An advanced manufacturing supported supply chain - educational case studies.

Abstract

This paper details the design process and analysis undertaken within the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) to positively disrupt the supply chain using advanced manufacturing technologies, and then how this information has been utilised and adapted for teaching to product design and engineering students at Bournemouth University (BU) to consider in their future design work. Analysing engineering components alongside their supply chain data led to creating case studies which detail the benefits Additive Manufacturing (AM) could offer the RNLI. The aim of this research was to identify specific areas where additive manufacturing could be implemented into the engineering industry to have positive outcomes, such as cost and lead time savings, and then disseminate this real world manufacturing knowledge to design and engineering students. It was found that through redesigning two lifeboat components that reduced lead times, reduced cost, and reduced component weights could be achieved. These real world findings then led to informative case studies being developed to aid in the teaching of designing for additive manufacturing for product design students at Bournemouth University.