Even the strongest supply chain has a few weak links. Maybe yours are concentrated upstream, with small manufacturers that suffer from quality-control issues, or downstream, with retailers that have trouble getting products into customers’ hands on time. Either way, you may be able to bolster those links—or forge some alternatives—with the help of additive manufacturing.
In the last few years, additive manufacturing (commonly referred to as 3D printing) has moved far beyond its original prototyping applications to play an integral part in some companies’ product lines and production approaches.1 And, for many, its most useful role may turn out to be less in creating new products than in enhancing supply chain capabilities—or even innovating across whole sections of those supply chains.
