6th IFAC Conference on Management and Control of Production

and Logistics
The International Federation of Automatic Control
September 11-13, 2013. Fortaleza, Brazil

Additive Manufacturing and its future impact in logistics

Jorge V. L. Silva, Rodrigo A. Rezende


Renato Archer Information Technology Center - CTI, Campinas, SP 13104-901

Brazil (Tel: +55-19-3746-6142; e-mails: [email protected], [email protected]).

Abstract: This article presents an overview of the additive manufacturing (AM) area, as known as rapid
prototyping and more recently as 3D printing, and its expected impact in logistics. The AM processes are
classified in various categories and the most important processes are highlighted in this paper.
Theoretically, any complex shape can be produced using AM that makes it very suitable for a fast and
customized production. The applications for AM are expected to be present in the principal production
chains and type of industry. It will impact as part production, systems or a complete product ranging from
medical to aerospace industry. Therefore, this article discusses applications and new production paradigm
that will affect in some extent the logistics the way it is today. 
additive manufacturing or simply AM to be compliant with
1. INTRODUCTION
the standards (ASTM, 2012).
The 3D technologies are present in all domains, from the
Therefore, AM encompasses a broad class of processes based
most simple product development, optimization and
on continuous deposition of material, layer-by-layer, until a
production to the more complex like in the aerospace
physical object is automatically built following instructions
industry. In a wide definition 3D technologies can be
from a computer with a virtual model designed in a
classified into virtual and physical. The virtual ones can
Computer-Aided Design (CAD) system. The material
provide computational models for many types of
deposition is achieved using highly specialized machines for
representation, simulation, optimization and scientific
serial production of metal, polymers and ceramics parts.
visualization. The physical 3D technologies are responsible
for realizing virtual models into real objects. When using a Another class of machines for AM is becoming very popular
layer-by-layer paradigm to build objects, it is known as rapid today. Those ones are affordable machines with open source
prototyping and more recently called 3D printing by the non- software and hardware that promise to change the production
specialized media. The original name, rapid prototyping, was paradigm for the coming years. Many of these start-ups are
conceived in the sense that a prototype of a product could be being acquired for the bigger companies in the business,
quickly and automatically created with any complexity. A closing the hardware and software. Giants of the software
prototype is the first of a series that is being used in many area are becoming aware of importance of this type of
different industries to speed up new product development popular machines. Most recently, Microsoft announced 3D
cycle lowering costs and increasing quality. printing support for developers of Windows 8.1 for those
machines. Also, Autodesk (maker of AutoCAD) is
Almost 30 years ago, a company called 3D Systems, today
supporting the development of bioprinters.
one of the biggest in this market, launched in the USA the
first commercial machine. A stereolithography equipment The AM is an evolution in course only compared to the
where a photopolymeric resin can be hardened by the personal computer (PC) revolution. Today, a smartphone can
incidence of a computer controlled ultraviolet laser beam have a processing power unimaginable 30 years ago with
(Silva et al., 1999). Since then, a myriad of new technologies insignificant costs and much higher capacity if compared to
using many different materials and processes became the corporative old and expensive computers. Analogously, a
commercially available with many others in development or 2D printer is today much more precise costing thousands
at in research stage. times less. The engineering development in electronics,
software development, control strategies, precise mechanics
These new process are everyday more present and focused in
and communication (Internet) associated to the new behavior
the real production. In this context, a Committee (F42) of
in social nets, creates a fertile environment for AM evolution.
American Society for Testing and Materials – ASTM was
established in 2009 to deal with this innovative way of The aim of this article is to describe the classes of AM
production. The first action of ASTM-F42 was to establish a processes, some example of available technologies and its
standard terminology defining the official name of the applications in high value manufacturing sectors, and the
technology as additive manufacturing (AM). ASTM is also impact this new technology can bring to the logistics sector.
integrating efforts with ISO (261 Technical Committee) in
2. ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING CATEGORIES
the area of test methods, processes, materials, terminology
and design in order to create international standard for the There are more than 30 commercial AM processes with
area. In this article we will use, from now on, the term economic importance. In order to organize this processes in

