An overview of the impact of additive manufacturing on supply chain, reshoring, and sustainability

The paper provides an overview of the impact of the integration of additive manufacturing (AM) within the supply chain, the correlation with the reshoring phenomenon, and its effect on environmental sustainability. Implementing AM technologies simplifies the traditional supply chain and significantly reduces costs related to transport and warehousing. Furthermore, it allows for a considerably reduced production of waste. However, the high price of machinery and the lack of current knowledge prevent it from spreading widely

Effect of recycled powder and gear profile into the functionality of additive manufacturing polymer gears

Purpose Polymer laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB/P) is an additive manufacturing technology that is sustainable due to the possibility of recycling the powder multiple times and allowing the fabrication of gears without the aid of support structures and subsequent assembly. However, there are constraints in the process that negatively affect its adoption compared to other additive technologies such as material extrusion to produce gears. This study aims to demonstrate that it is possible to overcome the problems due to the physics of the process to produce accurate mechanism. Design/methodology/approach Technological aspects such as orientation, wheel-shaft thicknesses and degree of powder recycling were examined. Furthermore, the evolving tooth profile was considered as a design parameter to provide a manufacturability map of gear-based mechanisms. Findings Results show that there are some differences in the functioning of the gear depending on the type of powder used, 100% virgin or 50% virgin and 50% recycled for five cycles. The application of a groove on a gear produced with 100% virgin powder allows the mechanism to be easily unlocked regardless of the orientation and wheel-shaft thicknesses. The application of a specific evolutionary profile independent of the diameter of the reference circle on vertically oriented gears guarantees rotation continuity while preserving the functionality of the assembled mechanism. Originality/value In the literature, there are various studies on material aging and reuse in the PBF-LB/P process, mainly focused on the powder deterioration mechanism, powder fluidity, microstructure and mechanical properties of the parts and process parameters. This study, instead, was focused on the functioning of gears, which represent one of the applications in which this technology can have great success, by analyzing the two main effects that can compromise it: recycled powder and vertical orientation during construction

Bridging business model and inter-organizational coordination mechanisms in the Italian wine industry

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to interpret the concept of a business model from the pattern of coordination mechanisms used by an Italian wine cooperative to manage its inter-organizational relationships. Design/methodology/approach – The business model is taken as the structure and governance of the relationships between the focal firm and its exchange partners. The empirical analysis is based on a qualitative investigation, analyzing material collected at the Farming Cooperative Gran Cru. Findings – Several different coordination mechanisms were used to rethink the firm customer value proposition, showing a very complex and dynamic inter-organizational system: process control mechanisms, knowledge suppliers and clan control mechanisms. The combination of mechanisms enables the firm to govern the extreme complexity of external complementarities and interdependence among activities and resources. Practical implications – The study is particularly helpful to managers because wine entrepreneurs and managers can influence their networks’ features and strategies, as well as the mechanisms for governance of the relationships and extracting customer value. Originality/value – The study seeks to enrich the debate on the strategy/structure fit by shifting the focus from the organizational to inter-organizational level of analysis. The analysis centers on boundary-spanning relationships between one wine firm and its partners and knowledge suppliers. This perspective brings business model analysis and inter-organizational design closer because variables of the business model – such as customer value – can be seen as combinations of inter-organizational coordination mechanisms

Sustainable production of AlSi10Mg parts by laser powder bed fusion process

Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is an additive manufacturing technology that allows producing complex and lightweight parts without the use of specific tooling during the building process. However, despite continuous developments, some problems limit its use in series production. To introduce these systems in mass production, it is necessary to solve the problems and exceed the limits related to the requirements of industrialization: higher productivity, less material consumption, less over-production, and less waste, greater stability of the process, and higher quality of the final components. In this study, good practices to reduce resource consumption are presented. The production rate of the L-PBF technique was increased to produce AlSi10Mg alloy components. All the samples were manufactured with 90-μm-layer thickness increasing productivity by approximately 65%. A design of experiments (DOE) method was used to analyze the effect of process parameters on the densification percentage. The produced samples were observed with a non-destructive process, the X-ray computed tomography system, to detect the presence of defects and pores. It has been found that a combination of parameters can induce porosities with a morphology such that after stress relieving the density increases rather than decreases as has been widely discussed in the literature. The mechanical properties are comparable with the literature values for conventional technologies. Good values of as-built surface roughness were also achieved despite the layer thickness

