Procedimientos, técnicas e instrumentos de evaluación

According to the report issued by Wohlers Associates (2018), the 3DP industry has continued to grow with an average annual growth rate of 26.6% over the past 29 years and its revenue for 2017 was $6.063 billion, having grown 21% since 2016. 3DP is making significant progress towards becoming a mainstream option for series production. Without the requirement for tools (e.g. moulds and dies), 3DP is capable of producing items with complex shapes and geometric features in small batch sizes. It allows production of highly customized and complex features, as well as the consolidation of many parts into one. Moreover, of the 1,500 buyers surveyed by UPS, 42% would like to switch to a supplier with 3DP service in the next 3-5 years (UPS, 2017). As a result, companies become increasingly aware that TM technologies may be replaced by 3DP, and leading companies that have begun leveraging this potentially disruptive manufacturing technology are eager to be the first movers to switch their manufacturing mode to 3DP.

3DP technology has been adopted in a variety of industrial sectors, including aerospace, automation, medical supplies, as well as in production of some consumer goods, such as the personalized running shoes pioneered by Adidas AG and Nike Inc., the personalized headphones manufactured by Normal Earphones, and the customized chocolates produced by Hershey (DHL, 2016; Sher & Tutó, 2015). Even some logistics vendors among these companies are adopting this technology. For example, the global logistics vendor UPS launched 3DP service for small plastic products in the U.S. market in early 2014 and extended this business to the Asian and European markets in 2017 (UPS, 2014, 2017). Meanwhile, as we discussed in the Literature Review chapter, 3DP technology also potentially reduces product shipment needs, and this puts pressure on the logistics industry. Therefore, the new

3DP adoption by the logistics vendor (like UPS) puts the logistics industry in the centre of the ring.

Figure 4-1 Number of Desktop 3D Printer Sales (Wohlers Associates, 2018)

The logistics vendor is both referee and corner. On the one hand, the market demand for desktop 3D printers is continually growing at a strong rate (Figure 4-1). In 2017, unit sales of desktop 3D printers (priced lower than $5, 000) increased by 24.7% to 528,952 machines and the average unit sales over the past 3 years has increased by 49.7%. The non-industrial and decentralized market demand for 3DP has dramatically increased, which offers a great opportunity for logistics vendors to use their built-in logistics networks to centralize these 3DP commercial market demands and create a new revenue stream just like UPS did. More importantly, this kind of 3DP service based on the delivery network of logistics vendors can improve the customization and flexibility of the product (UPS, 2016). Logistics vendors will compete with traditional manufacturers in the market, as 3DP adoption equips them with a powerful bargaining tool to strengthen their logistics business. However, the adoption of 3DP also poses many challenges in the management of supply chains and raises several

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unanswered question ‘what are the impacts of a logistics vendor’s 3DP adoption on the

supply chain?’ and the sub-questions as below.

Q1.1. Under what conditions will a logistics vendor use 3DP as a game-changer to compete directly with the manufacturer?

Q1.2. Under what conditions will a logistics vendor use 3DP as a threat to bargain with the manufacturer?

Q1.3. What is the impact of a logistics vendor’s 3DP adoption on the consumer?

The primary goals of this model are (i) to develop a stylized model to investigate the supply chain following a logistics vendor’s adoption of 3DP – one that explicitly models product customization; and (ii) to explore the impact of the logistics vendor’s use of 3DP on the supply chain. The supply chain we consider comprises a single manufacturer who provides a TM product directly to the end consumers and a logistics vendor who handles all associated delivery services. At the same time, however, because of 3DP adoption, the logistics vendor can also provide the end consumers with a 3DP product having the same function but a higher level of customization. In this scenario, both the traditional manufacturer and the logistics vendor need to determine the prices of their products (traditional product, logistics service, and 3DP product) to maximize their overall profits. This model simulates the problem using both a Bertrand and a Stackelberg game so as to cover different market powers. Although in practice the traditional manufacturer is usually the leading company with more bargaining power, the increasing importance of the customization provided by 3DP technology could give the logistics vendor equal or more bargaining power than the traditional manufacturer.

This model makes four major contributions to the literature: it develops a stylized model that incorporates adoption of 3DP technology by the logistics vendor, identifies the conditions under which the logistics vendor will use 3DP as a game-changer or threat, and analyzes the impact of this adoption on both supply chain partners and consumers. It also generates several managerial insights, including the observation that although the logistics vendor can always benefit from game changing 3DP adoption, the cost reduction on 3DP products cannot always contribute to the logistics vendor’s overall revenue because a portion of his/her revenue still derives from shipping the TM product for the manufacturer. In fact, even though the logistics vendor can increase profits by using 3DP adoption as a threat to influence the traditional manufacturer’s business, a supply chain structure is possible in which the logistics vendor’s 3DP adoption helps the traditional manufacturer gain greater profits. The results of this model also demonstrate that the dictum that high customization and low-price lead to more consumers does not always hold true.