INFORMATION FLOW ANALYSIS ENABLING THE INTRODUCTION OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING FOR PRODUCTION TOOLS-INSIGHTS FROM AN INDUSTRIAL CASE

• Additive Manufacturing (AM) has traditionally been used for prototyping of products, however, in the last few decades, it has seen a rising growth in the manufacture of final products. The addition of AM as a manufacturing method in the portfolio of a company's production capabilities increases the complexity of decision-making. This is because the decisions are often not based on the same criteria and constraints, as related to conventional manufacturing processes. In this paper, we investigate this challenge by studying how AM affects the current workflow and the associated information flow for a design-make process in a Swedish manufacturer before and after the integration of AM. In this paper, it is argued that apart from an understanding of how to design for AM, it is equally important to consider how introducing AM alters the existing information flow and how to benefit from information available in various design-make process steps to facilitate decision making process. The result clarifies that the current process relies largely on tacit and experiences-based knowledge, whereas to take advantage of AM, more precision is required to capture and process the available information. 

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Produktionsteknik, arbetsvetenskap och ergonomi (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Additive Manufacturing

Decision making

Industialisation

Information management

3D printing

Additives

'current

Conventional manufacturing

Decisions makings

Industialization

Information flow analysis

Information flows

Manufacturing methods

Manufacturing process

Production capabilities

Production tools

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