Sustainability Implications of Using Additive Manufacturing for Production Tool Design

Paper in proceeding, 2024

As the application of Additive manufacturing (AM) is moving from prototyping to final product manufacturing, exploring its sustainability implications is crucial. This paper explores the sustainability impacts of AM on production tool manufacturing and the role of digitalisation in enabling sustainable tool production. It emphasizes the necessity of a design tool that helps designers adopt a holistic sustainability approach (including environmental, social and economic aspects), while also being comprehensive and user-friendly to ensure practical applications.