Innovating the supply chain in health-related crises: some evidence from ISINNOVA case

Abstract

Purpose: Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, also known as three-dimensional printing (3DP), is a technological breakthrough that have the potential to disrupt the traditional operations of supply chains. They open the way to a supply chains innovation that can significantly benefit hospitals and health-related organizations in dealing with crises or unexpected events in a faster and more flexible way. In this study the authors identify the boundary of this potential support. Design/methodology/approach: The authors adopt a case study approach to understand the dynamics behind a well-known best practice to identify the main opportunities and the main pitfalls that AM may pose to health-related organizations wanting to leverage them. Findings: The case highlights that it is possible to increase hospital flexibility using AM and that by leveraging the Internet it is possible to spread the benefits faster than what it would be normally possible using traditional supply chain processes. At the same time the case highlights that leveraging these technologies needs buy-in from all the relevant stakeholders. Originality/value: The paper is one of the first, to the best of the authors' knowledge, to highlight the main opportunities and difficulties of implementing 3DP technologies in hospital supply chain management.