A framework for manufacturing execution system deployment in an advanced additive manufacturing process

The deployment of additive manufacturing (AM) processes had a rapid and broad increase in the last years, and the same trend is expected to hold in the near future. A way to better exploit the advantages of such technology is the use of appropriate information tools. However, today there is a lack of software applications devoted to this innovative manufacturing process. To overcome this issue, in the present work the application of manufacturing execution systems (MES), a tool commonly used in traditional manufacturing processes, is extended to AM. Furthermore, a framework for the deployment of shop-floor data, acquired through a monitoring system, in the design phase is presented: hence, MES should cooperate with design for additive manufacturing (DFAM), a set of methods and tools helpful to design a product and its manufacturing process taking into account AM specificities from the early design stages. In order to better understand the advantages of such cooperation, a case study for a proof of concept has been developed: the obtained results are promising, thus an online implementation would be recommended.