Evaluating the Sustainability and Economic Integration of Additive Manufacturing in Modern Production Lines: A Holistic Approach

Evaluating the Sustainability and Economic Integration of Additive MaAdditive Manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing is transforming the landscape of contemporary industrial manufacturing. Having originated in prototype making, AM has evolved to denote a variety of technologies with increasing application across a wide spectrum of industries—aerospace, medicine, automotive, energy, etc. This dissertation is a complete, multi-faceted analysis of AM, covering its technical underpinnings, economic promise, supply chain disruptions, and green possibilities. Against the backdrop of accelerating digitalization, changing consumer mindsets, and global demands for sustainability, AM presents itself as both a reaction to and a catalyst for fundamental transformation of product design, production, and distribution. Four overarching goals direct the research. Firstly, the study provides a comprehensive technical review of AM processes, materials, and manufacturing workflows—from digital design to post-processing—with specific emphasis on high-performance metallic systems. Second, it looks at the economics of AM, cost structures and modeling frameworks in order to determine when AM represents a competitive choice for conventional manufacture. Third, it addresses the implications of AM for supply chains and logistics, pointing to decentralized production, digital inventories, and the shift to agile, demand-driven systems. Fourth, it examines the sustainability aspects of AM, using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methods and investigating its compliance with circular economy principles and future sustainability legislation. Integrating these different perspectives, the thesis offers strategic insight into the promise and limits of Additive Manufacturing. It makes a contribution to academic scholarship and industrial practice by empowering engineers, managers, and policymakers with analytical frameworks to determine AM's strategic significance. Ultimately, the book positions AM not as a niche player, but as a mainstream technology that has the ability to transform industrial manufacturing to the digital and sustainable age.nufacturing in Modern Production Lines: A Holistic Approach