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classes, in 2012, the International Committee F42 on AM of can be useful to produce any structure for a product or for a
ASTM voted on a list of process category, names and complex human anatomy. The CAD systems are not suitable
definitions. The available processes are included in one of the for this task and new developments in CAD to represent
following seven categories, according to ASTM definition complex structures and diverse materials distribution from
(Wohlers, 2012): micro to macro sizes have to be developed.
1. Material extrusion is an AM process in which the material New processes and materials are becoming available to
is selectively dispensed through a nozzle or orifice. produce parts. A complex combination of composite
materials - with better properties than when they are
2. Material jetting is an AM process in which droplets of
separated; functionally graded material (FGM) - a class of
build materials are selectively deposited.
advanced materials that varies the properties along its
3. Binder jetting is an AM process in which a liquid bonding dimension; and cellular structured materials – that can obtain
agent is selectively deposited. an optimum material distribution reducing weight and costs,
can be achieved in the near future.
4. Sheet lamination is an AM process in which sheets of
material are bonded to form an object. 3. ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING AVAILABLE
PROCESSES
5. Vat photopolymerization is an AM process in which liquid
photopolymer in a vat is selectively cured by light-activated The most commonly used AM commercial processes are
polymerization. highlighted bellow:
6. Powder bed fusion is an AM process in which thermal 3.1 Stereolithography (SLA)
energy selectively fuses regions of a powder bed.
7. Directed energy deposition is an AM process in which SLA was the first commercially available process in 1986. In
focused thermal energy is used to fuse materials by melting this process a laser beam of specific wavelength hits
as the material is being deposited. selectively the surface of a photopolymeric resin deposited in
a vat. The resin gets hard to form a layer. Then, a platform
Some pros and cons can be highlighted when comparing AM inside the vat is moved down and another resin layer is
to conventional production processes: photopolymerized. The process repeats until finishing the
Energy optimization – AM implies the use of energy only to whole part. Support structures are built with the same
transform the material enough. Conversely to conventional material and are broken down after taking out the part. It is a
process, as metal milling process for example, in which a process in the category of Vat photopolymerization according
material is transformed into a block of bulk material that is to ASTM. In the beginning, there were few materials
milled and the big amount of chips has to be reprocessed available but today there are many options. All of the
(recycled) into a new block again and so on. According to the available materials, mainly polymers, try to imitate the
USA Energy Department, AM can reduce energy costs in properties of regular material for industry.
50% and material costs in 90%.
3.2 Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)
Reduction in material waste - With AM the only necessary
material is used to create parts. However, it is not completely FDM is a process where a filament of material and a filament
true because sacrifice support structures sometimes are of support material are automatically deposited on a platform
necessary and some materials, in special polymers, degrades by means of a heated extrusion head. The process is repeated
with continuous use under heating. layer-by-layer until the physical model is finished. By the
end, the support material is taken out thorugh a process like
Special tooling and speed - generally additive manufacturing ultra-sound bath. This process is in the category of Material
processes are slower than conventional processes but its extrusion as defined by ASTM. This process produces
capability is increasing in a very fast pace. There are some accurate models in many different thermoplastic materials,
advantages producing small and very complex parts when including special engineering thermoplastics.
compared to conventional processes. There is great flexibility
to produce many different parts at the same time, 3.3 Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)
automatically, without the necessity of special tooling and
fixtures. Today, the drawback of additive manufacturing SLS is a process where a laser beam transfers energy into a
processes in comparison with conventional production surface containing a thin layer of pre-heated powder material.
processes is, in general, the fast depreciation of material A computer automatically controls the movement of the laser
properties (mainly polymers), stiffness, surface finishing, beam focus. The energy transferred by the laser beam fuses
costs and production time for big lots. specific areas of the surface. After fusing one layer, another
one is deposited and again the laser fuses this layer that will
Design optimization – the use of additive manufacturing
glue in the previous ones. This is repeated until the physical
allows the designer to produce complex shapes and moving
model is finished. The remaining not sintered powder is taken
parts without the constraints of conventional production.
out after finishing. This process is located in the ASTM
Production of internal or hidden structures, conformal
category of Powder bed fusion. It produces strong models in
cooling channels, special passages for cables, pockets for
many different materials and composites. There are two other
embedded sensors, actuators and optics, is also possible. It
important commercial processes that can be classified in this