Controllo manageriale e regolazione dell’identità organizzativa: la prospettiva dei Critical Management Studies (Managerial control and identity regulation: a critical perspective)

The paper focuses on the relationship between organizational control, diversity management, identity regulation and individuals’ subjectivities. Consistently with the Foucauldian post-structuralist approach, we particularly explore how the creation and management of diversities comprises a means for influencing the perception of individual and collective identities and regulating the employees organisational behaviours. In line with the particular features of post-Fordist organisational systems, management has changed the methods of implementing organisational control, institutionalising a concept of it that is less geared towards heteronomy and more focussed on self-regulation of behaviours. We further show how such managerial discourses tend to act on individual and collective self-positioning within groups instrumentally constructed, having an impact on organizational action in terms of control management

Investigation of surface shot blasting of AlSi10Mg and Ti6Al4V components produced by powder bed fusion technologies

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) is constantly expanding thanks to the freedom to create complex, light, and high performing geometries within the limits of the processing itself. As-built AM parts, especially when using powder bed fusion (PBF) processes, exhibit surface imperfections and defects leading to a remarkably irregular morphology that can significantly affect the product aesthetical and mechanical performance. Because of that, the part post-processing is a crucial step. Shot blasting is a simple and fast-finishing process commonly used in the AM supply chain to remove residual sintered particles attached to the component surface and reduce the surface roughness. This study investigates the shot blasting processes performed on AlSi10Mg and Ti6Al4V parts produced using laser-PBF (L-PBF) and electron beam-PBF (EB-PBF), respectively, considering the great geometric variability that a single component designed for AM can have in surface texture and geometries. Test artifacts were therefore devised with internal channels enclosed in the reticular structures and inclined flat surfaces to evaluate what happens in the external surface, internal channels, and reticular structures at the level of roughness and accuracy when these are simultaneously affected by the flow of abrasives. The effect of glass and zirconia microspheres and their combination on the surface roughness are analyzed. The results show a reduction of surface roughness up to approximately 38% for L-PBF and 82% for EB-PBF parts without altering their geometrical characteristics and processing the part for less than 1 min

Bridging business model and inter-organizational coordination mechanisms in the Italian wine industry

Purpose The aim of this paper is to interpret the concept of a business model from the pattern of coordination mechanisms used by an Italian wine cooperative to manage its inter-organizational relationships. Design/methodology/approach The business model is taken as the structure and governance of the relationships between the focal firm and its exchange partners. The empirical analysis is based on a qualitative investigation, analyzing material collected at the Farming Cooperative Gran Cru. Findings Several different coordination mechanisms were used to rethink the firm customer value proposition, showing a very complex and dynamic inter-organizational system: process control mechanisms, knowledge suppliers and clan control mechanisms. The combination of mechanisms enables the firm to govern the extreme complexity of external complementarities and interdependence among activities and resources. Practical implications The study is particularly helpful to managers because wine entrepreneurs and managers can influence their networks’ features and strategies, as well as the mechanisms for governance of the relationships and extracting customer value. Originality/value The study seeks to enrich the debate on the strategy/structure fit by shifting the focus from the organizational to inter-organizational level of analysis. The analysis centers on boundary-spanning relationships between one wine firm and its partners and knowledge suppliers. This perspective brings business model analysis and inter-organizational design closer because variables of the business model – such as customer value – can be seen as combinations of inter-organizational coordination mechanisms