Understanding how additive manufacturing influences organizations’ strategy in knowledge economy

Industry 4.0 constituted a trigger to a new phase in the Industrial Revolution, heavily focused in the interconnectivity of the systems, bringing disruptive technologies such as Additive Manufacturing (AM). On top of that, the shift from an industrial economy to a knowledge-based economy, where knowledge is the actual raw material, is implicating changes on the labor market, as new jobs strongly rely on knowledge-intensive activities. This is forcing organizations to rethink their way to operate, since markets are getting even more competitive and susceptible to greater volatility. Herewith organizations are resorting to AM as way to strengthen competitive position, as this technology allows to seize new opportunities. As response to that, this paper presents an industry analysis to AM based on Porter’s Five forces model, where forces such as threat of new entrants, bargaining power of customers, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of suppliers and rivalry among the existent competitors will be discussed under a knowledge perspective. The compiled evidence show that AM industry will plausibly suffer from a high rivalry in the next few years, as consequence of the increased power of customers and suppliers, low entry barriers for new entrants and due to pressures for a more sustainable society. Although these forces will not be totally controllable, organizations can plan their business strategy according to the knowledge they have on them. This type of approach will allow organizations to influence these forces more closely and at the same time to predict possible scenarios, identify tendencies and map the sector. In the present paper is proposed a conceptual model based on Porter’s five forces to analyze the impact of AM on firms’ strategy. For future development this model will be extended to organizations operating with AM in Portugal for validating its practical applicability, which will be performed through questionnaire and/or case study.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Application to the recovery of residual agroforestry biomass in Portugal

This research was funded by the FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia/MCTES, through national funds and, when applicable, co-financed by the FEDER, under the new partnership agreement PT2020, P. Espadinha-Cruz and Radu Godina acknowledges Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT-MCTES) . Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The AuthorsRural fires are currently one of the main global disasters, and Portugal is among the countries that have suffered from them for decades. These fires pose economic, environmental, and social threats to the country. A primary cause of rural fires is the burning of biomass to clear agroforestry residues. Thus, combating rural fires requires more effective forest management, particularly the removal of forest residues that serve as fuel. These residues, also known as biomass, have significant potential for energy production and biofuel use. This paper proposes a model that integrates the PROMETHEE decision-making method with the roadmapping. This proposed model includes 7 steps, including the planning of the roadmap, the definition of the decision problem, gathering information and building the roadmap. The proposed model was applied to develop a roadmap proposal for the recovery of surplus agroforestry biomass in Portugal, identifying the most emerging conversion technologies in the national context. With the roadmap developed, it was possible to understand that the recovery of surplus agroforestry biomass in Portugal involves several sectors. The energy sector is one of those that can benefit from the recovery of leftover agroforestry biomass, both from the point of view of carbon neutrality and energy independence. Forestry management is another of the great advantages of recovering leftover forestry biomass and, consequently, reducing the number of fires. In the context of recovery, combustion is the most widely used technology for producing energy or heat. The technology identified as most emerging in the upcoming years is gasification. Investment in scientific research is essential for the success of this sector, as is the development of public incentive policies and more engagement from all stakeholders. This paper conclude that valorizing agroforestry residues can reduce rural fire risks while promoting energy independence, sustainable regional development, and innovation in Portugal.publishersversionpublishe

A Porter’s Five Forces model proposal for additive manufacturing technology: A case study in Portuguese industry

Industry 4.0 constituted a trigger to a new phase in the Industrial Revolution, heavily focused on the interconnectivity of the systems, bringing disruptive technologies such as Additive Manufacturing (AM). On top of that, in the past few decades AM has been gaining visibility due to technological evolution and due to the need to increase differentiating factors to overtake competitors. Coupled with this, phenomenon such as increased firms’ competitivity and rivalry, increased customer demand and diversity and the shift from an industrial economy to a knowledge-based economy are leading to the emergence of new business models. However, despite of AM's business possibilities, in literature it is missing a model to analyse the impact of AM in business strategy. Accordingly, the present research focuses on understanding how AM impacts firms’ business strategy. To achieve that objective, is proposed an adaptation of Porter's Five Forces Model to aid in positioning firms’ strategy when using AM. The model was applied to 13 organisations operating with AM in Portugal. It was possible to conclude that all the participating firms, except one, fit in the incremental stream of development as regards to AM technology, where AM technologies appear as a complementing technology. Also, the participating firms seem to experience the low capability to capture specialized workforce for AM, high capital requirements to enter the market and low IPR regulation. AM brings an opportunity for higher bargaining power to arise due to 'prosumerism', yet it does not add value as a tool for the standard products industry. Moreover, suppliers strongly influence sectors' competition, which will presumably suffer from increased rivalry tensions

The Role of Digital Connectivity in Supply Chain and Logistics Systems: A Proposed SIMPLE Framework

Part 2: Fourth Industrial RevolutionInternational audienceIndustry 4.0 and its related-cutting edge technologies are generating unprecedented changes and bringing complex challenges in practically all types of business. In this context, new concepts such as digital connectivity, interconnection, and interoperability emerged as highly disruptive approaches for logistics systems and supply chain management (SCM). To shed more light on these complexities and see how companies organized in a SCM model can adopt, implement and operate in a digital connectivity model, this study proposes a framework, namely SIMPLE. To develop the framework, we employed a literature review approach, focusing on recent studies published in journals. After the literature analysis, six dimensions related to digital connectivity in supply chains and logistics emerged, namely Smart, Innovative, Measurable, Profitable, Lean, and Excellence (SIMPLE). This framework brings opportunities for future studies, while providing important insights into the dynamics of digital connectivity in logistics and supply chains. Therefore, these SIMPLE framework dimensions should enable the actors involved in organizations’ operations to interact adequately and harmoniously so as to maximize the value generated in the network