Dr Jennifer Johns, Reader in International Business, School of Management, University of Bristol & Academic Advisor to GTMA and Reshoring UK, on the opportunity for additive manufacturing in supply chain.
The contemporary complexity of supply chains is well understood within the manufacturing sector. Over decades, advances in communication and transportation technologies have allowed supply chains to become more geographically extensive, and firms have been able to use a wide array of sophisticated logistics, tracking and monitoring technologies to manage their supply chains. Combined with changing combinations of in-house production, inter-firm trading and outsourcing (within or beyond national boundaries), supply chains have become highly sophisticated to meet the demands of manufacturers and their customers.
