Additive manufacturing for standard parts in the healthcare supply chain: What are the available performance improvements?

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has established itself as a manufacturing technology for customised and personalised parts in healthcare applications. More recently its use in healthcare applications has been extended to also include standard parts, albeit to a limited degree. In our case study of small and medium-sized manufacturers of medical devices, we investigate how extending the scope of AM from customised parts to standard parts brings opportunities for additional operational improvements. These additional improvements build on the benefits of using AM for customisation, constituting an opportunity for cumulative performance improvements. Identifying the specific operational mechanisms of performance change through the use of AM in healthcare applications, our cross-case analysis identifies the available cumulative improvements based on widening the scope of AM from customised to standard parts. The contribution to research is the identification of a sequence of improvements available through wide-scope AM: the simplification of flow through kitting-based solutions and cost reduction through capacity sharing, affecting multiple performance dimensions.