Personalised Production in the Age of Circular Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

This research examines the opportunities provided by advances in digital manufacturing technologies for the provision of products designed to meet the needs of an individual consumer. The ability to co-create products with customers could enable mass personalisation to become a popular and fast-growing mode of production. Additive manufacturing, in both 3D and 4D printing forms, opens up new opportunities for circular economy-compliant production of such highly personalised products. Industry 4.0 has been seen by many as an agenda for the utilisation of interconnected digital technologies in industry, with a particular focus on manufacturing. Industry 5.0 seeks to address challenges that have grown in importance since the inception of Industry 4.0, such as the efficient inclusion of human worker skills in tandem with automation solutions, to address highly complex manufacturing scenarios while mitigating many of the environmental issues inherent with current manufacturing practices, while using circular economy principles. In examining the production of smart fabrics, this paper puts forward a framework for circular production of additively manufactured personalised products, co-designed with inputs from consumers.