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category. The first is the Direct Metal Laser Sintering their proprietary process and many times even for a specific
(DMLS) that uses the same concepts with a fiber laser to machine. There are developers that have almost 60 different
melts down materials with higher melting point like metals materials for their processes. Each of their material offer
and alloys. The second process is Electron Beam Melting specific capability to meet specifications of form, fit, and
(EBM) that instead of using a laser it utilizes an electron function needs. Therefore, materials for AM are still very
beam to transfer energy to a metal or metallic alloy powder expensive and proprietary solutions.
bed. In order to illustrate one of the processes, Figure 1
The recycling of plastic materials when using AM can
shows a diagram of a typical SLS system. It is highly suitable
receive special attention from environmental agencies and
to process composite and functionally graded materials with
governments. There is a considerable amount of waste when
cellular structures.
post processing for support removal or in powder based
plastic material like SLS process that discards at least 30% of
the material every run, because of heating degradation of the
powder. On the other hand, metallic materials produce little
waste. Then, recycling is a word that shall urgently enter AM
dictionary.
Materials are responsible for a huge part of the AM
providers’ income. The world AM market reached $2.2
billion in 2012 with an increase of 28.6% for the last year,
according to Wohlers Associates Inc. a specialized
consultancy in AM. It is still a small market (1,000 smaller
than conventional manufacturing in the USA) according to
Lipson and Kurman (2013).
4. APPLICATIONS OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
Fig. 1. Selective Laser Sintering AM process There are many well-known applications of AM. The initial
purpose of the technology was to create prototypes in a
3.4 Multi Jet Modeling (MJM)
flexible and quick manner. With the evolution of processes
MJM is an additive process where a print head containing and materials AM became a natural tool to solve some
hundreds of nozzles selectively spreads in a surface a specific problems for small series direct production (rapid
photopolymeric material that is cured by the incidence of a manufacturing), tooling production, and more recently a
specific wavelength – normally an ultraviolet laser or lamp. powerful toll to produce intricate and complex parts cost-
Another print head spreads support material, normally in effectively. AM is not yet a production process that fulfills all
form of a gel that is also polymerized. It is a continuous the applications and industry requirements as dimensional,
process where the platform is lowered down a tenth of a structural and surface finishing. Parts produced in AM can be
millimeter for each layer. Finally, the support material is post processed in conventional systems for a complete
taken out with water jet. It is a process classified, according solution. Therefore, AM is not intended to substitute
to ASTM, as Material Jetting. The company Objet conventional production processes but mainly work
Geometries calls this process Polyjet. Some of the Objet´s integrated, at least in the near future.
machines are able to combine different material within a Although additive manufacturing is becoming an
single 3D printed model. This company provides a myriad of economically promising technology, it is now almost
material that mimics regular plastic materials. impossible to expect that this technology can replace the
mass production of parts or components. It is still difficult to
3.5 3D Printing (3DP) determine the cut-off volumes when comparing, for example,
plastic parts made on AM and injection molding. On the
3DP is a process where a multinozzle print head selectively other hand, its flexibility and increasing offer of materials can
spreads a liquid binder in a platform with a powder. The be a great opportunity for specific production of small series
binder reacts with the powder to compose a layer while the as well as mass customization. Material and machines are
platform is moved down. The process repeats until the end of expected to lower the price occupying a more expressive
the part. There is no necessity for support structures since the share in the market.
loose powder is responsible for stabilizing the part being
built. After finishing, the loose powder is taken out and the Applications of AM are present in areas like art, architecture,
part is infiltrated with resin to increase mechanical properties. jewelry, consumer products, entertainment, education,
ASTM classifies this process as Binder jetting. It is one of the energy, electronics, paleontology, scientific visualization,
most popular today because of the low costs of acquisition nanotechnology, automotive, aerospace, aeronautics, medical,
and operation. dentistry, tooling, just to name some. Our mind is the
limitation. The applications are driven today mainly by the
The ultimate goal of AM processes is the production of parts higher added value and complexity of the solution that AM
with known and predictable properties. The commercial can offer.
additive manufacturing systems developers offer a huge
amount of material choices but they are mostly specific for

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Gartner Group assessed 1900 information technologies in its trabecular_titaniumtm-1.html). Beyond prostheses,
report called “Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies” 2011 orthopaedic tooling and instrumentation are billionaire and
and 2012 and AM (the report refers as 3D print) is positioned very competitive markets involving a high quality control.
together with its medical variant “bioprinting” as one of the AM is already in use in cutting edge companies that produce
most fast growing for the next years (http://www. thousands of these devices but there is a plenty of room for
forbes.com/sites/gartnergroup/2012/09/18/). improvements, optimizations, customization and time to
market reduction. Dentistry is already an area of consolidate
Today the most appealing areas for AM are the healthcare
applications and active developments using AM, like in
and aerospace industry. Medical and dentistry demand highly
orthodontics, dental implants, drilling guides, dental molds,
customized solutions to fit a specific patient. Aerospace and
forensic, metal infrastructures as bridges and crowns, just to
aeronautical industries involve highly complex product in
name a few. The main AM providers are investing in
small series. Both areas are strictly regulated by national and
materials and processes for direct implant production in
international standards and agencies. These two applications
plastic, metal and ceramic, as an strategic market.
are more detailed bellow:

