Assessing Social Sustainability Impacts of Metal Additive Manufacturing Adoption in Industrial Supply Chains

Metal additive manufacturing offers potential environmental and economic benefits, yet its social implications remain largely unexplored in industrial contexts. This research investigates how transitioning to additive manufacturing processes influences workforce requirements, labor conditions, and community-level social outcomes.

Open to researchMBA suitableQuality 82/100Prior-standard auditP4 provenance

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In plain words

As factories switch to 3D printing metal parts, what happens to the skills workers need, their working conditions and nearby communities? This social side of the change has hardly been studied.

Primary research question

How does the adoption of metal additive manufacturing technologies affect social sustainability metrics within industrial manufacturing organizations?

Knowledge gap

What remains worth asking

The source suggests that social impacts are the least studied dimension of additive manufacturing transitions. It remains useful to test how these technologies influence labor dynamics and social equity.

Potential contribution

Why it may matter

Understanding social impacts is essential for a holistic evaluation of the sustainability of additive manufacturing in industrial practice.

Academic placement

Academic fields and topic tags

2.3Mechanical engineering

Industrial EngineeringSustainability ScienceOperations Management

Study frame: Manufacturing firms transitioning from conventional to metal additive manufacturing processes. · Method signals: Case study, Qualitative interviews, Social Life Cycle Assessment

Possible study pathways

One question, different levels

Professional master’s / MBA

Strategic management of sustainable manufacturing transitions.

Research master’s

Social sustainability indicators in advanced manufacturing.

originality: Moderate
methodology: Moderate
Data access: Moderate
ethics: Moderate

Quality and audit

82/100 quality

Safeguard-based audit was not recorded under the prior standard.

Focuses on the least-studied dimension identified in the paper.
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Provenance

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APA 7 source

Villafranca, J., Veiga, F., Martin, M. A., Uralde, V., & Villanueva, P. (2026). Comparing Metal Additive Manufacturing with Conventional Manufacturing Technologies: Is Metal Additive Manufacturing More Sustainable?. Sustainability, 18(1), 512. https://doi.org/10.3390/su18010512

Paper abstract and discussion context; AI-inferred direction

This is an AI-inferred direction. The source authors did not state it as a recommendation.

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