Reliability and Quality

This research area investigates how to use additive manufacturing to improve systems’ availability and reliability. Inventory and even supply bases often do not exist for many aging parts in US weapon systems potentially taking up to 18 months to redesign a part, build manufacturing capability (e.g., dies and molds), and produce it. Additive manufacturing is expected to reduce the lead time but may have various quality issues compared to conventional manufacturing methods. The reliability and quality research area investigates how additive manufacturing can improve reliability for military systems.

• Dr. Oleg Shylo (Area Leader)
• Dr. Mingzhou Jin
• Dr. Andrew Yu

Inventory Management

Spare parts are stored for possible failures and consequent repairs and may comprise a large percentage of inventory values. Inventory turn rate has been considered a major financial metric for many enterprises and agencies. Additive manufacturing has the potential to reduce physical inventory for certain parts and therefore improve business efficiency. The inventory management research area will build basic inventory models incorporating AM and build business cases.

• Dr. Sean Willems (Area Leader)
• Dr. Mingzhou Jin
• Dr. Bogdan Bichescu

Supply Chain Management

Additive manufacturing is expected to transform the supply chain network for defense agencies and the aerospace industry. The supply chain management research area works to develop preliminary models for network design and optimization to incorporate AM into the network. Research will answer the questions of where and how to deploy AM capacity, how to change freight flows, and how to handle relationship with current suppliers including intellectual properties.

• Dr. Mingzhou Jin (Area Leader)
• Dr. Bogdan Bichescu
• Dr. Sean Willems
• Dr. Andrew Yu