Application of additive manufacturing for mass customisation: understanding the interaction of critical barriers

Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology presents a very optimistic case for its application for mass customisation. Even though theoretically suitable, practically several critical barriers inhibit its implementation. Thus, this paper attempts to identify those barriers and also understand the dynamic interaction among them. The barriers were identified by a detailed literature review and validated by expert opinions. Interpretative Structural Modelling (ISM) was applied to determine the mutual influences among the barriers. It was also able to ascertain the level of the barriers and categorise them based on their driving power and dependence. The results are highly useful for industry practitioners to determine the interventions required to overcome the most dominant barriers.