Given the level of control over the design of both product and manufacturing process allowed by additive manufacturing, it makes sense to explore whether or not this mode of production can adopt a circular approach (resource efficiency, life extension methods like reuse, remanufacture, and recycle, design and systems thinking). The two innovations seem like a natural fit for one another, so I am interested to see if this avenue of research is viable. Thanks in advance for your help!
Everything is relative. If integrating circular economy practices with additive manufacturing would result in more useful knowledge, better industrial practices and/or enabling technologies for the society as a whole, then it should get more attention, research resources and financial funding. However, the main qustion is always how to achieve a proper return on investments?
Furthermore, what is the measure for evaluation of the impact of the above integration? Moreover, what is the scope of the above phenomenon to be evaluated? One product, one technology, one integration approach (methodology), ..... or a small or medium sized enterprise, a multi-core company, a society, or what? So you posed a wonderful question - but the answer is difficult since it is scope, objective and context dependent.
This is certainly an interesting question and one that colleagues and I began to address in our paper Article Unlocking value for a circular economy through 3D printing: ...
At present I would say that there is currently a lack of data about the feasibility of using 3DP to implement circular concepts. We as researchers need examples of companies that have done so or considered doing so.
One company that comes to mind as being at the forefront of this integration is Caterpillar, who have successfully implemented remanufacturing into their business strategy and are using additive manufacturing technologies within this remanufacturing activity: https://www.caterpillar.com/en/company/innovation/customer-solutions/technology/additive-manufacturing.html
Hope that's helpful,
Simon
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