| Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies started arising around 1980's and they are currently considered to be the third industrial revolution. With improvements in computers, materials, and automated machines, manufacturers across several types of industries are becoming more familiar with AM processes, and it has become more common to see products that are being fabricated by using this new technology. However, there are still questions regarding when it is suitable to use Additive Manufacturing or conventional manufacturing processes depending on different factors. The purpose of this thesis is to create a Decision Support System (DSS) that will help users measure product suitability for AM processes based on product and application factors. This is accomplished by using goal programming to establish a model for the measurement of suitability for a product for AM. The model also includes descriptors of suitability based on fuzzy set descriptors. |