4.1 Healthcare

Today the application of AM in healthcare is one of the most

promising. The fulfillment of needs and customization that
the technology can reach is a very good solution for a specific
patient. The most known use is the medical model (biomodel)
for precise surgical planning. A biomodel is a perfect replica
of the patient produced based on computerized tomography
(CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) dataset of this
patient. The dataset is processed using specialized software
that can generate a virtual 3D model in a specific file format
with the anatomical region of interest for AM production. It
is possible to export the processed files to CAD systems and
generate customized prostheses for a patient. During this Fig. 2. Implant production using additive manufacturing
process a simulation of the interaction implant-anatomy developed at CTI - Brazil
structure can be useful.
In the multidisciplinary research domain the integration of
As an example, Figure 2 shows a complete cycle for a AM and tissue engineering is showing its preliminary results.
hemimandible production due a tumor resection. Medical The combination of biomaterials and AM can produce
images from CT are acquired from the patient and a 3D structured replicas of an anatomy with strict controls of
model (STL file format) of the mandible is produced using porosity that is colonized by patient steam cells. After some
specific software (as InVesalius, an open source software time the material is resorbed by the organisms and a new
developed by CTI-Brazil) and translated into surfaces using tissue or organ is created. This approach is called scaffold
the BioCAD approach (Noritomi et al., 2011) (see Figure tissue engineering that is been improved in a very effective
2(a)). The missing part of the mandible is redesigned way using AM (Pereira et al., 2012). More recently a newer
considering biomechanical requirements. A mesh is then approach for tissue engineering using AM has been
generated for simulation using Finite Element Methods – investigated. This new approach considers the automatic
Figure 2(b). The simulation involves bone and prosthesis deposition of cells or macrotissues (tissue spheroids) as an
made of Chrome-Cobalt medical alloy with the DMLS additive processes to produce organs and complex tissues.
process – (Figure 2(c)). The prosthesis is then fabricated in This is called organ bioprinting (Rezende and Other, 2012)
the simulated material in AM (Figure 2(d)) (Delgado and and promises to revolutionize the way tissue engineering is
Other, 2012). today, producing organs ready for implantation. In the next
Therefore, the above example shows that AM associated with decades, positive results of organ bioprinting can overcome
other technologies can offer solutions, for a temporary or organ shortage and complex logistics of natural organs
permanent implant, with better functionality. So far, this donation.
customized solution has not been cleared by the national
agencies and its actual use depends on approval from ethical 4.2 Aeronautic and aerospace
committees.
Aeronautic and aerospace industry is one of the most
The growing and aging of the population, mainly in BRICS powerful and natural candidate for AM using in the next
countries, where the average aging is growing in a fast pace, years. Some applications are already in production and others
can demand high performance orthopaedic implants for a in research labs. This section will provide a short view of
more active lifestyle. There is a growing number of these applications.
companies that have already CE-certified and FDA-cleared
implants solutions, in standard sizes, using AM. One example NASA launched a program to include AM in its operations to
is a company in Italy called Lima that produces thousands of produce parts for satellites and space exploration vehicles, in
acetabular cups every year (http://www.lima.it/technology- space, in the near future. In this sense, they embraced a

