Service provider recommendation system in shared additive manufacturing: a case study on assistive technology platform in South Korea

초록

In shared manufacturing platforms, self-organised individuals can actively participate as service providers, offering manufacturing capabilities to meet unique customer demands. When combined with additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, shared manufacturing presents substantial potential for delivering customised, one-of-a-kind products to customers with reduced barriers to access. Despite this promise, research specifically addressing shared AM environments and the unique needs of customers within them remains limited. Addressing this gap, this study develops a service provider recommendation framework tailored for shared AM contexts, aligning customer preferences with service provider capabilities. The framework includes a production scheduling model for AM that estimates cost and production completion time, integrating providers' operational constraints, machine attributes, and pricing structures. To examine the applicability of the proposed model, we applied it to benchmark data, demonstrating how the scheduling outcomes produce more practical and implementable solutions compared to idealised models. Applied to an open-source assistive technology (AT) platform in South Korea, the framework demonstrates how shared AM can better accommodate individualised customer needs in a user-centred manner. Additionally, by analysing scheduling outcomes under different conditions, this study provides managerial insights for AM service providers, helping to improve decision-making, resource allocation, and operational efficiency in shared AM environments.

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