Track: Operations Management

Abstract

Distributed Manufacturing (DM) is a crucial interest area of operations management. That interest is rising since DM supports achieving sustainability goals, can mitigate risks of the global supply chains and strengthen local economies. Some of these advantages and disadvantages of DM that were analysed earlier mainly focused on the operations. Still, there are many additional advantages across the supply chains, from local sourcing to serving the end-users and handling reverse supply chain challenges. While the economy of scale is essential in reducing costs and improving productivity, highly centralised manufacturing increases transportation costs and make operations more vulnerable and lead to supply chain disruptions by causing a ripple effect. It is a fundamental issue during the COVID-19 pandemic when government impose strict restriction on transportation. The lack of understanding of trade-offs and proper comparison of the effects could hinder the further development of DM. Increasing the confidence and reducing risks by a fair and comprehensive analysis is critical for early adopters of DM and could be the key to increased implementation. This study introduces a multi-attribute decision support system (MADSS) and an assessment process to consider the impacts across the supply chains and guide stakeholders, academics, and decision-makers. 

Multi-attribute decision supporting systems need to handle qualitative and quantitative information, missing data, and uncertainty. A team of experts from the academy and the industry - coordinated by the authors - developed an indicator framework and evaluation process to fit DM and construction decision support but could be applied later in other sectors and regions. 

The developed MADSS was used to analyse distributed manufacturing and traditional construction alternatives from economic, social, environmental, and resilience perspectives in New Zealand to demonstrate applicability.

The critical research contributions are:

• further exploring DM impacts across the supply chain (for instance, adding local sourcing and handling reverse logistics), 
• proposing a flexible decision supporting process and framework to engage with stakeholders and support decision-makers in other industries and regions, 
• and introducing the DM sustainability trade-offs in the construction industry in New Zealand.