Katrin Oettmeier

Additive Manufacturing in Automotive Spare Parts Supply Chains – A Conceptual Scenario Analysis of Possible Effects

The automotive sector has been very progressive to experiment with additive manufacturing (AM) and early started to adopt it for rapid prototyping. Nonetheless, until the present day the integration of AM in the production of car parts, such as spare parts, proved to be difficult. Spare parts are generally characterized by demand uncertainty. Therefore they require high inventory levels to guarantee short lead times and high service levels for maintenance, repair and overhaul firms. The deployment of AM technologies in spare parts production has the potential to overcome these supply chain-related challenges. This research conceptually investigates the effects of AM in the automotive spare parts business for different supply chain scenarios. As a main contribution of this paper, four scenarios are developed and systematically analyzed regarding their suitability and implications for an AM implementation in the automotive spare parts supply chain.