EVALUATING THE CHALLENGES OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING ADOPTION USING THE AVERAGE ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS (A(AHP)) METHOD: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN VIETNAM

Abstract

Digital transformation, modern technologies to enable autonomous production capabilities, and smart logistical systems are prerequisite strategies to gain competitive advantages in developing countries. Additive manufacturing (AM) or three-dimensional printing offering more significant advantages, can manufacture complex geometries of products with various materials. AM plays a main role in reducing the number of parts, helping reduce and eliminate assembly time and cost. However, the application is still limited, especially in developing countries like Vietnam. This research paper aims to identify and assess the challenges associated with applying additive manufacturing in Southeast Vietnam. This study is conducted in three phases. Step one identifies challenges by reviewing previous studies. Step two applies semi-structured interviews with experts to consolidate these challenges to build a multi-level hierarchical structure of challenges. The third stage is to use a multi-hierarchical process method to rank these issues in order to organize the necessary resources for a successful response. The results show that there are five main challenges and 25 sub-challenges in implementing additive printing technology. Using the Average AHP method, financial and strategic challenges are ranked first and second significant, respectively. This paper contributes by identification of Additive Manufacturing implementation challenges based on the literature review and semi-structured interview with the experts. It provides an assessment of the challenges to help the practitioners robust the addictive manufacturing implementation in the manufacturing industry in Vietnam with limited resources.