of manufacturing a product using AM processes exceeds that of traditional methods and may slow the adoption of this technology. Because of the high purchasing and processing costs of AM machines, the planning and scheduling a 3DP network play a crucial role in reducing operational costs, providing services to customers in fewer prices and increasing the profitability of AM industries. Although cost functions have been developed in the literature, 3DP networks have not studied yet.

The goal of this work is: (a) to present a 3DP network, which consists of customers, suppliers, AM manufacturing plants, workforce, distribution centers, as well as the links among these entities, through which printed goods flow and (b) to propose a linear cost model that minimizes investment and operational costs and therefore maximizes profits of an AM industry in a 3DP network.