Evaluating the Competitiveness of 3D Printed Products

An interdisciplinary research is proposed to assess the impact of 3D printing on product level, global trade, and logistics industry in the next decade. The study aims to measure the competitiveness of 3D printed items compared to conventionally made products using a Multi Criteria Decision Analysis framework. Additionally, the supply chain dynamics will be analyzed by comparing conventional and 3D-printed-based supply chains. Secondary data sources such as news articles, reports, books, and market analysis will be used to answer four research questions: current developments in 3D printing, impact on manufacturing, impact on supply chains, and forecast of logistics industry changes. The study will conclude by providing a comprehensive solution to the main research question.

The implications of 3D printing for the global logistics industry
Research Proposal

1. Background information
3D printing industrial adoption has been growing gradually from prototyping to manufacturing
customised parts in low volume. The technology has become a hot topic in many industries and it has
become a source of uncertainty to the future of the industries (Bak 2003). From the viewpoint of
logistics providers, however, 3D printing could have profound impacts on the size and shape of
demand for logistics services, according to Loy (2014). The main purpose of this research project is to
qualitatively estimate the potential impact of 3D printing on the global logistics industry, both
transportation and warehousing, and to provide an insight into how logistics providers from all around
the world can capitalise on this rapidly emerging technology. One of the main reasons behind the
conduction of this research project is that 3D printing technology, although it is a several decade old, is
seen as a new technology (Mohr and Khan 2015). In addition, the number of previously carried-out
academic works relating to this topic are limited. Another reason is that most of the available literature
state that 3D printing could change the way we live as it will dramatically transform the whole
dynamics of supply chain, but they fail to provide a clear answer as to how this technology will affect
transportation and warehousing (Gebler et al., 2014).
2. Research questions, aims and objectives
2.1 Research questions
As mentioned earlier, 3D printing technology has been around for several decades but it has been
concealed and only in recent years gained public attention, which is probably due to the lack of
academic research focusing on it (Mohr and Khan 2015). Within academic field, research is lacking
the information as to how significant the effect of 3D printing will be on logistics industry in general
and transportation and warehousing in particular in the future. Neither has there been any apparent
research conducted on whether the technology is capable of transforming global transport and
warehousing nor whether it can achieve the targets it holds (Gebler, Uiterkamp, and Visser 2014).
Having considered the above, I have come up with the following research question and sub-questions:
What is the impact of 3D printing technology on the global logistics industry in the next
decade?
The research will focus on answering the above question in an attempt to fill in the academic
gap. In order to provide a sensible answer to the research question, attention must be paid to the
starting point of 3D printing impact on logistics. Since 3D printing is perceived as an alternative to the
traditional manufacturing in supply chain, the following sub research questions can be formulated:
1. What are the current developments in the 3D printing industry?
2. How 3D printing technology impact manufacturing?
3. How 3D printing technology impact supply chains?
4 Considering these factors, what is the impact of 3D printing on the global logistics in the next
decade?
2.2 Research aims and objectives
Considering the above research question and sub questions, the study will aim to achieve
following objectives within the designated time scale:
 To assess the current developments of 3D printing technology
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 To find out whether 3D printing will offer opportunities for mass customisation and decentralised
production
 To evaluate the impact of 3D printing on supply chain as a whole
 To estimate the impact of the technology on global logistics industry in the next 10 years.
 To improve overall understanding and provide an answer to as whether it is feasible for 3D
printing to transform global transportation and warehousing.
3. Initial literature review
Literature related to the details of the 3D Printing process itself is widely available, however,
the literature associated with 3D printing outlining its effect on transportation and warehousing
industry is rather limited. Moreover, the literature related to 3D printing and its impact supply chain
and manufacturing is more publically available than those related to logistics. The available papers
relating to 3D printing in all industries are relatively new. This is due to the fact that the technology
has only been emerging and caught the attention of academics in recent years (Laplume et al, 2016).
3.1 Literature related to manufacturing and supply chain.
In order to answer the main research question, answers to the sub-questions must be
accomplished first. Fortunately there has been several scholars including case studies, market analysis,
system analysis and other academic works conducted in recent year that will probably provide answers
to most of the research sub-questions for this study. Namely, Willis et al. (2012) and McMenamin et
al. (2014) in two studies asses the development of 3D printing technology, Berman (2012) and Lipson
& Kurman (2013) are two of a few studies associated with 3D printing technology in manufacturing
and production, and Petrick & Simpson (2013) and Khajavi et al. (2014) are two of many scholars
related to 3D printing and supply chain.
3.2 Literature related to the global logistics.
In contrast, literature related to 3D printing in transportation and warehousing is relatively
scarce compared to those of manufacturing and supply chain. One of the very few articles on this
academic area is written by Manners-Bell and Lyon (2012), the CEO of Transport Intelligence Ltd and
CEO of Virtual-Partners Ltd. The article, which is barely five pages long, fails to provide evidences to
the findings as it is not clear what type of data or source of data has been used to achieve the outcomes.
Moreover, there are a limited number of other academic studies that discuss the impact of 3D printing
on logistics and what is available provide little or no details on the future of this industry. Thus, it can
be said that this study provides a solution to the academic literature in relation to the impact of 3D
printing on the global logistics industry.
3.3 Theories related to 3D printing and global logistics