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program in cooperation with Washington State University produce huge parts with four meters wide. On the other hand,
intending to use a moon material simulant with the same it is also possible to produce parts in the micro world with
composition of moon grinded surface rocks to produce parts details smaller than few microns, using processes like Two-
for a lunar base by means of SLS process. More recently Photon Polimerization (2PP) (Ovsianikov and Chichkov,
NASA at the Marshall Space Flight Center tested two AM 2012). Nanoscribe GmbH, a spin-off of Karlsruhe Institute of
manufactured subscale rocket injectors in a hot-fire Technology (KIT), is producing what they claim to be the
environment with temperatures over 3,315 oC. It was a world's fastest AM equipment to produce micro and
monolithic complex part built in less than three weeks with nanostructures (sub-micrometer details) with Direct Laser
60% costs reduction that stand-up for almost one minute with Write technology (http://www.nanoscribe.de). The
the same performance of the injectors traditionally produced microstructures can be potentially used in healthcare (micro
(http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/3dprinting.htm needles, stents, scaffolds for tissue engineering, etc.) 3D
l). NASA is also carrying out parabolic flight to improve AM photonics, biomimetics, microfluidics, mechanical
equipment robustness and operability to make them more microstructures and the polymer templates to create metallic
suitable for space applications to deliver, during long flights, structures for electronics, among many others. Many
on demand spare parts (http://www.space.com/16656-space- universities, companies and research institutes are investing
manufacturing-3d-printing.html#sthash.5avSw7bg.dpuf). in micro and nano AM technologies for advanced and diverse
applications.
According to Michael Idelchik, vice president for advanced
technologies at GE Global Research, in four decades from The Institute of Photonics at the University of Eastern
now on GE will be able to print a complete engine. If it will Finland and Dutch company LUXeXceL are cooperating to
be the truth the time will tell, but GE Aviation is investing develop what they call Printoptical Technology. It is claimed
hard and recently acquired Morris Technology and Rapid to be an AM method for the production of optical quality
Quality Manufacturing, two AM pioneers in aeronautics. GE components, such as lenses, without any need for post-
Aviation is also in a joint venture with the Snecma from processing (http://www.uef.fi/en/home). At Printed
France to incorporate AM produced combustion systems in Electronics 2013 – Germany, the American company
their newest jet engines (http://www.gereports.com/printing- Optomec presented their process Aerosol Jet 3D to print a
jet-engines/). radio frequency antenna and electrical power distribution for
propellers and LED directly printed on the wings of an
Boeing is a pioneer and a long-term user of AM to produce
unmanned air vehicle (UAV). The wings were fabricated
parts for planes. Among those parts there are air ducts for
using FDM process (http://www.optomec.com/site/
F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft produced from 10 years ago.
latest_news/news123). This is a potential for the consumers
The ducts were originally intricate parts produced in
to customize and demand online their electronic products in
aluminum. Now they can produce air ducts as monolithic part
the future.
in SLS process using plastic powder FAA cleared. The main
gain is design freedom, no assembling or welding necessary, In the consumer market, it has appeared specialized
reduced weight and consequently costs reduction. Boeing companies offering customer-ordered designs. You can
produces its own high standard material with improvements choose hundreds of customizable and not customizable
in SLS process stabilization and monitoring to produce high designs upload your own and even sell it. The client can
quality parts for its planes (Lions, 2012). One of the recent choose from plastic to ceramic or metal materials. There are
patents claimed by Boeing is a new concept for SLS no equipments and tools for mass production and everything
continuous linear production for high production of parts (US is produced in the state-of-the-technology AM machines.
Pat Appl. 20120067501). Another company in the AM parts That is the case of the Shapeways located in New York
production for aircraft is CalRAM, a spin-off from Boeing, (http://www.shapeways.com/). Theoretically they can
founded in 2005, that produces plastic and metal certified produce anything, from art to mechanical parts, jewelry,
components. bags, glasses, etc. It become clear a new way to produce any
consumer products in a distributed high added value way.
The AVIO Group in Italy designs, develops and
manufactures aerospace propulsion components and systems 5. ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING AND THE FUTURE
for both for civil and military aircraft. To overcome OF LOGISTICS
traditional investment casting and achieve outstanding
Material development will make the difference for the use
properties, more complex and lighter components, AVIO
and expansion of AM into production. In terms of logistics,
uses Titanium aluminide in EBM machines and Stainless
machines will be transported once to their places, designs can
steel, cobalt, nickel and aluminum alloys in DMLS process.
be transported by Internet but materials and its variety will be
AVIO also commercializes powder alloys optimized for these
the most significant item in terms of transportation, mainly if
processes (http://www.aviogroup.com).
they will be produced in big industries, for the sake of
4.3 Other applications of AM efficiency gains, instead of small ones locally distributed.
Then, the global energy use and greenhouse gas emissions
Beyond the aerospace and aeronautical use, AM has been will be involved in material displacement.
researched for complex applications using precise new Therefore, a possible reduction in the logistics activities may
materials and processes. Size is becoming a very interesting be possible, since consumer products can be locally produced
and important concern in AM. Today it is already possible to in the site they are wanted reducing costs of transportation

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and stocking. The products will flow directly from the managing production, distribution, customer relationship,
producers to customers without retailers, meaning fewer partner relationship, product-life cycle, and many others.
inventories. The task force will move from assembling lines
7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
to the new jobs in small facilities. This new model will create
opportunities for the development of new management This work has been sponsored by the São Paulo Research
models and systems, new production models and controls and Foundation (FAPESP), The Brazilian Institute of
consumers distribution even in more remote places. Biofabrication (INCT-BIOFABRIS), The National Council
for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and
Although AM is becoming an economically significant
the European project PEOPLE - MARIE CURIE ACTIONS -
technology, it will be most improbable that it can replace the
IREBID International Research Staff Exchange Scheme Call:
mass production of parts or components, at least in the short
FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IRSES
to medium term scenario. However, its flexibility and
increasing offer of materials can be a great opportunity for REFERENCES
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