Consolidating spare parts for asset maintenance with additive manufacturing

Consolidation of parts is the redesign of an assembled component with fewer, but therefore more complex parts. While complex parts are often difficult to produce with conventional manufacturing (CM) technologies, the high degree of design freedom of additive manufacturing (AM) facilitates consolidation. Typically, consolidation with AM is chosen because of its functional benefits such as weight reductions. Consequences for asset maintenance, however, are not that well understood. For example, the spare parts management may profit from potentially shorter AM resupply lead times, but may suffer from more expensive consolidated parts having to be stocked in anticipation of random failures.