26th International Association for Management of Technology Conference - IAMOT 2017

Despite the often stated move from manufacturing to a service orientation, manufacturing is still an important part of the economy for many countries often accounting for 30% or more of the total economy. However, manufacturing in countries such as the U.S. has been faced with challenges, for example in terms of employment. On the one hand, even though the manufacturing output in for example the U.S. has grown, the employment has declined largely due to productivity improvements. On the other hand, multinational companies frequently use a strategy of outsourcing. While many sources identify outsourcing as a strategic option for companies which often reduces the overall cost of operations, others are more critical and consider outsourcing often a mistake. Research in recent years has demonstrated that options such as outsourcing may offer short-term advantages but these are typically not strategic and erode the industrial commons. Upgrading manufacturing has been demonstrated as being a better strategic option. Additive manufacturing is one of the options available to upgrade manufacturing capabilities. The potential of additive manufacturing has been recognized globally and many nations have initiated programs to develop additive manufacturing capabilities. The purpose of this study is to explore global trends in the development of additive manufacturing capabilities. Of the five main research strategies, i.e. survey, experiment, case study, grounded theory approach and desk research, the desk research strategy was selected for this study. The exploration of global development of additive manufacturing requires a broad perspective and access to data from a variety of fields which is an advantage of desk research. Data collection was oriented on several different industries and the countries that seem to be ahead in the development of additive manufacturing capabilities in those particular industries. The data was mainly collected from a variety of different industry sources that publish up-to-date developments in additive manufacturing. It was found that additive manufacturing is globally developed although not every nation has the same capabilities or the same resources to develop additive manufacturing capabilities. However, a few things stand out. Under president Obama, the U.S. has heavily invested in additive manufacturing and for instance created America Makes, a national additive manufacturing innovation institute. This institute has a broad orientation and demonstrates the U.S. commitment to manufacturing. In terms of industries, countries such as Australia, Germany and the U.S. are front runners in the application of additive manufacturing in healthcare. There are many sophisticated challenges in this industry for example in terms of manufacturing tissue. The construction industry is another industry with many challenges, in particular in terms of the material and process properties. China is a leading country in this field. The United Arab Emirates (Dubai), once primarily known for tourism, has drastically changed its economy in the last decades and recently announced plans to become the epicenter of additive manufacturing for example also through construction projects. By exploring global developments in additive manufacturing, this paper contributes to our knowledge on global technology diffusion and gain further insight into national technological competitiveness.