A Suitability Analysis Method for Additive Manufacturing Technologies in Small and Medium-Sized Companies

Additive manufacturing is a key technology which applies the ideas of Industry 4.0 in order to enable the production of personalized and highly customized products economically. Especially small and medium sized companies often lack the competence and experience to evaluate objectively and profoundly the potential of additive manufacturing technologies. This paper presents a systematic and user-oriented method for a suitability analysis for the application of additive manufacturing technologies in small and medium sized companies. Furthermore, the method has been validated in a small medical technology company evaluating the additive manufacturing potential of an existing surgery tool.