According to Pearce et al. (2010), 3D printing will further develop to offer opportunities for mass
customisation and decentralised production. Based on this theory, businesses that have outsourced
their production to Asia to save costs can “nearshore” their production back to the high-wage countries
by using 3D printers as alternatives to traditional manufacturing. If, however, this change occur and
3D printers become capable of mass-production and customisation, the whole global logistics will
change. As a result, the mass production in East Asia will decline and long-distance shipping will
decline accordingly. Furthermore, Zijm et al., (2016) in their recently-published book claim that once
3D printing is capable of printing goods in large volumes, the demand for the last-mile shipping will
increase. According to the theory, goods will no longer need to be shipped halfway around the world,
as they could be printed out nearshore and close to the consumer. Consequently, the stock level of
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standardised goods will drop as they goods can be printed upon customers’ demand. Both of the above
theories are directly related to the main content and purpose of this dissertation, therefore the study
will test and reveal the degree of precision of the theories.
4. Research design and methods
Sounders et al (2012) in their book discuss that a descriptive research objective is to photograph a
realistic image of a specific situation, people or event. Hence, the intention of the study is to analyse
the impact of 3D printing on the global logistics to gain a clearer picture of the future of the industry.
The philosophy of the dissertation will be interpretivist with a deductive approach. Since the data is
only collected from secondary sources, the strategy used for the dissertation is secondary data analysis.
For the first three sub questions, qualitative analysis technique is used, whereas the fourth sub
question, both quantitative and quantitative analysis techniques will be used. However, the majority of
the study will have the qualitative analysis technique applied to with only a minor section of statistical
analysis to calculate the forecast. One of the limitations of the study is that the collection of primary
data is not practical at this time due to the newly advancing technology of 3D printing and the limited
number of businesses that solely dependent on 3D printers. The above also justifies that the research
study to be cross-sectional.
The core research question has been separated into four sub questions in order to decrease the
complexity of the main research question by using a stepwise method. To provide the necessary data
and answers to the research questions, extended literature review, system analysis, market analysis,
and forecasting will be done. The research design and method for each sub research question are
described here in this section.
 The current developments in the 3D printing industry
This is the starting point of the study where it is to gain as much insight as possible into the area of
3D printing. To achieve this, extended literature review is required to be done. The answers will give
an overview of sectors and industries where 3D printing is being used at present and could be used in
the future. This will provide the current development state of the technology and the future potentials,
as well as the determination and assumptions of the limitation of the technology. Any knowledge
gained from answering this sub question will be the base for tackling the remaining research questions.
 The impact of 3D printing on manufacturing
This question can be answered using a qualitative analysis. The intention is to measure the impact
of 3D printing on a product level. This will later be aggregated to assess the global trade of these
products. The framework of the analysis will be based on the competitive competences of
manufacturing companies. In the analysis, a 3D printed item will be assessed on its competitiveness in
comparison to the conventionally made item. Case studies and market analysis would be necessary to
comprehend different markets. Lastly, each product group will be applied a quantifiable score that
represents the amount of impact. The technique of scoring and evaluating will resemble a Multi
Criteria Decision Analysis.
 The impact of 3D printing on supply chains
In order to answer the third question, an overall understanding of supply chain is necessary. The
aim is to assess the potential disruption of 3D printing technology to conventional supply chain by
comparing them with supply chains with 3D printers. To achieve this, a system analysis will be
conducted for conventional supply and distribution setups of various industries which are currently
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involved with 3D printing. Later, a comparison will be made with competing supply chains which
deploy 3D printers. The data and knowledge gained in answering this question will be used in solving
the last sub question.
 The impact of 3D printing on the global logistics in the next decade
In answering the final question, all factors resulting from the analyses of the previous sub research
questions will be considered. By using the collected data from the first three sub questions along with
the statistical data from secondary sources, different future scenarios will be used to make a forecast
for the next decade. The forecast should finally be upheld as a comprehensive solution to the main
research question.
5. Data sources and collection
As mentioned above, secondary data will be used to achieve the objectives of the research. The
nature of the research and the types of research questions require secondary data sources such as
articles, reports, books, case studies, as well as market and system analysis. In terms of the final
question which requires forecasting, data will be sourced from World Bank, Eurostat, UNCTAD, and
Trade statistics for that matter. Data from those sources are freely available for academics for research
purposes. Table 1 below presents an overview of the data sources as well as the method used for each
research sub question.
Table 1 – An overview of data sources and collection
Sub research question Method Data sources
1. What are the current
developments in the 3D
printing sector?
Secondary data analysis News articles, journals,
reports, books
2. How 3D printing
impact manufacturing?
Secondary data
analysis, market
analysis
News articles, journals,
reports, books
3. How 3D printing
impact supply chains?
Case studies, systems
analysis
News articles, reports,
books, journals
4. Considering these
factors, what is the
impact on the logistics
industry in the next
decade?
Forecasting, secondary
data analysis
World Bank, Eurostat,
UNCTAD, Trade
statistics
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References
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