Manufacturing Digitalization and Its Effects on Production Planning and Control Practices

Advent of additive manufacturing (AM) as a final-parts production method has the capacity to impact the supply chains radically (The Economist, 2012). This effect extends from raw material procurement to production management and further towards distribution and the final customers. Digitalization of production as for the other industries such as automotive and aerospace reduces the operational complexity, while embedding the complexity in the digital components of the system. For instance, the production planning and control for an AM-enabled manufacturing may be distinctly different compared to conventional production methods. Production routing, loading and scheduling can become simplified as steps of production are combined through AM utilization. Moreover, production dispatching, reporting, inspection and corrective actions require development of novel effective practices. In this paper we investigate the in-depth impact of digital production technologies (e.g. additive manufacturing) on the production management practices. Our methodology is based on conceptual modelling intertwined with case data.