SPARSAM - Sustainability Parameters for Parts analyses and Selection for Additive Manufacturing

Purpose and goal:

The supply chain plays a central role in our industrial system. Additive manufacturing (AM) has existed for decades without any major impact on the supply chain, but today the development is moving from prototyping to industrial mass production. However, there is a lack of methods to calculate business and sustainability values, which prevents the introduction of AM-driven circular production systems.

The goal of the project was to extend the established technical selection criteria for AM components with parameters related to the supply chain and sustainability. Expected results and effects: The main results from the SPARSAM project are: 1.Extension of the technical selection criteria with business and sustainability selection criteria´s

2.A generic model to describe a linear supply chain and compare it with different supply chain scenarios based on 3D-printing.

3.A model to calculate and quantify the value with-3d print compared to conversional methods based on three parameters: cost, lead time and sustainability (CO2, material, energy).

The SPARSAM method has so far been incorporated into two funded research projects focusing on quantifying the values of AM. Approach and implementation: The activity has consisted of 4 work packages (AP): AP1: Establishment of team AP2: Current situation analysis AP3: Development of business and sustainability criterias

AP4: Identification of initiatives for stage 2 and dissemination