Mapping of metal LPBF core technical capabilities for part value transformation

Modern manufacturing requires businesses to be adaptive in order to remain operational within a disruptive environment. One strategy towards increased responsiveness is the adoption of additive manufacturing technologies. However, the proper introduction of additive manufacturing into existing value chains requires a broad knowledge base. Potential non-expert adopters searching to obtain such knowledge are faced with an overwhelming amount of information, typically unstructured, regarding specific value transformation processes required to achieve the respective aim. For example, value transformations afforded by additive manufacturing range from technical, social, and environmental to economical. It is proposed that a map which systematizes and simplifies the various capabilities and their enabling processes could be applied as an effective knowledge transfer medium. This paper addresses the enabling of potential adopters to navigate and familiarize themselves with the core technical capabilities of laser powder bed fusion that allows for part value transformation. An input-process-output approach was followed to group and map capabilities according to fundamental laser powder bed fusion process steps. Whilst providing a holistic view of the capabilities and processes involved, the map serves as a tool for identifying the specific capabilities, its elements, their enabling processes and combinations required to achieve the desired value transformation. Examples from in-house work, spanning different industries, were used to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed map. Results are presented as a summary in a table format. The simplified capability map proved beneficial to identify the combinations of capability elements used in the respective examples towards developing a solution. This contributes to reducing the complexity of identifying initial additive manufacturing process requirements for a potential adopter.