Bachelor Thesis, Master Thesis or Project Study
📌 Key facts
Contents
💡 Background
Additive manufacturing, which is also referred to as 3D printing, is a collective name for several technologies through which an object is constructed layer by layer. The industrial materials that are currently printable range from polymers to metals, including for example ceramics. The range of materials and applications is constantly expanding, and companies are investing increasing amounts of money in the development of new production facilities. Research and corporate reports are already aiming at identifying the value creation by additive manufacturing. We want you to add to this modern stream of literature and analyse how additive manufacturing is influencing business models and supply chains.
Answer some of the following questions:
- How will production processes change through additive manufacturing?
- Will we see more localized production in the future?
- What problems do current manufacturers have that can be solved with additive manufacturing solutions?
- What problems/limits to adoption do additive manufacturing solutions still have?
- How will supply chains and business models change?
- What gaps could start-ups exploit with innovative technologies?
🦾Who We Are
The Chair for Strategy and Organization is focused on doing research with impact. This means we do not want to repeat old ideas and base our research solely on the research people did 10 years ago. Instead, we currently research topics that will shape the future. Topics such as Agile Organizations and Digital Disruption, Blockchain Technology, Creativity and Innovation, Digital Transformation and Business Model Innovation, Diversity, Education: Education Technology and Performance Management, HRTech, Leadership and Teams. We are always early in noticing trends, technologies, strategies and organizations that shape the future, which has its ups and downs.
🎯 Goals
- Desk research current academic literature on the topic
- Identify different approaches and theories to additive manufacturing
- Evaluate their potentials, problems, and solutions
- Interview experts in the pioneering and laggard companies
- Develop a model/ visualisation of new, possible supply chains
- Derive propositions for the future of manufacturing organisations
🎓 Profile
- Reliable and self-driven
- Enthusiasm for Manufacturing/ 3D Printing / Logistics / Organizational Processes
- Ability to do sophisticated internet, desk research, and connect with practitioners
- Passion to learn more about the future and do research with impact
📚 Further Reading
Gausemeier, J., Wall, M., & Peter, S. (2013). Thinking ahead the Future of Additive Manufacturing-Exploring the Research Landscape. Paderborn. Retrieved from http://www.hni.uni-paderborn.de/en/pe
Kritzinger, W., Steinwender, A., Lumetzberger, S., & Sihn, W. (2018). Impacts of Additive Manufacturing to the Value Creation System. In Procedia CIRP (Vol. 72, pp. 1518–1523). Elsevier B.V. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2018.03.205
Savolainen, J., & Collan, M. (2020, March 1). How Additive Manufacturing Technology Changes Business Models? – Review of Literature. Additive Manufacturing. Elsevier B.V. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2020.101070
📄 Requirements to any Work
We do not want your research to gather dust in some corner of a bookshelf but make it accessible to the world. Thus, we warmly encourage you to create some or all of the following:
- Infograph - visually represent some of your work (find examples here)
- Slide Deck - summarize your research and possibly present it
- Extract most important sequences from podcasts, videos, and other media
- 3-4 Tweets about the most important findings and summarizing the topic
- optional: Medium Article - let people outside university know about your research and start your personal brand
📬 How to Apply
If you are interested, please contact Prof. Dr. Isabell Welpe (e-mail below) by submitting your CV and grade report. Please also briefly outline your tentative research idea (research question, data and methods, possible outcomes with a tentative outline all in word as *.docx)
We're greatly looking forward to hearing more about you!