The Role of Additive Manufacturing Technology in job creation: an exploratory case study of suppliers of Additive Manufacturing in Sweden
2015 (English)In: Procedia CIRP, Elsevier , 2015, Vol. 26, p. 93-98Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
his paper investigates how Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies, as a process innovation, may contribute to a job creation. Further, the various mechanisms in which AM may contribute to an increase in job creation as well as the types of jobs are analyzed. The analysis also goes beyond AM technologies and incorporates other non-technological factors which foster job creation, i.e. higher wages in BRIC countries, lower quality in BRIC countries, and a rising demand for western-made products. The analysis is based on a case study and the data collected was through interviews with three prominent actors within the AM technologies field in Sweden: technology developers, leading suppliers and users. The main findings indicate that AM (i) contributes to job creation in both the manufacturing sector and in the service sector, (ii) does not bring back mass production jobs from emerging economies such as BRIC, (iii) contributes to job creation in product development stages (e.g. rapid prototyping), and (iv) contributes to job creation in production stages of low-volume batches mainly of complex products. The findings also suggest there are barriers for full exploitation of AM in several areas, including education systems.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier , 2015. Vol. 26, p. 93-98
Series
Procedia CIRP, ISSN 2212-8271
Keywords [en]
Additive Manufacturing Technologies, job creation, 3D printing, exploratory case study, Sweden
National Category
Economics Applied Mechanics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:bth-6532DOI: 10.1016/j.procir.2014.07.109ISI: 000360931800017OAI: oai:DiVA.org:bth-6532DiVA, id: diva2:834050
Conference
12th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing - Emerging Potentials, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA,SEP 22-24, 2014
Part of project
Model Driven Development and Decision Support – MD3S, Knowledge Foundation2014-11-212014-11-202021-01-07Bibliographically approved