3D Printing & the Supply Chain Revolution!

The stuff of sci-fi movies is on our near horizon. And with technology changing the supply chain faster than any of us may realise, it’s not too early for companies to start thinking about how it’ll affect their business.

Within the next decade - or even sooner - warehouses will be filled with3D printers, not products, enabling companies to maintain zero stock and produce on demand - and to order. And delivery drones - small, unmanned aircraft - will bring the world to your doorstep, literally.

The impact on supply chain as we know it is probably beyond what we can imagine right now, likening its advent with the transformation that the Internet has had on the world - something the academics who first sent each other emails via an interconnected network scarcely imagined.

3D printing - printing layers of a polymer that stack up to become an object - is still in its early stages, but it’s already possible to print everything from ready-assembled monkey wrenches to model guns. According to Gartner, 3D printer growth will increase by 200% by 2015.

It’s going to be a massive disruptor that’ll require companies to rethink and reinvent themselves.

The first major implication of this technology is that it will allow products to be made as close to the point of purchase or consumption as your home. That means companies should be thinking about changing their businesses to sell licenses for customisable designs, rather than finished products.

Items that have had to rely on economies of sale will become locally producible at a fraction of the cost.

Just think, it’ll be possible to produce a plastic container without first having to make the expensive mould - and there will be no wastage of raw material as no off-cuts are produced.

What's more, even if the production cost for one unit happens to be higher, the elimination of delivery costs and buffer inventories will more than offset this.

The applications are endless. Instead of waiting for car parts to arrive, they could be made at repair shops - and even assembly plants will benefit as components are made on demand. Perhaps the most innovative aspect of the technology is that it will enable customisation to the greatest degree yet.

Ken Titmuss CFPIM CSCP

First published in Business Brief

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