Extreme events cause a surge in demand for specific goods, as well as a disruption to traditional supply chains.
We have all experienced such a situation with huge spikes in demand for respirators at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
We have all experienced such a situation with huge spikes in demand for respirators at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
In this paper, the group formed by Profs. Bart Raeymaekers, Kam K. Leang, Maurizio Porfiri, and Shenghan Xu propose a new solution to address these emergency situations, based on distributed networks of consumer 3D printers. These ideas can transform the way in which we manufacture essential goods during crises.
Read the full paper “Manufacturing for the Masses: A Novel Concept for Consumer 3D Printer Networks in the Context of Crisis Relief” in Advanced Intelligent Systems (special issue on Smarter Additive Manufacturing through AI and Data‐Driven Approaches) here.
Image credit: Bart Raeymaekers, Kam K. Leang, Maurizio Porfiri, and Shenghan Xu.