Additive Manufacturing Opportunities: Mass Customization in the Biomedical Industry

Abstract

This thesis deals with additive manufacturing, which has received a great deal of attention recently. Firstly, I will briefly retrace the history of manufacturing: the First Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the eighteenth century with a series of innovations that transformed the manufacture of cotton and brought a new mode of production, namely the factory system. The Second Industrial Revolution began in America in the twentieth century with the advent of the assembly line, which led to the era of mass production. According to some authors (give two examples), a Third Industrial Revolution is on its way and it involves the digitalization in manufacturing, which will have a dramatic effect as big as in other industries that have gone digital. In this chapter, I will attempt to outline the pattern that led to the Third Industrial Revolution and I will inquire how the technologies that fall within this theoretical framework can drive the emergence of a new concept of firms and can change the role of people involved in the manufacturing process. According to the Special Report on Manufacturing and Innovation issued by The Economist on April 21st 2012, the factory in the feature “will focus on mass customization and may look more like those weaver’s cottages than Ford’s assembly lines.” In the second chapter, I will delve into the technical aspects related to additive manufacturing, I will describe the three most common techniques that additive manufacturing is based on and I will then show how they work. In the third chapter, I will show the three main applications of additive manufacturing in manufacturing companies, which are: rapid prototyping, rapid tooling, and rapid manufacturing. The technology is going to change how manufacturing operates and how it challenges some of the most consolidated paradigms. Finally, in the fourth chapter, I will inquire into the applications of additive manufacturing in the biomedical industry. According to some, the biomedical industry, along with some other industries, such as the automotive and the aerospace industries, represents a important example of the revolutionizing impact of additive manufacturing. I will demonstrate that, in this industry, additive manufacturing allows the so-called “mass customization” which, in other industries, is far from being achieved.