Additive Manufacturing and Sustainability in the Digital Age: People, Factories and Businesses of the Future

Dear Colleagues,

Additive manufacturing (AM) is one of the most promising and game-changing manufacturing technologies, emerging from the new global industrial revolution known as Industry 4.0.

This technology is also part of the manufacturing technologies of the future identified by the European Union to support sustainability through the reduction and optimization of material and energy consumption. The development of this technology has boosted the growth of several industrial sectors and the emergence of new business models. The evolution of additive manufacturing technology and its use, for example in FabLabs or home production, to create protective parts and equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic, allow us to affirm that we are at a turning point where it will coexist or even compete with traditional systems, allowing for distributed manufacturing mechanisms, and the “democratization” of production.

With the development of this technology, various production and co-creation possibilities have emerged for companies and domestic producers; however, product safety raises complicated issues of trust and security for consumers and users, especially in complex areas such as the medical area. As an example, we can mention the innumerable parts for medical use (e.g., the valve used for a lifesaving ventilator) or protective materials that have been produced in the most varied productive environments, in the context of COVID 19. 

This Special Issue intends to integrate several multidisciplinary areas that are fundamental in AM development. Firstly, to address the sustainability issues, namely the environmental implications of the uncontrolled use of AM by prosumers and the necessity to identify, systematically, different materials by type and to create mechanisms for their classification, separation, and recycling. Secondly, to address the impacts on factories and the business model of the utilization of AM technology – more consumer-centered businesses, increase in remote and decentralized manufacturing and reduction in stock levels, creating more secure and efficient supply chains and more problems of protection of patent rights. Thirdly, to address the impacts of AM on people’s lives with impacts in areas such as health or transports.

This Special Issue will explore and integrate the challenges in these topics, or other similar topics, presenting positive and negative aspects of this interconnectivity.

Prof. Dr. Florinda Matos
Prof. Dr. Radu Godina
Guest Editors

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• additive manufacturing
• digital age
• sustainability
• factories of future
• business models
• Industry 4.0
• digital transformation
• smart factories
• cyber-physical systems