Purpose

Additive manufacturing has been described as converting supply chains into demand chains. By focusing on metal additive manufacturing as a contemporary technology causing ongoing disruption to the supply chain, the purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss how incumbent firms act during an ongoing, transformational disruption of their supply chain.

Design/methodology/approach

Interviews and secondary data, along with seminars attracting approximately 600 individuals operating in metal additive manufacturing, form the empirical basis for this paper.

Findings

The findings of this paper indicate how disruption occurs at multiple positions in the supply chain. Episodic positions as conceptualised in this paper refer to how parties challenged by disruption attempt to reach normality while speeding the transformational disruption.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to previous research by theorising about episodic positions in light of a supply chain disruption. The empirical data are unique in how they capture supply chain change at the time of disruption and illustrate disruptive, transformational change to supply chains. The paper interlinks research on disruption from the innovation and supply chain literature, with contributions to both.

中文翻译：

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中断时的偶发供应链

目的

增材制造被描述为将供应链转变为需求链。通过将金属增材制造作为一种导致供应链持续中断的当代技术，本文的目的是描述和讨论现有公司如何在其供应链的持续转型中断中采取行动。

设计/方法/方法

访谈和二手数据，以及吸引了大约 600 名从事金属增材制造的个人的研讨会，构成了本文的经验基础。

发现

本文的研究结果表明供应链中的多个位置如何发生中断。本文概念化的情景立场是指受到颠覆挑战的各方如何在加速转型颠覆的同时试图达到常态。

原创性/价值

本文通过根据供应链中断对偶发位置进行理论化，为先前的研究做出了贡献。经验数据的独特之处在于它们如何捕捉中断时的供应链变化，并说明供应链的颠覆性、转型性变化。该论文将创新和供应链文献中的中断研究联系起来，对两者都有贡献。