Purpose

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had severe effects on economies worldwide and, in particular, on public institutions that must keep their operations running while supply chains are interrupted. The purpose of this study is to examine how public institutions act during a pandemic to ensure the security of supply.

Design/methodology/approach

The distinct focus is if, why and how public institutions have adopted additive manufacturing (AM) – a production technology colloquially known as three-dimensional printing in which a product is created by joining raw material layer by layer based on a digital model (computer-aided design [CAD] file) of the product – in reaction to supply disruptions caused by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. For this purpose, four cases within the context of the pandemic supply disruption are used as the units of analysis.

Findings

The findings are twofold: public institutions reacted, on the one hand, with a behavioral solution approach, trying to solve the supply disruption with new or changed forms of cooperation and collaboration. On the other hand, public institutions used a technical solution approach (TSA) as a supply disruption response and intensified their use of AM.

Research limitations/implications

This research derives an implications model that focuses on the TSA. Considering the ex ante and ex post phases of the disruption, several effects of AM on resilience are identified. The most relevant is the long-term learning effect (i.e. AM data created during this disruption might also help in a new disruption).

Practical implications

Practitioners who act under extreme pressure and uncertainty are informed by cases that have managed to close bottleneck situations with either a behavioral or TSA. Specific strategies are given for how public buyers could use AM within a pandemic situation to mitigate supply bottlenecks, such as increasing their robustness by localizing sourcing and increasing agility by combining traditional and additive supply sources. Additionally, insights are provided into how public organizations can increase their level of preparedness by including disruption paragraphs, establishing CAD databases, in contract clauses and keeping reserve contracts with AM service providers.

Originality/value

This research contrasts behavioral and technical solution concepts for a pandemic in the public sector. Thus, it provides insights into the relative benefits of AM and causes and effect with regard to how AM affects supply robustness and agility.

中文翻译：

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从 SARS-CoV-2 造成的供应中断中学习：使用增材制造作为公共采购的弹性应对措施

目的

SARS-CoV-2 大流行对全球经济产生了严重影响，特别是对必须在供应链中断时保持运营的公共机构。本研究的目的是研究公共机构如何在大流行期间采取行动以确保供应安全。

设计/方法/方法

明显的焦点是公共机构是否、为什么以及如何采用增材制造 (AM)——一种俗称 3D 打印的生产技术，其中产品是通过基于数字模型（计算机-产品的辅助设计 [CAD] 文件）——以应对由 SARS-CoV-2 大流行引起的供应中断。为此，大流行供应中断背景下的四个案例被用作分析单位。

发现

研究结果是双重的：一方面，公共机构采取了行为解决方法，试图通过新的或改变的合作与协作形式来解决供应中断问题。另一方面，公共机构使用技术解决方案方法 (TSA) 作为供应中断响应，并加强了对 AM 的使用。

研究限制/影响

本研究得出了一个以 TSA 为重点的影响模型。考虑到破坏的事前和事后阶段，确定了 AM 对弹性的几种影响。最相关的是长期学习效应（即在这种中断期间创建的 AM 数据也可能有助于新的中断）。

实际影响

在极端压力和不确定性下采取行动的从业者会从成功通过行为或 TSA 解决瓶颈情况的案例中获得信息。给出了公共购买者如何在大流行情况下使用 AM 来缓解供应瓶颈的具体策略，例如通过本地化采购来提高其稳健性，以及通过结合传统和增材供应来源来提高敏捷性。此外，还提供了有关公共组织如何通过在合同条款中加入中断段落、建立 CAD 数据库以及与增材制造服务提供商保持保留合同来提高其准备水平的见解。

原创性/价值

这项研究对比了公共部门流行病的行为和技术解决方案概念。因此，它提供了关于增材制造的相对优势以及增材制造如何影响供应稳健性和敏捷性的原因和影响的见解。