Mass Customization: Engineering and Managing Global Operations

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a disruptive manufacturing technology that requires no tooling for production. AM requires three dimensional computer aided design (3DCAD) data in order to additively build parts from numerous materials, including polymers, metals and ceramics. Within this chapter the advantages realized by taking an AM approach are considered as well as their application in mass customization MC). Particular emphasis is given to the use of AM in the production of customer generated data from a number of sources including massively multiplayer online role-play games (MMORPG).