Pay-per-use business models as a driver for additive manufacturing adoption: supply chain implications

Pay-per-use (PPU) business models serve as a catalyst to accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies across diverse industrial ‘as-a-service’ applications. This paper investigates opportunities and potential applications of PPU business models. It closes by proposing future PPU financing schemes and evaluating implementation risks and mitigation strategies in AM ecosystems. By carrying out a focused literature review and examining the existing use cases, we apply the 4I framework to contextualise these findings within the realm of AM. We found considerable barriers to upscaling AM’s commercial applications that currently prevent wider adoption. The proposed PPU business models provide pathways to reducing these barriers by reducing financing obstacles, encouraging co-innovation across supply chains and leveraging AM’s capabilities to offer customised, on-demand manufacturing solutions on an ‘as-a-service’ basis. They facilitate recurring revenue streams and promote sustainable financing through enhanced resource efficiency and waste reduction. This research represents one of the initial forays into exploring viable PPU financing schemes for AM.