The Supply Chain Management Casebook: Comprehensive Coverage and Best Practices in SCM

Case 18. Make to Demand with 3-D Printing: The Next Big Thing in Inventory Management?

Tom McNamara^† and Erika Marsillac^‡

^† ESC-Rennes, Rennes, France; [e-mail]

^‡ Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA; [e-mail]

Imagine that you are the manager of a high-volume continuous process factory. Suddenly, your production line goes down because a machine fails. A technician tells you that the problem is a critical small part that needs to be replaced. You used to keep plenty of these parts on hand for just such an emergency. But since your company instituted a “lean” inventory policy in order to reduce the amount of material you keep on hand, you no longer have any spares. Ordering a replacement part will take several ...