Operations Management of Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

This article reviews the growing literature on additive manufacturing (AM) operations management and sheds light on the emerging research areas in this field. As the AM use cases of final parts rapidly expand, it is essential to focus on the operations management of this technology and determine the primary current and future research streams. A literature study method is utilized to select, review, and categorize articles in the field of AM. The 108 articles selected after the initial evaluation were carefully examined and categorized. The selected papers evaluate AM from an operations management perspective. This article categorizes the body of knowledge studying the application and operations management of additive manufacturing into three categories: studies concerned with the industry's current state, forward-looking studies with a conceptual approach, and forward-looking papers with empirical grounding. Different AM processes studied are also considered. Our categorization showed that the latter category is still under-researched and presents an opportunity for future investigations. Moreover, six emerging streams of research in the third category were recognized. In addition to pointing out the areas of research that require more attention, this article aims to assist the researchers in better positioning their research.