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Artificial intelligence and additive manufacturing or 3D printing are emerging technologies that have a huge potential in a variety of industries and applications. Despite both technologies being fairly new, particularly 3D printing, procurement market intelligence experts state that these technologies have several applications in the supply chain for addressing procurement challenges, and will very soon become an integral part due to its improved and sophisticated functionalities.

Advantages of Additive Manufacturing (AM)

Rapid prototyping is one of the most common uses of additive manufacturing (AM). 3D printing makes the creation of prototypes much easier and faster, allowing manufacturers to test multiple iterations of a design quickly. Since designing a successful product can be very expensive and time-consuming, 3D printed prototyping makes it quite simple and at the same time shortens the manufacturing cycle.

The impact of AM on supply chains is massive, some of which include increased manufacturing flexibility, reduced material waste, and the ability to employ decentralized manufacturing strategies. The technology reduces design complexity and material need, thereby helping companies work toward lean production as well as improve design quality.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence changes supply chain processes into algorithms to monitor the entire operation. This is useful in many ways, such as locating inefficiencies in the production process and determining the best ways to mitigate them. AI can also analyze data from other operational aspects, such as financial information and team structure. By looking at information from different viewpoints of business, it can find insights that would otherwise be missed.

With the use of AI in supply chains, companies can establish an agile supply chain, enabling them to anticipate and deal with business uncertainties and disruptions. Procurement market intelligence experts at SpendEdge accomplish this using AI technology in supply chains will also result in building a structure where there is a continuous flow of products and data from one end point to the other of the global supply chain operation.

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